Late one Sunday morning, while driving, I had a craving for an extra-long chicken sandwich from my favourite fast-food restaurant. I stopped by the restaurant’s nearest fast-food drive-thru only to hear the lady’s voice from the box say the sandwich is out of stock. When calling the hotline of another fast-food restaurant close to 12Continue reading “Fast-Food Doesn’t Mean Available”
Tag Archives: capacity
Deliberate Scarcity
Whenever I go see my doctor at her clinic at the hospital, I always would find myself waiting in line with other patients. The clinics adjacent to my doctor’s would also have patients waiting, in which sometimes the queues would overflow into the corridor. Even if I had called ahead and set an appointment, IContinue reading “Deliberate Scarcity”
When Increasing Capacity Becomes a Priority
One Sunday morning, a homeless woman at a traffic intersection was approaching cars and begging for alms. Some drivers give but most don’t. But the woman persists anyway; she shows a sign saying she’s homeless and asks for money for food. I thought as I observed the homeless woman: if the government could spend soContinue reading “When Increasing Capacity Becomes a Priority”
Do We Really Need New Capacity?
Do we really need a new highway? Metropolitan Manila, Philippines, has one of the worst urban traffic congestions on Earth (at least before the pandemic of 2020 forced people to stop travelling). This has led to a number of corporations and wealthy individuals to propose new roads, bridges, and tunnels. The proposals cite the obviousContinue reading “Do We Really Need New Capacity?”
The Three Capacity Types
How much can we make? How much can we buy? How much can we deliver? These are typical questions executives ask their managers all the time. Executives often want straightforward answers; they’d rather be spared the complicated assumptions behind any of them. Calculating capacities can be a headache. It’s never really as straightforward as aContinue reading “The Three Capacity Types”
Ellery's Essays 