COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / WHO IS REALLY MURDERING INDIE COFFEEHOUSES?

If the following description resembles your coffeehouse behavior, then the answer to the headline question is: You are. 

The arithmetic of operating a neighborhood café is unforgiving. When a customer occupies a four-person table for six hours, plugs into the store’s electricity, uses its Wi-Fi and orders one $5 cold brew with a refill, that customer is not supporting a small business. That customer is slowly suffocating it. Rent, insurance, wages, utilities and inventory costs have climbed sharply. 

For an independent coffeehouse to survive, every table must serve a reasonable number of paying customers throughout the day. An all-day camper prevents that. The table produces almost no income while other customers—people ready to order coffee, breakfast or lunch—find nowhere to sit and leave. 

Independent cafés operate on narrow margins. They are not public libraries, private offices or rent-free coworking spaces. Buy your coffee. Enjoy the surroundings. Conduct your business. But if you plan to remain for hours, keep ordering—or surrender the table. The corporate chains may be able to absorb your six-hour visit. Your neighborhood coffeehouse cannot. 

Hey squatter, don't look so innocent. You're the problem. 

FRIDAY FUMINGS / THE ONE-DOLLAR BORDER TOLL

FOUND MONEY.

By the Editors and Illustrators of PillartoPost.org-- Right now, the United States government does not impose a general admission toll on road vehicles entering the country through official land-border crossings. Why not charge one? 

 We propose a $1 federal border toll for every car, bus, commercial truck, recreational vehicle and motorcycle entering the United States from Canada or Mexico. One vehicle. One crossing. One dollar. Hell, motorists pay about $10 to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. Is one dollar too much to enter the United States? 

 Consider the numbers. In 2025, approximately 107.4 million road vehicles entered the country through official land-border crossings: Privately owned vehicles: 94,385,166 Commercial trucks: 12,856,744 Buses: 147,868 Total inbound crossings: 107,389,778 That averages nearly 294,000 vehicles every day—and would produce about $107.4 million annually before collection expenses. 

 No, $107 million is not all the money in Washington. But it could help pay for border-crossing facilities, staffing, technology, road maintenance and security. The figures count vehicle crossings, not unique vehicles. One commercial truck entering five times is counted five times—and under our proposal would pay five dollars. 

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics publishes inbound data only; the federal government does not maintain a comparable nationwide count of outbound crossings. 

 Why wouldn’t this idea fly? 

We are curious, too. Collection would require congressional authorization, international coordination and an efficient electronic payment system. But those are matters of administration, not reasons to dismiss the proposal. 

 And no exemptions. American, Canadian or Mexican. 

Private motorist, tour bus or commercial carrier. 

Everyone pays. Ask Congress. 

 Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Border Crossing/Entry Data.