US: Light Years Ahead of Europe

There may be a six hour time difference between Europe and the U.S., but in terms of efficiency and customer service, the U.S. is light years ahead of Europe. 

After living in Paris for over 2.5 years and traveling to over a dozen countries in Europe, I find a sharp contrast between the two continents wrt consumer behavior. And on this trip to the U.S. the contrast was more visible on customer service and efficiency brought about my market forces and capitalism. A simple point in case would be my travel to multiple locations and seamlessly moving between various services from airlines to ground transportation to convenience stores.

Cost and Flexibility
Europe may beat its chest with pride when it comes to public transportation system, but in the U.S. services like Uber are making travel quicker, cheaper, more efficient and providing flexible employment opportunities. When I am writing this blog I am ignoring the unclean and air condition-less RER B train service from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to the city center, while remembering the protest by Cab drivers and unions in France and Germany that eventually shut down Uber. 

When I got chatty with the Uber driver I learnt that he was driving for a few hours on  weekday nights to pay off his college loan faster. While Capitalism is often blamed for being ruthlessly competitive, but in this case we see it driving costs down and bringing flexibility to both parties (users and drivers). 

Full Service vs. Low Cost
European skies have half-a-dozen low cost airlines like Ryan Air, Vuelling, German Wings etc. owned by airlines such as Lufthansa, British Airlines, but there is very little difference in service between full-service and low cost airlines. 

I travelled on SouthWest Airlines when I hopped between various cities in the U.S. What made a big difference despite screening paranoia at airports is the efficiency and convenience from booking flights to changing itinerary, checking in baggage at the self-service kiosks, getting prompt reminders, updates, and boarding passes added to the Passbook feature on the iPhone. Despite being a low cost airline, the crew (average age of 45 plus and may be paid less?) were on their toes to serve customers with a  pleasant smile, showing off their funny and friendly side. They offered multiple rounds of refreshments (coffee, sodas, juices, peanuts and pretzels) without fretting or frowning and their web-based in-flight entertainment carried a good collection, almost nonexistent in all of the European carriers.

And My Last Dipstick
I was at Best Buy looking for a Chromecast stick to project from my mobile and tablet devices on to the big screen. My friend's wife found a difference of a six dollars in price when compared to other brick and mortar and web-based retailers. The staff at BestBuy came forward to do a price match, something non-existent in Europe.

While on the early morning flight today, I kept asking why is Socialism falsely protecting human interests, fueling inefficiencies and creating a sense of entitlement in the minds of people?