
Domino's Pizza unveils U.S. infrastructure project filling potholes - dsr12
https://www.pavingforpizza.com/
======
jotto
Reminds me of how Stephenson describes Los Angeles in Snow Crash

"Los Angeles is no longer part of the United States, as the federal government
of the United States has ceded most of its power and territory to private
organizations and entrepreneurs"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash)

~~~
RubenSandwich
I know it's polular to predict a dystopia future that resembles 1984; but I'm
much more inclined to believe we are more heading into a Cyberpunk future
where corporations hold the real power and nation states are more puppets for
their will.

~~~
craftyguy
> we are more heading into a Cyberpunk future where corporations hold the real
> power

I believe we're more heading into an Idiocracy future where corporations also
hold the real power (e.g. "Carl's Jr machine: Your kids are starving. Carl's
Jr. believes no child should go hungry. You are an unfit mother.")

~~~
setquk
I agree. They already sell Smartwater. Because it has got electrolytes.

~~~
kipchak
Unrelated aside: 1L Smartwater bottles are rather light and durable for reuse
in backpacking.

~~~
craftyguy
Yea totally, Sawyer filters fit them nicely too. They're VERY durable, as in
I've got one bottle I've carried probably hundreds of miles by now over
several trips and it's been dropped and squeezed thousands of times. Looks
like a bear chewed it up, but it still does not leak.

Pro tip: you can replace the O-ring that comes with the filter for a durable
rubber one used for garden hoses for a real nice fit on the smartwater
bottles, and have some extras because the _worst_ is if you lose that seal (or
it is damaged) and you are out in the wilderness.

------
padobson
I like the leadership of Domino's here. As logistics focus more on the home as
the final destination, companies like Amazon, FedEx, Uber, or even Postmates
are going to have to look at infrastructure conditions as a threat to their
business.

Rather than lobbying to increase gas taxes and funnel more cash into various
government bureaucracies, Domino's is trying to address the problem directly,
by getting the money directly to the local agencies that actually fix the
roads.

I hope others follow suit.

~~~
gascan
Direct funding is good- but ultimately the road is a (very expensive) public
good, and Domino's can't fund full maintenance all by itself nor does it reap
all the benefit.

Public funding has always made sense for road repair because (generally)
everyone benefits, and roads are expensive, so everyone pays.

To be clear- direct action is laudable, and it's a neat project, but big
picture, we need many orders of magnitude more money on the problem than
Domino's can ever provide.

~~~
nanis
Roads are not public goods. They are certainly excludable, and, beyond a
certain level of traffic, definitely rival.

Update: "Public good" is a technical term, see, inter alia,
[https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/ap-
micr...](https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/ap-
microeconomics/ap-consumer-producer-surplus/ap-externalities-topic/a/public-
goods-cnx)

~~~
gascan
Your own link describes roads as generally nonexcludable:

 _Once a road is built, it is difficult to exclude people, although toll roads
can exclude nonpayers._

Taking the definition to the extreme makes it no longer useful. Yes,
technically you could make a road exclusionary and rivalrous. But their nature
tends nonexclusionary and nonrivalrous. "Public good" is really an observation
about whether something is more suited to private or public ownership, rather
than some kind of strict legal term.

~~~
nanis
> Your own link describes roads as generally nonexcludable:

Well, I did not notice that because one has to click to reveal that self-
contradictory statement. In any case, that is a point against Khan Academy.

"Public good" is not the same as "these days mostly financed by politicians
shoveling money to labor unions and a few firms".

Everywhere you look there are excludable roads. Everywhere you see traffic
congestion, you see rivalry.

Roads are not public goods, even if you feel like governments ought to own
them.

------
bobthepanda
Horrifying that the state of public works in America has come to this.

~~~
fein
Your comment is proof that Domino's marketing team is pretty good.

Hell, even the existence of this post on HN is basically some confirmation
that hail corporate bullshit slips past this crowd.

Don't buy the PR wank folks, this is just an ad masquerading as some noble
effort.

~~~
pavel_lishin
What are you on about? The person you're responding to isn't running out to
get a Domino's tattoo; they're pointing out that there are places in America
that are cash-strapped enough that they're willing to accept corporate
sponsorship to provide basic government services.

~~~
ribs
The roads were shitty when I was a kid and they’re shitty now. No big apparent
change to me.

~~~
untog
Anecdotes are not data

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beenBoutIT
As much as I like what Domino's is doing here, it irks me that they didn't
flush the idea all-the-way out. Domino's could have easily made an app that
would allow users to manually fill-in potholes in exchange for piping-hot
Domino's Pizza and sides. Imagine chronically unemployed individuals from all
walks of life diligently scouring the streets looking for potholes.
Documenting, geotagging and filling them in with non-Newtonian fluid repair
packs. [https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/04/silly-putty-
potholes](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/04/silly-putty-potholes)

------
xkcd-sucks
As a reminder, repairing potholes yourself can be very low effort; modern
materials obviate the use of hot asphalt.

Buy some kind of "Pothole Cold Patch" compound at your local home improvement
store and dump it in the hole. In this way you can fix the holes on your local
street/commute route without waiting for the city.

~~~
err4nt
Wow TIL. I even looked it up and $13 buys you enough cold-patch to fill in a
few holes it looks like. Thanks for sharing, if I'm ever bothered by a pothole
I'll just fill it myself now that I know!

~~~
acct1771
This attitude is how we shift to more self-sustainability and voluntary
governance. Thank you.

------
basementcat
While Domino's shareholders are free to run their company the way they wish, I
would prefer that they invest their capital toward developing yummy pizza that
is less unhealthy instead of filling potholes and lobbying against proposed
rules to post calorie counts, etc.

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-03-03/junk-
food...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-03-03/junk-food-s-last-
stand-the-pizza-lobby-is-not-backing-down)

~~~
jessaustin
I would have suggested "filling potholes" as a better use for their pizza than
"eating"...

------
rmason
They'd have much better success finding a way to improve the ride of their
delivery vehicles.

They could spend their entire 'paving' budget here in Michigan where they're
headquartered and it would be barely noticeable.

~~~
wil421
Isn’t the pothole problem in Michigan due to climate? In Atlanta, the city
proper has terrible potholes due to mismanagement more than anything. Outside
the city proper it’s much better. Even in my city that’s within 5 miles of the
city proper. I’m in Dekalb county which notoriously mismanaged and corrupt but
out potholes are better than Atlanta.

~~~
moltar
The weather excuse is a common one, but only plays a small role. There are
plenty of example municipalities with good quality roads and winter
conditions.

The main issue, at least in Montreal, appears to be low grade asphalt. The
reduced quality is due to addition of used engine oil to the mix, instead of
fresh bitumen. Which makes asphalt slightly cheaper and needs to be replaced
more often. I’d say it’s a win for the asphalt (monopoly) company.

------
walterbell
While we’re here, Strong Towns is doing good work and needs your help,
[https://www.strongtowns.org/mission/](https://www.strongtowns.org/mission/)

 _> The mission of Strong Towns is to support a model of development that
allows America's cities, towns and neighborhoods to become financially strong
and resilient. For the United States to be a prosperous country, it must have
strong cities, towns and neighborhoods. Enduring prosperity for our
communities cannot be artificially created from the outside but must be built
from within, incrementally over time._

------
clay_to_n
I do like this, but wouldn't gyroscopic stabilizers to hold the pizza be
cheaper?

Apparently they've tried them in the past:
[https://www.adweek.com/creativity/dominos-wants-roll-out-
gyr...](https://www.adweek.com/creativity/dominos-wants-roll-out-gyroscopic-
pizza-delivery-system-worldwide-158098/)

~~~
reustle
They have (had) scooters in Japan with stabilizers on the back do your noodles
didn't spill during delivery.

[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8c/f9/25/8cf9256a7ae56d1186cc...](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8c/f9/25/8cf9256a7ae56d1186cc0086f4b44749.jpg)

------
himom
First world problem but south/east-bound El Camino Real from Page Mill until
San Antonio Rd has some rough edges.

\- Pothole so deep, it would swallow a bicycle, skateboard, motorcycle or
Ferrari near Military Way, Palo Alto, CA 94306
[https://goo.gl/maps/rJjpmYL9Nnk](https://goo.gl/maps/rJjpmYL9Nnk)

Another: Unnamed Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306
[https://goo.gl/maps/MQ5sCZ5p6Vz](https://goo.gl/maps/MQ5sCZ5p6Vz)

Worse, there are several left-turn prox sensors permanently false positive
such that if you miss the timing, you’ll be stuck waiting for the Godot
ghostrider. And in CA, it’s illegal to run a malfunctioning red traffic
signal, because cities need fund$ from “guilty, next” traffic kangaroo court.

------
brianbreslin
I was hoping this was some new tech they had added to their delivery cars to
fill potholes as they drove by. Using them to at least log and identify
potholes would be a smart move.

------
Simulacra
I live in the richest county in America. We don't need help filling potholes,
but a whollleee lot of underprivileged, cash strapped rural and low income
communities DO. I say forget nominations. Go forth and fill the holes in the
most needy communities ASAP!

~~~
OnMyPhone
I wish more people thought like this.

I worked for one of those poorer counties, and money was 100% the issue every
department had every single year.

The highway dept's budget shrank before it would even get approved by the
board. One of the first things the Finance Dept would ask is what roads
absolutely cannot wait until next year.

If they spent a lot of money to make one road good for 10+ years, then they
wouldn't be able to do anything to the roads that were actually a hazard for
drivers.

So they would only get enough money to band-aide some roads. Now the situation
is that it's better to band-aid a road for a year or maybe two than it is to
not have any money to do anything to the road.

(We have a lot of bad roads, have cold winters usually and deal with farmers /
truck drivers that can't read the weight limits on the roads)

------
ocdtrekkie
While mostly just a PR play, this almost sounds like an experiment in what
libertarians I've seen suggest road maintenance should be: That businesses
that benefit from roads should be left to improve said roads if its useful to
their business.

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keeganjw
Only in America should be playing in the background of this article.

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psergeant
Cute PR move but what an indictment of American local governance

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cjmcqueen
Slow clap... Great marketing effort to collect email accounts. I hope some
more towns get help too with pothole filling. Very creative.

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User23
In other words local government is no longer fit for purpose.

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moltar
They’d go bankrupt in Montreal.

