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Citizen complaint of the day: Metro-selling dude
By adamg on Tue, 05/15/2012 - 10:04am
A dumbfounded citizen complains, from Mass. Ave. and Melnea Cass Boulevard:
Dude is selling copies of the metro, the free paper. Somewhat aggressive in his approach, knocking on car windows.
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Comments
taking something that's free.....
taking something that's free and monetizing it..... if he was white, it'd be called entrepreneurship
Awwweee
Someone has White Guilt. BooHooo
oh come on
that was funny.
Anyways, he's just selling a service, not the actual paper.
Loopholes are the name of the game.
Distracted Driving? Tsk, tsk...
You can get a ticket for playing with your phone even at a stoplight.
How do you know
the person driving took the pic?
Or that I didn't shoot it on a film camera, develop it, scan it, and upload it? ;-)
You don't give yourself enough credit
Admit it: You filmed it with your Super-8 camera, cut out one cel, then used that special macro lens you have for your Polaroid to make a larger copy and then you scanned that in ...
angle of shot, and reflection
angle of shot, and reflection of empty passenger seat in glass, so unless someone was in the backseat it's a safe assumption. plus i do it all the time.
begs the question tho, wouldn't filming with a super 8 be even more distracted driving?
was just teasin'...
Whatevah
Just because you don't roll with an invisible bionic-armed passenger like I do doesn't mean you gotta be hatin'.
Entrepreneurship
No, the people who get permits to sell flowers, who are of all colors, and who generally don't block traffic or touch people's cars, are entrepreneurs. The city needs to round up the sellers who don't have permits and bothering people so as to protect the legitimate money-making efforts on corners.
Does the city really issue
Does the city really issue licenses to walk through stopped traffic to sell flowers?
You call Entrepreneurship
I'll call it a cartel.
When there's no public health or safety interest in limiting a act of commerce, why do so? It just creates market imbalances that some will use to great benefit, at the cost of consumers.
Why in hells name do you need a permit to "sell (or resell) flowers"?
It's how we get away from strict regulation of safety in taxis, to a strict medallion system that limits supply, increases rates, and lowers quality of service.
It's stupid rule making for rule makings sake, and ensures there will be lots of losers, less innovation and a few really wealthy campaign contributors.
I really hope the guy argues
I really hope the guy argues that he's not selling the paper, but rather charging a delivery fee. You want the paper brought to your car? You're going to pay for it.
That was me
who made that complaint.
And that was me
who was selling the Metro. So what if it's free - I'm providing a service. Hey, Linux is free, too, but Red Hat made a fortune selling it. The Metro is free as in beer - I'm just working for tips.
D'oh!
Sorry to narc on you Lanny!
(No, it really was me. Dude was blocking traffic and touching my car to sell a FREE PAPER.)
I think melnea and mass ave
I think melnea and mass ave is the worst intersection to drive through if you want to avoid people knocking on your window begging for change or selling flowers / the metro / heroin / something they found three minutes earlier
Well that different
I'm less concerned about the paper part then him running into busy traffic and getting up in other peoples property.
Not quite the same
Linux explicitly gives you the right to do that. This newspaper, not so much.
It's sketchy as hell, but First Sale Doctrine applies here, even if the newspaper is free. In fact, this whole thing is a pretty interesting metaphor for Internet content misappropriation shenanigans. What if he applies stickers over the ads, replacing them with ads of his own? Technically the ads are still being delivered, but the reading is being inhibited from seeing them. Is the newspaper therefore not selling ad space, but selling "access to consumer eyeballs"? Could the advertiser sue the newspaper for breach of contract for failing to enforce that access? Could the hobo be sued for tortuous interference?
interesting, though
How about if he is just charging to deliver the free paper from the pile on the curb to your car?
It's the Ace Tickets model!
Sure, you could have bought those Red Sox tickets from the Red Sox, but we bought them all so you can buy them from US, which is more convenient.
Exactly
He's not charging you for the Metro, eeka. He's adding a shipping and handling fee. Just be glad he hasn't gone the way of Ticketmaster and added a convenience fee as well.
What about Comcast?
If this guy was Comcast, he'd charge us for the Metro delivery, and he'd charge the paper for the privilege of ferrying the paper to us.
What about AT&T?
If this guy were AT&T, he'd charge you for the delivery, and if you told him someone else was bringing you the Metro to your car, he'd charge you $200 for a discontinuation fee.
NSTAR?
If he were NSTAR, he would charge us both for delivery and the paper it's printed on; and every other month, he'd burn down the press so no one gets a paper for a week.
... this is a fun game.
The Roxbury toll booth
The Roxbury toll booth
Smithsonian Maps for sale
Similar scam in DC with guys selling the maps to tourists coming up out of the Metro on the mall, there are piles of them at the entrance of every museum.
These panhandlers are becoming troublesome
I've had them approach me with their sob stories, follow me while I walk home, and seen them argue with people who don't want their windshields washed. Even had a guy get really angry with me when I didn't believe his story (seen him trying to get home to VT many times before).
Why do people keep giving them money?
I live near this intersection.
Every day, there are the flower sellers and panhandlers in the area. One of my neighbors refers to them as "sentinels"- they see and hear everything. If the 'regular' people are away, something weird is going on, generally speaking.
There are sometimes Boston PD in the area waiting for the twits who decide the red light at the intersection doesn't apply to them. I'm more concerned with the drivers who either don't know where they're going or aren't paying attention to what they're doing.
They don't tend to bother pedestrians at all. Same can be said for the flower guys.
MassPIRG
and the save the whales folk are more bothersome IMO. At least the panhandlers are passive, and when they are proactive it's things like holding doors for you.
These kido's "making hundreds of dollars this summer" are worse.
On another note they're always stopping me. I'm young and living in the city, I'm absolutely not the demographic to hit up for free money for a cause. It always perplexes me why they aren't going after the people in nice tailored suites, or older people in nice clothing along Newbury street.
Know your customer, right?
I'm getting fed up with vest-wearing panhandlers too
On various days I walk between BU and MGH. I have to deal with these official hobos at Warren Towers, Kenmore, Newbury St, Boylston St, and Cambridge St.
They hang out in pairs and wear matching vests; can't we apply a gang statute and have them arrested?
I'm with you on this one.
They've harassed some of the students in the area I work in. These are unpaid students in some cases. I wonder how much of the donated money actually makes its way to the intended recipients.
Don't sweat it
It's usually little kids in orange tee shirts trying to sell crap. This is a refreshing change.
I think I saw this guy yesterday
in Central Square, and he WAS fairly aggressive, sharply demanding "Talk to me! Hey! Come here!" I seriously considered calling the cops on him - and I live in Central, and I'm used to (and supportive of) the CASPAR residents.