Debris clean-up has hit a glitch in Florida

[genxlib]

2. These companies work like insurance

They sign up contracts over a wide area working under the assumption that only a small fraction of the contracts will be initiated at any given time. No one wants to pay rates high enough to have these resources sitting around. The only way to keep the rates down is to spread the cost of capabilities around to a lot of potential disaster areas.

The nature of Irma screwed that up by impacting the entire state.

When all their contracts got initiated at one time, they were overwhelmed.

In the best case, they should have ramped up to meet their obligations. At the very least, they should have met their obligations for price with only time implications due to demand.

But it sounds as if they have been trying to re-negotiate on the fly. Even worse, they seem to be prioritizing the clients willing to pay premium rates.

I am sympathetic to the logistical challenges but these people stand to make a lot of money. they have no right to make more by dodging their responsibilities. If anything, they should be paid less for the delayed removal that did not meet their contractual obligations. Or even better, the Cities should proceed without them and sue them for the cost+premium.

One thing I do know. My City did better than most. I don't think it is a coincidence that my City staffs their own waste management division with City employees. When the time came to do clearing, it took them some time to catch up but they had no other obligations to outside clients. That is the thing about privatizing city services. You lose a lot of control (aside from the other downsides)