
A Renegade Muscles in on Mister Softee’s Turf - juanplusjuan
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/nyregion/a-king-of-ice-cream-a-renegade-upstart-and-a-simmering-turf-war.html
======
woodruffw
I've lived in NYC my entire life, and I've never even heard of New York Ice
Cream. Mr. Softee's has always been the dominant (and singular) soft-serve
truck.

Interesting that someone is challenging their dominance, although I doubt this
will play out as well as the dollar-pizza wars for the average pedestrian.

~~~
mikegioia
The dollar-pizza wars hit their beautiful height when I walking down 1st ave
between 13th/14th a few years ago. I counted 5 in one block!

What a wonderful gift dollar-pizza has been. I often wonder how many able-
bodied men and women they feed every day. It's gotta be hundreds of thousands.

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RankingMember
This seems amazingly over-the-top. I get that it's their living, but I'm
amazed there hasn't been some sort of resolution (e.g. giving out a fixed
number of licenses like they do with cabs). People threatening to kill each
other and cutting brake lines, etc. sounds like something that would've been
tolerated in 70s and 80s New York, but not present day.

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m-i-l
So are the "threats and intimidation that sometimes get physical" purely due
to ice cream sales, or are there illicit goods also being sold from the vans
(as per
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars)
)?

~~~
ryanong
Location is a serious thing in NYC for vendors. If someone moves within 10
feet of you, imagine your daily revenue cut in half.

Sometimes vendors will informally buy locations from other vendors.

~~~
tantalor
Setting up shop directly next to your competitor is the best choice, i.e.,
Nash equilibrium. That's why all the gas stations and coffee shops cluster up
instead of spreading out.

For example, on a beach, you should expect 2 ice cream vendors to cluster in
the exact middle rather than move closer to their respective territories. This
video explains it perfectly:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jILgxeNBK_8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jILgxeNBK_8)

~~~
kmill
Unlike gas stations and coffee shops, which have static locations, ice cream
trucks are more like buses. When a pair of buses on a route bunch up, the one
in front gets fuller.

~~~
jacobush
...fuller of money.

~~~
HarryHirsch
Notional Express proved that that is true, when they "disrupted" public
transportation in Britain.

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2xlbuds
There was a great Radiolab episode about this:
[http://www.radiolab.org/story/cold-war/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/cold-
war/)

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PhasmaFelis
> _Mr. Conway said Mister Softee had not sought legal remedy for the bullying.
> “It’s just the way it is,” he said. “Life on the street.”_

What? What the fuck? These are ice cream trucks, not drug dealers. Why aren't
they protecting their employees? If it's as bad as they say, all they'd need
is a few security cameras and the police could start making arrests.

~~~
galago
It sounds like a 'cash heavy' business that might not want a lot of regulatory
scrutiny. Plus, the choice spots might technically be in violation of some NYC
code and they don't want the cops getting precise about what is and isn't
legal. I was in NYC last weekend and I noticed that they squeeze in at the end
of blocks where there isn't really a proper parking space.

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sandymcmurray
Recommended: Comfort & Joy, the Bill Forsyth comedy about an ice cream war in
Glasgow.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_and_Joy_(1984_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_and_Joy_\(1984_film\))

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ape4
So this isn't about Microsoft's turf on the PC being challenged by mobile.

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davidw
Hotelling's law.... with baseball bats.

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noonespecial
Sounds ripe for "Uber for Ice-cream". Pull out your phone and the truck comes
to _you_.

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
You could have that with Seamless today if you had delivery riders with
insulated boxes.

