Dateline Tel Aviv
Yesterday I talked with the owner of a DVD business. He has three stores, and 17 vending machines that sell DVD’s on the street 24 hours a day. Each machine lists over 120 different DVD’s. The business has 15 employees.
All the profit is in the vending machines --- the stores give the owner something enjoyable to do each day, while staying current with the market. The gentleman suggests that Israeli’s spend less time on the streets because they spend more time with the Internet and with videos at home. His evidence is that the day of the year with the largest DVD sales is Yom Kippur, the day when Israelis traditionally stay indoors. The day with the lowest sales is Independence Day when Israelis are out in the streets barbequing.
Tel Aviv has its version of tow trucks for impounding autos. The trucks are side-mounted forklifts that pick up the car with the forks and put them on the truck bed.