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More Unpredictable Side Effects of Technology: Cell Phone Storage Trucks for Students

By Rain Noe - February 20, 2012

in Object Culture

New York City public schools have a citywide ban on cell phones, and I'd heard there were bodegas that offer daily "storage" to students for a small fee. It's a good deal for bodegas--assuming they don't get targeted and robbed--as cell phones don't take up much space, and the twice-daily student traffic probably provides a modest boost in sales.

A company called Pure Loyalty Electronic Device Storage has expanded on this business model, deploying brightly-painted trucks to schools with metal detectors (where it's impossible to smuggle a phone in) to serve as mobile storage units. At the Bronx's DeWitt Clinton high school alone, the truck serves an estimated 500 to 550 students per day. At a buck per phone and with 180 school days a year, that one truck alone grosses roughly $90,000 to $99,000 annually.

When things like cell phones are invented, the inventors are thinking about the device's functionality and user experience. It's interesting to see the totally unforeseen and occasionally bizarre economic side effects that crop up when disruptive technologies collide with societal rules.

via kottke and the times

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katie shelly

12 years ago

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this is the tech equivalent of preaching abstinence instead of sex ed.

you can't fight technology or pretend it doesn't exist.. it should be acknowledged, embraced and dealt with. this policy rly pisses me off!
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alonssoo

12 years ago

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what u have to like rent a locker for your cell phone lol they come up with everything these days whats wrong with just puttin it in your pockets its the same thing
text for free at
http://textme4free.com/
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Chris

12 years ago

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I can't believe there's a market for this. Are they frisking students for phones now? What's the problem with just turning the damn thing off and stashing it in your bag?
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daniel erwin

12 years ago

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kinda weird that cash-strapped schools don't offer the service at half the price, or even capitalize on their prime location and trustworthiness and charge a little more.
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