Government owned grocery stores already exist [1]. They are run by the U.S. military, have 200+ locations, and charge at least 25% less than other brands [1].
"Surveys consistently rate the commissaries as one of the military's top non-pay benefits." NYC wants to provide similar benefits for residents.
>In 2024, DeCA estimated that it saved patrons $1.58 billion and had an operations cost of $1.7 billion, $1.5 billion of which was funded from appropriations.[8]
Isn't this the "selling $1 for 75 cents" business model (aka moviepass) that people made fun of a few years ago?
I think this is the mindset required for this conversation. There is no way to make a library drive a profit, let alone financially self-sufficient. However, the library exists because the city values the externalities, specifically an educated public and reduced crime. For those purposes, libraries are incredibly cost efficient.
The same argument can be made for public grocers. Reducing poverty has cascading effects including better health and lower crime rates.
Well no, because the library is often the sole provider of book lending services and there's no private sector alternative. The same can't be said for grocery stores. To continue your analogy, it would be closer to the government setting up its own streaming service, even though there's netfilx and several other competitors. Even though people hate netflix for its price hikes or whatever, it's unclear how the government can do a better job here than netfilx (or other competitors), aside from strongarming/expropriating rights holders.
"Surveys consistently rate the commissaries as one of the military's top non-pay benefits." NYC wants to provide similar benefits for residents.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Commissary_Agency [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQOXdtPBGXI