Taxi Mafia

[DandyDon]

Old radio thing from CB?? 10-10 on that. You are a little 10-96 on that.

Read what I actually said, aloud if needed. It's an old code, you Jackboot types probably still use it, but it was made popular by the CB era.

 

[cvchief]

Read what I actually said, aloud if needed. It's an old code, you Jackboot types probably still use it, but it was made popular by the CB era.

Actually we just stopped as part of the whole NIMS thing. Just because you had a walk on part in Convoy doesn't mean CBs made it famous....

[youtubehq]EnJEeHND_lQ[/youtubehq]

 

[DandyDon]

Jackbooters don't use the 10-codes anymore? I really do not think they were well known until the CB days, altho we heard 10-4 on Cops & Others shows. Shooting 75 in 55 mph cross country was fun in the Carter days, talking CH-19 to spot Smokies, etc. - I did a lot of it, but nowadays admit that Carter was right. I generally drive 60 in 75 mph zones to save on gas, in the right lanes - just pass me damnit.

 

[cvchief]

Jackbooters don't use the 10-codes anymore?

Some do. The whole post 9-11 thing is about plain English for interoperability. Not nearly as fun as speaking in 10 codes. Faster too. I need a 27,29,29 on this 10-96 from the 10-80. He is 10-55 and I'll be 10-6. Back in the day, it was great fun to pull an odd one and see how long it took the dispatched to look it up.

I really do not think they were well known until the CB days, altho we heard 10-4 on Cops & Others shows. Shooting 75 in 55 mph cross country was fun in the Carter days, talking CH-19 to spot Smokies, etc. - I did a lot of it, but nowadays admit that Carter was right. I generally drive 60 in 75 mph zones to save on gas, in the right lanes - just pass me damnit.

Nothing for nothing, but it is a bit more dangerous to drive 60 where everyone else is doing 75....

[youtubehq]jh29_Fgkfio[/youtubehq]

 

[Zman96]

If you did, would you use the exchange rate to screw them?

Has everyone else in your area traditional accepted Pesos?

I would charge what the market would bear, doesn't mean I am screwing them when they have another way to be able to pay. As a consumer I would not accept the 10:1 ratio and I would simply use the national currency. If they are taking dollars, they are going to do it in their best interests. They are not bound by any regulatory agency on how much they must exchange dollars for pesos, so if they can put a little extra in their pocket it is their perogative, it is not a question of right or wrong. Now the Taxi driver is in the wrong when they try to charge a fare different from what the rate card shows in Pesos. There is no gray area there.

 

[cvchief]

I would charge what the market would bear, .

What about in a union monopoly absent market forces?

I guess I should surrender and accept those that don't know better than to use dollars deserve what they get. No one should judge taxi guys for getting theirs. Part of the gringo rates, right? From reports, other destinations abuse tourist far worse.

Seriously, I can accept they CAN do it. I am just shocked that people really beleive 10 to 1 is required by underlying costs. Of course I a still shocked Christi got a rate chart. I have followed a number of people's unsuccessful attempts to get one.

 

[jfcl01]

Christi has magical powers. This is just one more shred of evidence.
Thread hi-jack over; resume the senseless nattering.

 

[DjDiverDan]

Chief, your mistake is in looking for a justification for pricing outside of market forces. There simply is no objective way to set prices beyond "what the market will accept." A rational seller will always try to maximize the price he gets for his product or service, and a rational buyer will always try to minimize the price he or she pays. what a seller can ask is limited by competition - what other sellers of the same goods or close substitute goods are asking - and by demand - what buyers are willing to pay. Gucci and other Haute Designer's Handbags sell for $500, $600, even $1,000 -- are those prices justified, or are those Designers scamming their customers? I personally think one has to be more than a bit crazy to pay those prices for some Designer's goods. But some people obviously disagree, and as long as it's their money, why should I care? As noted in an earlier post, exchange rates are simply prices - the price in Dollars at which a willing buyer and a willing seller are willing to engage in a sale of Pesos. Exchange rates are not fixed by any authority; there are differences, albeit small, between the exchange rates set by different banks, bigger differences between rates set by banks and rates set by Cambios, and even bigger differences between the rates set by Cambios and Hotels and restaurants. And all of those differences reflect a lot of factors, like the costs involved in exchanging Dollars, the risks accepted that exchange rates will change, the ability to use Dollars without conversion to Pesos, etc. Mega might well give a better exchange rate because it buys inventory from American producers and has need of Dollars to pay those producers directly. But, at the end of the day, prices reflect "what the market will bear." If 85% or 90% or more American Tourists start paying taxis in Pesos, that would be a pretty good signal to taxi drivers that most of the market rejects the 10-1 exchange rate, and economics would predict either (a) taxi drivers would raise their exchange rate to 11-1 or 12-1 to attract more Dollars from American tourists, or (b) taxi-drivers who are completely indifferent to Dollars, or who would rather not deal with Dollars at all, would do nothing about exchange rates UNLESS they found that they were losing business to taxistas who were offering better exchange rates. As long as a taxi driver can stick with an exchange rate of 10-1 without any meaningful loss of fares, there is simply no incentive for him to change.

if you are trying to sell your house or a used car, are you going to try to maximize the price you get? Or are you going to make a subjective judgment of the "fair" value, and only ask for that? I suspect that most Americans, when posed that question, would respond that, of course they are going to try to maximize the price they get. Why should Cozumel taxi drivers be held to a different standard?

 

[Ms. Ann Thrope]

I sort of hate to jump back into a 17-page thread that's wandered way, way off, but:

When a Cozumel taxi driver tells me it's 60 pesos or 6 bucks (or whatever 10-1 fare equivalent is being discussed), and on the rare occasion that we're not carrying the convenient amount of pesos, I've been known to suggest a lesser dollar amount that's a little closer to the official exchange rate. I try to do it in Spanish, even though my Spanish is both extremely limited and terrible. I smile. I'm nice. They usually say okay. I mean, they're already getting a nice chunk of change, per mile, so I don't mind asking. Also, if my peso notes are too big for the fare, I ask them before I get into the cab, in Spanish, if they have change. So far, they've always said yes.

El Graduado mentioned that he paid 25 pesos for a ride that I think the "official rate chart" probably lists out at 40 pesos. I think it's been both alluded to and denied that there's a local rate and a non-local rate. And my limited observations of a couple of local people handing over 20-peso notes to drivers upon leaving downtown cabs we were about to enter makes me think it is indeed a two-tier system. I'm not complaining, exactly, as I believe it's their right to charge what they can. But to my first point, I believe that the 10-1 conversion rate is merely a suggestion and is negotiable, because there seems to be room to negotiate it. And if it's negotiable, it's not even worth even thinking much about it. But I am looking forward to renting a couple of bicycles on our trip next month.

One new thing happened to us last trip, though--they wanted more money to go farther back into town than they did to take us to the square--and before, it was included in the "to downtown" zone. I thought he might be over-overcharging us, but I wasn't quite sure. And yes, we just paid it, though I questioned the driver. Anyone know the deal? Like, Ave. 30th would be included in the basic 60-peso to-town from near-south-hotel fare, but 65th/El Moro wouldn't be? (I don't remember our destination in this case.)

And speaking of sharks, and the reprehensible finning thereof, don't the Tulum-area taxi operators officially call themselves "the sharks"?

 

[ggunn]

That one I remember. Old radio code response made popular in the CB days before call phones. Loosely translated means: "Got it, ok - fine, sure."

But do you remember 21-30 BYE?