A Parable • Hacker News Board

Re: A Parable

#81

Post by 3JPLW » Fri, Feb 01, 2013, 12:34 AM UTC

run4yourlives wrote: post #65

3JPLW wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All other things being equal, how you manage ______ is how you beat your competition. What a spectacular tautology. But, yes, you are right. More importantly: It's an easy place to win or lose dollars.

how you manage ______ is how you beat your competition. Thanks for the backhanded compliment, but no, how you manage hidden 'soft' costs is how you beat your competition. Extending that to be "value x" is simply a race to the bottom. Measuring (and reducing) costs that other people also have but don't realize is the kicker. For example: Understanding the cost difference between client acquisition and client turnover.…

Yes, I know. It was a joke. You are right. I apologize for not conveying my tone adequately.

Re: A Parable

#82

Post by greenyoda » Sun, Feb 03, 2013, 2:31 AM UTC

mav3r1ck wrote: post #16

digitalengineer wrote: post #5

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just install the bloody toilets in every train car? Than every car could be everywhere. After all it's just a toilet with a hole.

Same problem as with airlines-- a toilet would probably remove 4-6 paying passenger seats, which means less money. Toilets don't generate revenue whereas seats keep paying for themselves many times over.

But a plane without toilets or with a half-hour wait for a toilet would generate zero revenue since nobody would want to fly on one.

Re: A Parable

#83

Post by greenyoda » Sun, Feb 03, 2013, 2:42 AM UTC

oasisbob wrote: post #79

I'm a bit surprised to see that nobody has mentioned that this is a very common configuration in the real world, cars linked this way ("coupled, from now until eternity") are called married pairs, or twin units: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Married_pair They're falling out of favor on New York's MTA system, but Chicago's newest 5000-series cars are still configured in married pairs. Hypothetically, with married pairs…

On at least one part of the MTA system, the Long Island Rail Road, all the cars are in permanently coupled pairs and have toilets in the odd-numbered cars only. And indeed, they're never turned around: the odd numbered car is always at the west end of the pair.