Ooh -- Locke! Pierre-Joseph Proudhon deconstructed Locke in his book "What is Property". He wondered how Locke found it possible to turn from "labor results in property" to "and it's OK to transfer property to one's heirs".
What if you paid someone to dig out the spot for you and guard it? Locke says you own it - "servants" (that is, paid workers of any kind) were the ones who did the work, while the gentlefolk whom they served got to own the proceeds.
How I wish I could get people to always respect and honor my informal property rights.... How I wish I could always enforce my informal property rights! Life would be much easier for me.
Great breakdown of informal property norms. The Lockean angle is spot-on but the efficiency tension is what gets me. I shoveled for 90 minutes last winter only to lose my spot within 15 min, and honestly the chair rule started making way more sense after that. The coordination mechanism is fascinating tho, especially how the physcial object signals credibility without any formal enforcement.
I’m not saying I kick those chairs with a righteous fury and park my car there when I see them, even if I don’t need to park there. I’m just saying that sort of thing tends to happen a lot where I live and drive.
My property professor in law school had very strong feelings about parking chairs 😂. It was one of the first things he talked about and an example he always used about informal property norms. He also talked a lot about lobster gangs...
Under normal circumstances, pulling out of a parking spot frees it for anyone else to take. You don't own that spot. The notion that because someone was lucky enough to get a spot before the snow hit means they now own the spot in perpetuity and no one not already there can park on the street is absurd.
From the NPR article: "Nicholas Christakis, who directs Yale University's Human Nature Lab, [...] says any social norm enforced by a threat, such as damage to a car, cannot be a socially optimal way to handle the situation." Yet more evidence that Boston and Philly are populated by abject cretins.
Thanks for sharing the economics behind this! My 4 years in Boston made me a bit of a skeptic though (and now very jealous of the people who haven’t had to deal with this lol) While I respect the effort of shoveling, I’ve always felt this social norm creates a massive efficiency problem. If someone shovels out their spot in their neighborhood but needs to park somewhere else to go to work, grocery store, etc then having spots occupied by only a chair makes parking even more of a nightmare than it already was. How do we balance that 'earned' right of the shoveler with the collective need to keep spots in constant use?
Some might argue there is too much parking available! We’ve designed too many cities to be car-centric and as a result have dedicated too much space to “free parking.”
Never heard of it but i can respect the effort. If someone else did the work they can keep the spot. I drive a lifted pick up and prefer to park away from others.
Thanks Jadiran. I always learn something. Parking chairs...never seen one, but I didn't grow up in the NE. Even better, the Labor Theory of Property...also a new one to me!
I love that I can provide a double punch in this article. This was such a fun one to write because I know how culturally special it is to a lot of people in Pittsburgh.
Ooh -- Locke! Pierre-Joseph Proudhon deconstructed Locke in his book "What is Property". He wondered how Locke found it possible to turn from "labor results in property" to "and it's OK to transfer property to one's heirs".
Great use of "jagoff", but you underutilized the word "dibs".
That's my test to see how closely people read the article.
What if you paid someone to dig out the spot for you and guard it? Locke says you own it - "servants" (that is, paid workers of any kind) were the ones who did the work, while the gentlefolk whom they served got to own the proceeds.
I'm sure some neighborhood kids with a snow day could use the extra income!
How I wish I could get people to always respect and honor my informal property rights.... How I wish I could always enforce my informal property rights! Life would be much easier for me.
Great article you got here, Jadrian.
Great breakdown of informal property norms. The Lockean angle is spot-on but the efficiency tension is what gets me. I shoveled for 90 minutes last winter only to lose my spot within 15 min, and honestly the chair rule started making way more sense after that. The coordination mechanism is fascinating tho, especially how the physcial object signals credibility without any formal enforcement.
loved this semi serious deep dive into this very hilarious regional practice.
I sometimes surprise myself with the things I come up with. This one was such a fun one to write about.
if you're having fun you're doing it right!
I’m not saying I kick those chairs with a righteous fury and park my car there when I see them, even if I don’t need to park there. I’m just saying that sort of thing tends to happen a lot where I live and drive.
My property professor in law school had very strong feelings about parking chairs 😂. It was one of the first things he talked about and an example he always used about informal property norms. He also talked a lot about lobster gangs...
To be fair, those are both very interesting topics! I love the idea of someone starting class every semester with a rant about parking chairs.
I wasn’t mad about it 😂
Under normal circumstances, pulling out of a parking spot frees it for anyone else to take. You don't own that spot. The notion that because someone was lucky enough to get a spot before the snow hit means they now own the spot in perpetuity and no one not already there can park on the street is absurd.
From the NPR article: "Nicholas Christakis, who directs Yale University's Human Nature Lab, [...] says any social norm enforced by a threat, such as damage to a car, cannot be a socially optimal way to handle the situation." Yet more evidence that Boston and Philly are populated by abject cretins.
“Social norms enforced by a threat” should replace “City of Brotherly Love” as their motto.
Reminds me of the time I wore a Bruins jersey to a Flyers home game. The heckling was as you'd expect. Mind you, the Bruins weren't even playing!
I anticipated it and used it as a conversation starter. Ended up having beers with the row of guys behind me.
Thanks for sharing the economics behind this! My 4 years in Boston made me a bit of a skeptic though (and now very jealous of the people who haven’t had to deal with this lol) While I respect the effort of shoveling, I’ve always felt this social norm creates a massive efficiency problem. If someone shovels out their spot in their neighborhood but needs to park somewhere else to go to work, grocery store, etc then having spots occupied by only a chair makes parking even more of a nightmare than it already was. How do we balance that 'earned' right of the shoveler with the collective need to keep spots in constant use?
Some might argue there is too much parking available! We’ve designed too many cities to be car-centric and as a result have dedicated too much space to “free parking.”
There are a lot of really great articles on this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/reginaclewlow/2025/04/16/the-high-cost-of-free-parking-why-cities-must-rethink-curb-space/
Good point! What we really need is better public transit
Spoken like someone who took the metro to their wedding reception!
Never heard of it but i can respect the effort. If someone else did the work they can keep the spot. I drive a lifted pick up and prefer to park away from others.
Those of us in low cars need that space. You can go park up on the snow bank if you really need a spot ;)
Thanks Jadiran. I always learn something. Parking chairs...never seen one, but I didn't grow up in the NE. Even better, the Labor Theory of Property...also a new one to me!
I love that I can provide a double punch in this article. This was such a fun one to write because I know how culturally special it is to a lot of people in Pittsburgh.