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Air Quality in San Francisco is So Bad that Uber Drivers Are Selling Masks Out of Their Cars (recode.net)
California's devastating wildfires are causing unhealthy air conditions for locals breathing in harmful fumes. From a report: In San Francisco, which currently has the second-worst-rated air quality out of any city in the world, one driver was spotted selling N95 respirator masks for $5 apiece. That's significantly above market rate. Right now you can buy a 10-pack of similar masks for about $13 on Amazon. But considering the masks are sold out at many local stores, riders may be willing to dish out the cash for immediate access to the protective gear. Further reading: California needs to reinvent its fire policies, or the death and destruction will go on.
Whoops I think I may have inadvertently stepped into the wrong echo chamber.
Before I leave, let me say that California has its problems like everywhere, but it's the most populous state and gaining net population for a reason. It's simple logic that it can't be bad if so many people are so intent on living there.
I can tell that logic won't really fly there though so I am outta here ...
In San Francisco, which currently has the second-worst-rated air quality out of any city in the world, one driver was spotted selling N95 respirator masks for $5 apiece. That's significantly above market rate. Right now you can buy a 10-pack of similar masks for about $13 on Amazon.
Truth is, under most circumstances you'd always buy shit cheaper at a supermarket or whatever and often in volume if it's non-perishable. Which means there's very little point at selling something at 30% or 50% mark-up. I've paid 5 euros at a camping grounds on the weekend for a pack of batteries that would normally cost 1 euro. How often would that happen, maybe once a month? You're not going to get rich making 4 euros/month selling batteries. They still wouldn't sell well for 2 euros/pack. At some point you have to cease looking at "rational" cost and look at lost opportunity costs. I was there, out of batteries, the nearest proper store was far away and the alternative was probably to not buy batteries at all. It wasn't a trap or anything like that, it was just a duuuuuuuh moment as I realized all the batteries were dead.
Honestly, I feel that this is sometimes the exact opposite of the sunk cost fallacy - we've spent tons of money to get here but then we're going to skimp on the last dollars to actually take advantage of it. Like you go to a foreign country with airplane tickets and hotel and whatnot but then it's like should we really go out to eat or just grab some snacks from the local store. And I'm like the opportunity cost of going out to eat at a fancy Greek restaurant is just the cost of going out to a fancy restaurant, we've already paid for everything else. Yes in isolation we can go to McDonald's and it's a lot cheaper, but in total we're then paying a ton of money for the same shitty experience we could get at home. If we ever wanted to do it later, we'd have to re-sink the cost of going to Greece so the opportunity is "cheap" here and now. So... if you're about to step of out the taxi and see smog hell, is $5 worth it? I think yes.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Why has this polarizing stupidity become regularly modded up here?