Off-topic or wot? I thought that was a hanging offence on here
toots wrote:
I said it could be applied to services, imo tho it would be difficult. In some cases such as food service like the 'all you can eat buffets' it's easier to apply this theory because the owner would sell more produce but still have minimal staff.
But you're comparing different business models and costs here rather than economies of scale per se.
A buffet will certainly have lower costs than a restaraunt with table service, but will still benefit from economies of scale in other respects such as premises, power, purchasing, kitchen staff etc.
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When offering a service that is basically down to time management it is difficult to apply because it will always take that length of time to issue the license. Hence the more licenses required, the more time it will take and the more staff you will need. It will cause a constant uping and downing of costs which if my memory serves me right is deeconomies of scale, but, I could be wrong.
But you could say the same about manufacturing something - the more widgets that are produced, the more staff are required.
In terms of things like premises, purchasing and the like a larger organisation will always benefit from economies of scale - the more stuff you buy, the cheaper it is per unit.
For example, if a taxi or council office needs a bit of software to conduct its business then clearly the same software is likely to cost much the same for ten cars as for a thousand, but clearly the cost per vehicle is significantly less in the latter case.
Of course, as the business gets larger the economies of scale become less apparent, and 'diminishing returns' become evident - the bigger you get, the less efficiency gains can be made.
Diseconomies of scale is a different beast altogether - diminishing returns just mean that the economies of scale become less apparent as the business gets bigger, but there are still economies of scale present.
Diseconomies on the other hand actually mean that the costs per unit produced are actually increasing with bigger size. For example, if staff are duplicating tasks.
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With regard to Delta I don't see why they would be interested in economies of scale because the general running costs of their company such as electric, water, wages etc can only ever go up if they expand. The more drivers they have the more staff they need to take phonecalls, do accounting, take settles etc and staffing in a business is generally the biggest expense. It's not a simple case of the more you produce the cheaper it becomes like it does in purchasing or manufacturing. It's just a case of having more money coming in
Well I still can't see the difference between manufacturing and services in this regard.
And while in some respects increasing size means increasing costs - but that won't necessarily increase the
cost per unit produced - in other respects a service provider enjoys economies of scale.
For example, if more cars means and extra staff member is required then that won't reduce the cost per vehicle, but if that extra staff member can be accomodated in the existing building then that's an economy of scale
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would you like to sit on my knee and tell me what's wrong.. 
There are lots of options it's just a shame that like their taxi counterparts there is little or no chance of the ph drivers getting their act together. As the saying goes 'you make your bed, you lie in it'. I don't see the point of a protest either, what exactly do the drivers hope to achieve 
](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")