It's for your (actually my job) safety

I arrived into Panama City late one night on the last plane out of Miami. The minute I left customs I was hit by several 50 something guys asking me in perfect English if I needed a taxi. Luckily this was not my first time arriving and I knew Panama well. I thanked them and said “No gracias”. I headed out to the slightly emptier part of the pick up point outside the airport, where I knew a real Panamanian taxi would pop up sooner or later.

Sure enough an oldish Hyundai Accent turned up and I waived him down. He looked nervous and flatly accepted the $12 offer I gave him, but told me to hurry up. Unfortunately by the time I was in the taxi with my suitcase, the police had already discovered us and my poor taxi driver had received a fine. The police asked me if I was sure I wanted to take this taxi. It could be dangerous. He recommended one of the fine gentlemen in the tourist taxis instead. I said, no thanks this is a friend of mine. Unfortunately my new friend was still fined.

Why did I go with this dangerous taxi? Well I was living on a Panamanian budget and did not like the idea of paying $30 for a $12 ride. I know Panama very well and know how to spot a dodgy taxi.

While there has been cases where taxis have been robbed going from the airport, this has virtually always been due to corrupt customs officials and not dodgy taxi drivers.

I love Panamanian taxi drivers. They charge me a buck to go just about everywhere and will at the same time fill me up with their latest ideas on politics and the world. They are normally relatively poor guys, who are working their own independent business. What isn’t there to like? You do get some dodgy cases, but that happens everywhere.

Unfortunately the union of tourist taxi drivers has decided that non members are dangerous. They have used this to push them selves into a monopoly on transport from the airport. All for the reason of your safety. Even the busses are relegated to a bus stop a long and dangerous walk from the airport. Because of this low income Panamanians who are travelling or greeting relatives at the airport are put in a dangerous situation.

This is just a case of one of the age old protection rackets in the book:

It’s for your safety!

I would bet ya that on closer inspection 90% of all public safety rules in the world are created for the purpose of protecting a job, industry, government agency or other monopoly. In other words:

(It’s for my safety!)

Denmark where I live right now is flush with such public safety rules. Name just about any industry or trade that is more than 15 years old and there is a safety rule about it:

• You can’t rewire your own house (besides installing a lamp)
• You can’t buy more than 10 ibuprofens at a time outside the 256 royally licensed pharmacies (of which only 2 are open 24 hours a day in Copenhagen)
• Polish workers aren’t allowed to work in Denmark according to EU rules (this is actually not just for your safety, but also for their safety)

I would actually add the prescription medicine laws in most countries to this. In most case it provides little protection to anyone and vastly increases hassle and cost involved with being sick.

These rackets exist everywhere. Pragmatic places like Panama route stuff around it, but in Denmark it can be a bit harder to avoid.

Spotting safety rackets in your own country?

If a rule or law includes added expense to you because you need to use the services of some small protected group, it is more than likely a safety protection racket.

I would really like to hear about other safety rackets. The excercise of today is to post examples from your own countries in the comments below.