Why didn’t libraries check with Redbox first?
Until quite recently Starbucks and the government were the only two large organizations catering to the dysfunctional at the expense of its rule-following.
The government presides over the transition of public sidewalks into outdoor toilets, with used syringes adding a splash of color. Starbucks is bringing the sidewalk inside and opening its bathrooms to one and all, regardless of whether or not the visitors are customers.
Starbucks is a brave new business model. A combination of temporary office suite and daytime homeless shelter.
It’s also a model that appears to be damaging the coffee business. Forbes reports on a study conducted by the University of Texas at Dallas and Boston College schools of business. “Monthly visits to Starbucks dropped 6.8 percent compared with other nearby coffee shops after the open-bathroom policy was put in place in May 2018.” The study termed the drop in business “large and significant.”
The study also validated a prediction of mine. “Researchers looked at the proximity of a given Starbucks store to a homeless shelter and found that customer traffic declined at almost double the rate at stores closest to homeless shelters versus those farthest away.”
Meaning I was right on target when I wrote that Schultz’s stores now function as the concession stand in a homeless encampment.
Now a third organization is looking to follow Starbucks down the path of resistance to reality. Major city libraries are abolishing fines for keeping books, videos, CDs and other items past the due date.
KTLA quoted Los Angeles Public Library honcho John F. Szabo, “We are proud to serve the largest, most diverse population of any library in the nation. By removing barriers and going fine-free, we will be better able to serve everyone in Los Angeles.”
Proving once again, any justification containing either “diverse” or “inclusive” is a statement of illogical nonsense.
The library will also lengthen the amount of time before a clingy borrower won’t be charged a late fee from two renewals to three “unless another patron requests the item.” Meaning the patron requesting the item had best be an optimist because there’s no mechanism for motivating a patron to return it.
No late fees and the borrower can continue to check out new items while the overdue book’s relevance to current events slowly recedes into the distance.
Naturally, politicians want to share in the glory. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti pontificated, “We are ending these fines because patrons show care and integrity in the handling of these precious materials — and nothing should stand in the way of Angelenos who want to share in all the library has to offer.”
Fact is the patrons who “show care” are the patrons who return material on time or pay the fine. The rest are deadbeats.
This If-You-Can’t-Do-the-Time-Don’t-Pay-the-Fine movement is more social engineering. NPR found Diana Ramirez — a resident of Tijuana, Mexico! — to personify San Diego’s decision.
“For nearly a decade, Diana [hasn’t] been able to take a book home from the San Diego Public Library. Her borrowing privileges were suspended …because of a mere $10 in late fees, an amount that had grown to $30 over the years.”
Thirty bucks and she can’t pay the fine? My first question would have been, during that ten-year period how many smartphones or tattoos did you buy?
Ramirez didn’t pay the fine because it wasn’t a priority.
Abolishing fines is just the bookshelf edition of fighting ‘mass incarceration.’ San Diego found, “nearly half of the library’s patrons whose accounts were blocked as a result of late fees lived in two of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. ‘I never realized it impacted them to that extent,’ said Misty Jones, the city’s library director.”
It could be the fines “impacted them” because they don’t pay their bills.
Fines are entirely neutral. There is no ‘unconscious bias’ in a calendar. A potential fine doesn’t prevent anyone from visiting the library and checking out a book any more than a potential speeding ticket keeps people off the highway.
All this moronic policy does is penalize library patrons who follow the rules. Good luck waiting on a reserve list for a best-seller when due dates are merely a suggestion. If catering to deadbeats was a viable marketing strategy Redbox wouldn’t charge late fees either.
Indulging deviance can spread to formerly rule-following folks. The Starbucks study found free-for-all bathrooms cut into revenue from former customers. “Increased use by the general public of bathrooms and tables is estimated to have negative impacts, partly because people who might have previously felt compelled to make a purchase in order to sit or use the bathroom now no longer do.”
Just like patrons who formerly felt obligated to return books by the due date.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
How to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or letter to the editor to The Independent
Do you have something to say? Want your voice to be heard by thousands of readers? Send The Independent your letter to the editor or guest opinion piece. All submissions will be considered for publication by our editorial staff. If your letter or editorial is accepted, it will run on suindependent.com, and we’ll promote it through all of our social media channels. We may even decide to include it in our monthly print edition. Just follow our simple submission guidelines and make your voice heard:
—Submissions should be between 300 and 1,500 words.
—Submissions must be sent to editor@infowest.com as a .doc, .docx, .txt, or .rtf file.
—The subject line of the email containing your submission should read “Letter to the editor.”
—Attach your name to both the email and the document file (we don’t run anonymous letters).
—If you have a photo or image you’d like us to use and it’s in .jpg format, at least 1200 X 754 pixels large, and your intellectual property (you own the copyright), feel free to attach it as well, though we reserve the right to choose a different image.
—If you are on Twitter and would like a shout-out when your piece or letter is published, include that in your correspondence and we’ll give you a mention at the time of publication.
Articles related to “Why didn’t libraries check with Redbox first?”
Library telescope-lending program introduced by Cedar Breaks National Monument
Las Vegas-Clark County Library District opens new Mesquite Library
I believe Jesus would disagree with your op-ed… Infact, I’m pretty sure it’s documented. Why do so many Christians follow suit with the antithesis of what Jesus preached? I will however say this is very well written, so… Well done sir.
An internet theologian. My favorite.
Before entering into a discussion, I’ll need some information from you to prevent me from wasting my time with an ignoramus or a pagan.
1. Are you a member of a local church and attend Sunday services 40 or more times a year?
2. Are you a member of a church small group?
3. Do you serve in any capacity in a church: Small group leader, volunteer, prayer team member?
4. Do you tithe to your church, either on your gross or net income (your choice)?
If you can answer ‘yes’ to three out of four questions, we’ll continue…
Dear Mr. Shannon,
I’m shocked that you would engage a reader — one who complimented you at that — by immediately resorting to mere ingroup/outgroup identitarianism and implied ad hominem as a get-out-of-an-argument-free card rather than simply defending your position.
It is unnecessary for anyone to meet the criteria that you outlined in order for you to engage them briefly enough to answer his question. Not having engaged in these qualifiers does not make one an “ignoramus,” and while it also doesn’t necessarily make one a “pagan” either, it wouldn’t make your reader any less deserving of an honest response if he were a pagan. Your insistence that someone who doesn’t meet three out of four of these behavioral qualifiers comes across to me as intellectual cowardice thinly veiled by the insecurity of an Internet bully — hardly distinguishing characteristics of a thoughtful writer or a follower of Christ.
I’m disappointed not only in your unwillingness to answer what is not only a straightforward question but a relevant one to believers and nonbelievers alike — “Why do so many Christians follow suit with the antithesis of what Jesus preached?” — but also in your apparent inability to do so as well as the utter lack of character on display in your retaliation.
Sincerely,
The editor who now regrets selecting (from caglecartoons.com), editing, and posting this opinion piece for this site
Mr. Gottfried,
My first suggestion would be to re-read Mr. DuCrest’s comment.
He concluded with a backhanded compliment — “I will however say this is very well written” — AFTER first implying I was a hypocrite ”I believe Jesus would disagree with your op-ed… In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s documented. Why do so many Christians follow suit with the antithesis of what Jesus preached?”
Since I am the author of ‘A Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now With Added Humor!)’ it’s pretty obvious to whom he was referring.
A serious charge merits a serious response. If by “mere ingroup/outgroup identitarianism” you mean was I trying to determine if he had enough knowledge regarding Christianity and living a Christian life to conduct an intelligent conversation, you are correct.
Furthermore, unless DuCrest has some knowledge of the Bible and living as a Christian, it wasn’t a “straightforward question”, it was the usual tired smear coming from the ignorant who get their information regarding Christianity from the secular anti-Christian culture.
The only ad hominem attacks in this exchange belong to him and you.
#1. I attend a local church, but only twice in 2019.
#2. Yes.
#3. I work for a group home for troubled youth that is religious based.
#4. I give back to my community by donating my spare time to a local food bank, the limited time I spend with my church is based on the fact I work Sundays, however my church does not ask for tidings only donations. However every time I attended even though if it was two, I donated cash.
Let us continue. Please.
Close enough, I suppose.
Now, show me in the New Testament where “Jesus would disagree with your op-ed… Infact, I’m pretty sure it’s documented.”
If it’s “documented” you should be able to find it.
I am glad I met your standards of being able to have a conversation with you. I am humbled by your superior intellect. To answer your question it’s Matthew 19:24.
Good day, sir.
“And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
This has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of my column, which if you will recall, dealt with returning library books.
Jesus is usually germane to the topic at hand.
I’ve decided you are not only enveloped in cognitive dissonance but a very clever wordsmith it would not matter what Bible quote I sent you, you would find a way to dismiss it. So instead, that quote was meant for YOU. And on a side note, if you can’t see how a man whom spent his life forgiving others, feeding the poor and loving unconditionally would be oppose an op-ed blaming poor people for taking advantage of the system… Well I have no other words to discuss with you.
Good day, sir