Happy Sunday! Today, I’m stepping away from the antitrust series to explore a lighter topic: deadlines–—the last-minute scrambles that somehow keep our world spinning.

Somehow I noticed that people like to procrastinate until the very last minute–sometimes the action seems plausible while some doesn’t. Here’s some observation. Join me as we unpack the economics behind the ticking clock in our daily lives.

deadline: a love-hate relationship

Ever noticed how our daily tasks are relentlessly deadline-driven? Whether it’s the takeout guy racing against the clock to deliver your food hot, or that looming 11:59 PM deadline for your assignments, the ending time point is of the essence. Like a train that wait for no one, departing at 8 AM sharp—almost as if the universe itself is in on this conspiracy against procrastination.

Here’s an economic oddity: completing these tasks early almost never fetches us a bonus, yet overshooting the deadline incurs the wrath of consequences. Isn’t that just the perfect setup to promote structured procrastination?

optimal scheduling: the greedy algorithm’s Achilles’ heel

In the ideal world of computational theory, the greedy algorithm suggests that we tackle tasks in order of their deadlines. Sounds neat, right? But here’s the catch: this method works under the unrealistic assumption that we know exactly how long each task will take. Reality check—life isn’t that predictable.

In real life, tasks arrive in a constant, unrelenting stream, and the time each one takes is as uncertain as my commitment to start dieting (again). Plus, the opportunity cost of time is significant. Let’s be honest, who wants to spend a Saturday night grinding through a machine learning assignment due, not tonight?

case study: the tale of two delivery types

Let’s talk about food delivery because, honestly, I order from Meituan more often than I’d like to admit. The platform always sets a tight deadline for delivery and offered the real-time location tracking thus lets me track my deliverer every now and then. The suspense of waiting blends the mundane with the thrill of a gamble—will my food arrive in time for me to devour it during my short lunch break?

Here, there are two types of delivery heroes:

  1. The Speedsters: These guys pick up the order and zoom off so quickly they often arrive before I even make it out of class. Their over-efficiency, albeit impressive, sometimes leaves me dashing out in a panic, whispering apologies to my professor about a ‘stomach emergency’.
  2. The Deadline Dancers: These are the ones who flirt dangerously with deadlines, mastering the art of punctuality—to the very last second. They optimize their delivery routes not just to ensure your food arrives “on time” but that it does so with a precision that would make a Swiss watch jealous. Quiet morning? They’ll wait. Rush hour? They become a living embodiment of a multi-threaded, real-time optimization problem, solving traffic, distance, and timing with the finesse of a seasoned logistician.

This is where the economic concept of ’time inconsistency’ and the allure of ’last-minute’ pressure come into play. Why rush when the deadline is an hour away, and why start early when you can deliver an adrenaline-pumped performance at the last second?

Just as we often procrastinate until the pressure builds into a monstrous wave pushing us towards productivity, these deliverers manage their schedules in a way that might seem baffling but is all too human. After all, how many of us aren’t guilty of watching just one more episode on Netflix before finally, reluctantly, turning to our responsibilities?

So, the next time you find yourself cursing a delivery that arrives just in the nick of time, remember: it’s just another day, another deadline, and perhaps, a reflection of our own tendencies to delay, defer, and ultimately, deliver.