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Comment by qbasic_forever | Hacker News Reader

Why should firefighters put out fires? They make no money from it. It costs them money in equipment wear, water usage, etc.!

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I'm sympathetic to your grandparent statement (closing stores can really screw their patrons), but the comparison to firefighters is apples to oranges. Firefighting is a civic utility-everyone contributes a little bit for the service. Grocery stores are not, in most locales.

If no one fights fires, they burn uncontrollably and we all die. If no grocery stores operate, we all starve and die. Feeding the people is the same level of protection as fighting fires.

Expenses of firefighting are paid from the state budget. When expenses of grocery stores (dispensaries?) will be paid from the state budget, the comparison would stand.

Also, shoplifting is like calling firefighters to water your lawn, because, see, it's free!

Running a store is very different from firefighting - arguably there is a much higher moral good being done by literally saving people from imminent death by burning. Firefighters are also paid in many places, even if volunteer services are available.

Finally, they do have charitable "food delivery" places - they are called soup kitchens, but they are intended for people who can't afford food at all, not necessarily for people who have the money to buy what they need.

Because they get paid to do it - they literally make money from fighting fires

How does this business of fire fighting make money? All they do is spend money on equipment, labor, etc. Where is their income coming from, and who is incentivized to keep paying them despite no profit and no return on investment ever?

It doesn't, but the community decided that it was valuable, so chose to fund it using taxes, collectively. If you make the case to your community for a communal grocery store, it too can be funded with taxes. Be warned, it comes with its own set of problems that are hard to predict at the outset.

Actually, I have private fire insurance that I do pay for, and the insurance makes plenty of money on it. That's ok with me.

People could pay for a service where firefighters would come and put out a potential fire at their house.

What if your neighbor decides not to pay their fire fighting bill? You going to be happy about living within feet of their uncontrolled blaze?

I believe those firefighting services will respond to every fire, they will just watch and prevent it from burning a neighboring house that does pay.

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