by sema4hacker on 1/6/25, 3:18 AM
A couple of years ago we bought a building with an idle freight elevator. The elevator was overdue for test/inspection (required every 5 years) to remain legal. The service company quoted $5k for the test/inspection, which would not include the cost of any subsequent necessary repairs. Since we didn't need the lift, we decided to just leave it out of service, but the local OSHA office still requires $645/year to leave it marked idle. What a racket.
by massysett on 1/6/25, 2:49 AM
Stories like this make me a bit suspicious. It reads like some publicist - for the building owners maybe? or for elevator repair companies lobbying for something? - contacted the author or the website and said "I've got a great story for you, America is in an ELEVATOR CRISIS!" At first the writer yawned, but worked on this piece sporadically when there was nothing else to do, and several months later there was a slow news day, so might as well put this up.
I can understand saying there are some issues here, but "elevator crisis"? Yeah OK.
by nothercastle on 1/6/25, 1:57 AM
Duopoly on elevators means no competition. Duopoly exists due to excessive regulation. Some regulation is good but sometimes it gets out of hand and no competition is possible
by SoftTalker on 1/6/25, 1:57 AM
“Nearly 1.1 million Americans end up in the emergency room every year due to incidents stemming from taking the stairs”
I used this reasoning to argue that a “take the stairs” campaign by the healthy workplace committee at work was a bad idea. They didn’t want to hear it.
by xnx on 1/6/25, 3:23 AM
The article barely mentions unions which are a driver of extra cost. The International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC) requires that elevators be assembled on-site rather than prefabricated in many cases for job security.
by eadmund on 1/6/25, 2:57 AM
> "Everyone is born needing an elevator, and if they're lucky they die needing one too," says Stephen Smith
I cannot understand what this could mean.
> the U.S. would benefit from federal elevator standards
What would the constitutional basis for those be?
by kkfx on 1/6/25, 10:46 AM
The point is another: why.
We need to consume less, so we need new buildings, and that's will be as well in the future, so we need to been able to rebuild at little costs, HOMES and SHEDS respond to such needs, not high rise. High rise nowadays respond only to construction industry need to maximize their own profits.
by add-sub-mul-div on 1/6/25, 1:59 AM
> "Everyone is born needing an elevator, and if they're lucky they die needing one too,"
What does this saying mean?
And what's with the weird article formatting? Is it targeted at people with short attention spans or is it some kind of AI garbage?
by rbanffy on 1/6/25, 9:37 AM
It’s time buildings have RAIEs: redundant arrays of independent elevators.
by mmooss on 1/6/25, 5:51 AM
Again, lack of labor and supply of parts; you hear the same thing over and over. Where are this great capitalist economy and superhuman capitalists? There is demand; why isn't our marketplaced supplying the need?
Something doesn't add up.
by laughing_man on 1/6/25, 3:25 AM
Yet another reason to prefer rural and suburban living. Can't remember the last time I took an elevator.