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OF COURSE businesses turn down business all the time if it is of insufficient utility. They simply respond to underlying macroeconomic factors in deciding their microeconomic reach (tragic example: in the late 1970s investing in Treasuries or money markets made more money than most ROI, so the economy froze shut). Or, to use the homely metaphor, many time businesses will stick to the core and keep the bird in the hand instead of going for the two in the bush... I can't tell you how many times in my life I've talked to moving van companies or full-service garages or photo restorers or telephone operators and been told something along the likes of "I'd be happy to do it for you, but the price I'd have to charge would be prohibitive and unfair to you because (your household furnishings are below the normal minimum weight we charge/ we're not set up to do oil changes/ we specialize in weddings and group pictures, not the individual snap/ direcf dialing is now so commonplace that we operators aren't even supposed to put calls through except in an emergency situation) . . . So in your case I'd advise (Hiring a Ryder truck and part-time help/ going to Jiffy Lube/ trying a shop that advertises it works with small orders/ dialing it yourself, one plus area code plus number . . . ). If anyone wants to say any particular railroad is shortsighted or doesn't know how to do minamax equations or is too conservative with its capital, then fine. But it's their decision! All I can say is from what I've seen railroads are much less monopolistic than in the 19th Century and much less limited than in the pre-Staggers ICC era of the 20th Century--what is noticeable here is that the tenor of the conversation is not that one particular farmer or rancher is left high and dry, but alternate technologies (and I include the Interstate Highway System among them) leave other modes more attractive. Besides, if the railroad mgmt is so idiotic, why on earth would any government out to preserve itself try to FORCE that railroad into an operation at which it obviously does NOT excel. I'm not a total libertarian, government doesn't always guess wrong about economic development, but the point is they do have to guess, they don't have profit motives, careers and restive shareholders to worry about. I own a small amount of stock in the Norfolk Southern and they've been very good to me in answering my ignorant questions. And you know what? Better me than the federal government.
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