Harbinger wrote:
tri_yoda wrote:
Harbinger wrote:
tri_yoda wrote:
2. How much time have you spent driving in flyover country and/or rural areas? In any small town they can only support one ice cream shop and at least from what I have seen its almost always DQ. DQ has the massive size to be able to afford to outcompete anyone else who wants to try to compete with their structural monopoly on the soft serve ice cream market. They are basically the Walmart of softserve ice cream. I'll admit, this is a weird market, in terms of long term it would tend toward a monopoly or duopoly as an equilibrium, unless it was 100% mom&pop (at least for the rural markets, but that is DQ bread and butter).
Are you actually stating that DQ has a monopoly on ice cream? Now that's just damn funny, or stupid, or a huuuuuuuge exaggeration to support that flawed premise..
It's probably too subtle for you to understand. They have a structural monopoly in their primary markets. Just because they do not have a monopoly on the overall ice cream market doesn't mean that most of their business is effectively functioning as a monopoly.
There are several major cable providers in the US (so none has a monopoly on the whole market), but cable television is still effectively a monopoly because there is almost no competition in a given market.
The definition of a monopoly:
the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.
So you are arguing that DQ has 'exclusive control of ice cream' in small towns? Small towns tend to have McDonald's, Sonics, and all kinds of other fast food joints.
Jumping in here, small cities have McDonald's, Sonics and all kinds of other fast food joints, small towns do not. There are also no DQ's in small towns anymore. There are local ice cream places but not chains. The only chain I regularly see in small towns is Subway. With a population under 10K, they can't usually support a franchise.
This is based on being raised in Southern Indiana and living in Northwestern PA small cities and towns most of my life and traveling the country for work. YMMV
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