Rewarding Vice, Punishing Virtue

Ten years ago when I was still changing my son’s diapers, many establishments had already installed diaper changing stations in male bathrooms.  My tight network of “playground dads” always had recommendations for establishments which had installed changing stations, and conversely, those establishments to avoid for having none.  With our individual patronage we rewarded those establishments which had courted our babies’ needs, and through avoidance we punished those establishments which had not.

As of 2018, New York State passed a law requiring the installation of changing stations in male bathrooms for all new and renovated buildings.  Fathers nowadays may unwittingly be giving their business to an establishment which had never bothered to consider their babies’ needs, but which had installed the changing station only to avoid fines.  As for those establishments which had voluntarily gone to the expense of courting our babies’ needs, the present requirement at law robs them of a competitive advantage.  Effectively, the law rewarded some establishments which had not considered our babies’ needs, and punished those establishments which had.

The diaper changing station’s legislation is now water under the bridge, but we see the same mentality play out in the statewide ban on plastic bags which takes effect this March.  There used to be a whole niche market of retail stores which promoted reusable bags.  Ecologically conscious consumers sought them out and rewarded them with their patronage for the virtue of considering the environment.  Now that law requires every retail store to promote reusable bags, ecologically conscious consumers are effectively “tricked” into patronizing establishments which share none of their environmentalist values but are following suit just to avoid fines.

Reading the Bag Waste Reduction Law’s details, another feature should irritate all consumers.  For those consumers who opt not to pay for reusable bags which can cost up to $5 apiece (as for sturdier samples made from canvas), a store charges you 5¢ for each paper bag you use at check-out… and those fees go to the city or county government!  The law could have allowed retail stores to discount by 5¢ every ten items stuffed into a reusable bag, for example, thereby rewarding those ecologically conscious consumers.  In government’s unquenchable lust for revenues, it has punished us all together.

I also have a bone to pick with the recent ban on plastic straws, but I’ll suck it up for now.

Daniel Donnelly, Amenia
Dutchess County Libertarian Party’s Vice-Chair
January 20th, 2020, published in the Northern Dutchess News