Epilogue: Life in 2050

Wheelan asks the question "Will we use the market in imaginative ways to solve social problems?" Well will we? He goes on by saying,"The easiest and most effective way to get something done is to give the people involved a reason to want it done"(320). How true this is. Take airports for example: all over the place you see Smartcarts for carrying luggage. Some are sitting in corners, others are pressed up against walls, and more yet are outside in the pickup zone. Most importantly are the returns for the carts. Yes, it's true, that's where you rent them, so what? Well, what if I told you that for every cart you return, you get 25 cents. It's an ingenious way for the company to ensure their carts get returned to their vending locations - simply by rewarding people with a measly 25 cents. They get their cart, people get money. One might say that 25 cents isn't a large enough reward, but here's my solution: see the tens of carts sitting in forgotten places? Turn them in. Say there's 12 carts and you return them. What, did it take you all of five minutes? That's 3 dollars right there. May I remind you minimum wage is $7.25 an hour? You just got the equivalent of about 20 minutes of work at minimum wage - in five minutes for returning carts. Talk about an easy job! Obviously, you can't earn a living from returning carts at an airport for the rest of your life, but the next time you're in an airport near baggage claim, look around at all of the abandoned carts, and if you have time, you could earn yourself some easy pocket money and Smartcarts can get their investment back. Everyone wins. To sum this all up, just give people an incentive to get a job done - and make it one you benefit from as well.