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One of the front page stories in the local paper today is about how a traffic signal downtown is broken, and won't be fixed for months because of Katrina. It's not that a major traffic signal maker is in the strike zone of the hurricane...it's more interesting than that.
Stoplight manufacturing is fairly predictable, all in all. You need X new units per year for new developments Y units per year for repairs due to accidents, storms, and simple wearing out. And while the manufacturers have some ability to increase capacity, Katrina has overwhelmed that and then some. Priority is being given to replacing all the destroyed signals on the Gulf Coast, so any lower priority signals are just going to have to wait a few months. Trained personnel are also at a premium, so you won't see parts simply shifted from really low priority lights to low priority ones.
Ripples. I wonder what ripples we'll see next, or if we'll even recognize them when we do see 'em?
Stoplight manufacturing is fairly predictable, all in all. You need X new units per year for new developments Y units per year for repairs due to accidents, storms, and simple wearing out. And while the manufacturers have some ability to increase capacity, Katrina has overwhelmed that and then some. Priority is being given to replacing all the destroyed signals on the Gulf Coast, so any lower priority signals are just going to have to wait a few months. Trained personnel are also at a premium, so you won't see parts simply shifted from really low priority lights to low priority ones.
Ripples. I wonder what ripples we'll see next, or if we'll even recognize them when we do see 'em?
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Expedient service isn't expected anymore. It's the same reason it takes the service people an hour to rotate your tires when there's no other cars ahead of you, even though that electric wrench takes a tire off in 15 seconds. They know they can take their sweet ass time and you'll be forced to like it.
Or better yet, why game stores will only give you 1/4 of their sale price on a game instead of a fair 1/2. Because they know they can. "Service with a middle finger".