I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

Re:I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American an... by danieltillett on Tuesday June 23, 2015 @05:13PM (#9767844)

Interestingly waste collectors (garbos in Aussie slang) are well paid and it is quite a desirable job. They are also the hardest working government employees you see as they are given a route and when they have finished they can go home. Amazing how government can work when the structure is right.

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Re:I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American an... by Jugurtha on Tuesday June 23, 2015 @10:11PM (#9769155)

Yes! There are certain countries that deal with these matters in a way that's alien to the rest of us. It appears that Japan has an interesting way, too.

As a side note, speaking of governement.. as a teenager, one of the books that were laying around was "The American Challenge" (Le Défi Américain) by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber. It was a parallel between European countries and the U.S.A. It also addressed the Japanese and Swedish models, the technology gap (he warned that if Europe let the U.S. get ahead, there will be a time where the gap is simply too big to cross).

It is a very interesting book.

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Re:I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American an... by rusabd on Wednesday June 24, 2015 @07:11AM (#9770813)

and they are quite efficient - I compare garbage collection here in Seattle to Adelaide and in Australia it's only one person per truck doing most of the work without leaving a cabin.

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Re:I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American an... by danieltillett on Thursday June 25, 2015 @06:47PM (#9781405)

Yes this is what happens when you have well paid labor - you focus of labor efficiency.

I wish we could figure out a way of "garboing" council road crews. With them you see 5 people standing around watching the one poor apprentice do the work.

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