Small Proprietor Operated Businesses

[giftederic]

I left breakfast quite late yesterday. Some might say very late. 4:15pm. And of course the place I wanted breakfast was closed. 15 minutes closed. But this is Canada, and this place is owned by a woman who has worked there every day, "except 3 or 4 days at christmas", for the last 13 years. She spotted me outside, and insisted on getting me what I wanted. She even remembered what I had ordered the last time I was there, 6 months ago.

Of course I don't expect this level of service, ever really. But it is the kind of thing that owner operated businesses are more capable of. I remember plenty of times keeping my shop open for customers too.

I would prefer a world with more of these types of businesses. A world that encourages self employment, and discourages takeovers, buyouts & mergers. A world where everyone has a chance to be their own man, and yet no one gets to be so far removed from their employees so as to become The Man.
 
For the record the business in question, which I would highly recommend is:
Lucky 88 Cafe
On the corner of Davie & Howe
In downtown Vancouver.

They make excellent breakfast from 7:30am to 4pm daily.
 

Comments

Re: What would you be willing to pay?

[giftederic.livejournal.com]

Honestly, no idea. It would take techtonic shifts in thinking even to make that type of world a possibility and there would always be someone gaming whatever system was put in place.

Most of what is wrong with capitalism at the moment has to do with pensions more than anything else, a topic I will come back to later...

Re: What would you be willing to pay?

[wargle.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

I'm not sure pensions are capitalism's fault. Any "ism" would be just as boned if it ended up with 2-3 workers for every retiree.

More worrying right now is that it appears the EU is about to firmly roger itself by attempting to defend the Euro against speculators. They want to put together a 60bn defense fund. Presumably they will prop up the value of the Euro by buying it at a higher price than anyone else can be bothered paying. Isn't that how Soros screwed Sterling? No good can come of purchasing your own merchandise.

The unwillingness to let capitalism's failures take their natural course seems to me to be the biggest immediate problem.

Re: What would you be willing to pay?

[giftederic.livejournal.com]

I was really refering to the existence of pensions rather than pensions as a symptom. I am all for saving for the future, but pensions (the way they are implemented for the majority) divorce investment decisions from capital owners, allowing gross mismanagement. And to top it all off, one of the reasons that government feels compelled to intervene in markets is to protect the value of said pensions.

Retirement ages need to be raised and it needs to be hammered home that if you don't actively manage your own wealth you are just playing into the hands of the cosy cartels between large company management and pension fund operators.

Re: What would you be willing to pay?

[ulaire-daidoji.livejournal.com]

What percentage of the general public do you think are capable of managing their own wealth?

And how many people would be better off focussing on generating wealth through their own skills, talents etc. and abrogating responsibilty to firms which can utilise economies of scale to manage their wealth?

There are a lot of good reasons not to manage your own wealth.