Profit Motive

Today the post didn't come, it didn't come yesterday either. We did however get leaflets through from take-aways. The rubbish wasn't collected today (as it should have been). Shops are still open. The roads are not gritted but the pubs are still open. What is the difference? The profit motive. Those places that remain open, despite issues making it just as difficult as anywhere else to remain open do so precisely because they need the money. There is profit to be made (or loss to be avoided) in the private sector. Those in the public sector get their money whether they go the extra mile or not - so they never will.

At this time the snow has shown one thing more clearly than any other. The government is sub-par when it comes to the deliverance of services. It not only costs more (through taxation) than direct payment to a private company but it can easily be shown to be worse. I'm not suggesting that the private sector is perfect or that is is not affected (or that every public sector operation should be running as usual) - what I am saying is that because of the profit motive they have to go that extra mile and they do. I can go to Sainsburys and shop right now, I could have gone to Lidl earlier, I can go to Haworth Arms for a pint, I can rely on the majority of people who work in these places to drive or walk in. I cannot rely on the council's trucks to make it through the snow and collect the bins.

I certainly cannot rely on the council to ensure they have enough grit provided, that would just be silly.