Thursday, October 13, 2016

When Government Fails, Papa Johns Delivers

By Abigail R. Hall Blanco

Parts of the southern United States were hit particular hard by hurricane Matthew last week. Between the wind and the rain, flooding and power outages took place from Florida up through the Carolinas.
For many of us, things like losing power are minor inconveniences. For others, however, this is not the case. Losing power can not only leave someone in the dark, but can utterly disconnect them from loved ones and the rest of the outside world.
Such was the case for one Florida grandmother, 87-year-old Claire Olsen. During the storm, Olsen lost power.
Her family didn’t hear from her for two days.
Her grandson, Eric Olsen, who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, became progressively worried about his grandmother. He stated in an interview that he kept calling the police and fire departments in his grandmother’s town, trying to get someone to check on her. These attempts were unsuccessful.
By Sunday, Eric was particularly worried. Still unable to get local authorities to do a wellness check on his elderly grandmother, he turned to an unlikely source for help—Papa John’s pizza. He explained, “[I thought,] ‘I’m going to order a pizza, and if they can deliver it, then I know she’s alive.’” In addition to ordering the pizza, he instructed the delivery person to call him when the pizza was delivered and asked that the delivery person give the phone to his grandmother when the call was made.
His plan worked well. The pizza was quickly delivered and, upon calling, the delivery driver gave the phone to Claire Olsen, who was able to talk to her grandson. In discussing his experience, Eric Olsen stated the following.
Police and fire couldn’t do it, but Papa John’s got there in 30 minutes and put the cell phone to her ear.
This story is pretty remarkable in a number of ways—all of which illustrate the power of the market and free enterprise. Here you have a man who lives in Omaha, Nebraska and a woman in Palm Coast, Florida. In case you’re curious, that 1,392.7 miles separating Eric from his grandmother—a 20+ hour car ride. Despite this distance, Eric was able to order a pizza in Omaha and have it delivered in Florida. If that doesn’t show the extent of our current markets, I don’t know what does!
Second, Eric was able to entice a for-profit company, Papa Johns, to engage in activity that actually had little to do with pizza. The inability or unwillingness (it’s unclear which applies here) of local authorities to do a wellness check on his grandmother is an example of what we call “government failure.” Simply put, public actors failed to do their job. Here we have an example of private enterprise stepping up when public entities fail. How? Through the power of prices, profit and loss. By providing Papa Johns with a monetary incentive—the price of the pizza—Eric was able to get someone to check on his grandmother. Without knowing it, the pizza chain provided a very valuable service to Eric and his family by doing what they do best, making and selling pizza.
Economics teaches us that when prices are allowed to function and people are allowed to exchange goods and services, good things happen. People become better connected, have access to more goods and services, and are made wealthier. In many cases, private markets can make things happen where governments fails. For the Olsen family, the markets provided peace of mind—and pizza.
The above originally appeared at the Independent Institute.

4 comments:

  1. Very very interesting. I bet there's a way companies like Papa John's who have tons of stores all over the place could branch out and take over the role of FEMA. Each company doing a small part in some creative fashion.

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  2. LOL. In Missouri Fema got kicked out of Joplin after the tornado. They screwed local contractors out of helping the local people, then recommended national qualified contractors. Then they bottle necked everything with red tape.
    SCUM that the Democrats in North Carolin & South Carolina Love. Hurts the people a lot. Government does not care. Same happened in Louisiana this year, you have to have a FEMA Licenses to help your neighbors....FEMA Go Fuck Your selves. (If my choice of freedom of speech is not comfortable to you, pay me for your comfort like you do with the MSM to hear what you want. Freedom of speech is often uncomfortable, get over it!)

    Government is the problem!!!!!

    Yes Papa John 's will get it done!

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  3. Awesome. Make sure Papa John's corporation is aware of this story.

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  4. First thing, never call the police:
    See this for overall reasoning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo2GG8jNe_o
    See this for recent example: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Officer-Involved-Shooting-in-El-Cajon-395014341.html

    I would expect the local "authorities" to be overwhelmed during a hurricane, so that is another reason not to call them.

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