Hey there, it's Stephen Duvner.
And today we've got a bonus episode for you.
It is an episode of another show in our network.
It's called the Economics of Everyday Things, which is hosted by Zachary Crockett.
In the past, Zachary and his team have made episodes about Michelin stars, snake venom, prosthetic limbs.
Today they bring us their reporting on highway signs and prison labor.
If you like this episode, be sure to follow the show on your podcast app.
Again, it's called the Economics of Everyday Things.
And let us know what you think.
Our email is radioeeconomics.com okay, here is Zachary Crockett.
The town of Bunn, North Carolina, is easy to miss.
It occupies a total area of just half a square mile, and it's home to fewer than 330.
Most of the surrounding land is used to grow tobacco and soybeans.
But off the main road, behind a series of chain link fences and secure gates, is the state's primary manufacturer of highway signs.
Inside the plant, workers are busy shearing giant aluminum panels, cutting sheets of green adhesive, and measuring out the spacing between letters.
And outside in the shipping yard, the plant's general manager, Lee Blackman, is admiring a row of completed products.
This sign right here is 12 foot tall.
This is going somewhere on Interstate 95 in North Carolina.
This facility makes all kinds of road signs, stop signs, yield signs, construction signs.
But its biggest products, both by size and revenue, are those huge green signs that loom over you on the highway.