We all
travel in trains. If you have luggage you normally take the help of a Coolie,
that is, the luggage pickers. And you know how do and how much they exploit
passengers. The exploitation is more if you are alone and if you have couple of
heavy-weighted luggage bags. You have no other way than to surrender yourself
before them. They also know this. Like couple of dogs tugging at a bone, couple
of coolies will surround you to pick up luggage form you. No doubt they are
doing a great job. Imagine how you would handle so many luggages in big railway
stations. So, they have an upper-hand in
bargaining. But unlike the dogs tugging at a bone (who fight each other for
that piece of bone), here collies work like a sophisticated cartel; uniform
price and better coordination among them. Just Like OPEC. For example, if you
have two bags and you want to go platform no-4, coach no-3, and the distance
from your platform to the place of bargaining is 1 K.M, then no matter how many
coolies you ask, you would only hear one price.
So what
determines price? How do they charge? In other words how do they fix that
price, on what basis? I guess two factors play a major role. The number of bags
(implicitly the weight) and the distance from your platform to the place of
bargaining.
So to curb
the monopoly power we can install weighing machines or a machine that tells you
the distance to the coach position and weight of your luggage. Price will be
fixed accordingly. Further, a rate will be fixed in night times and rain time. I
think this would reduce the monopoly power. And it is good for both passengers
and of course, for coolies. So we don’t feel cheated.
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