Many consumers encounter precisely this problem: a service provider explains that they cannot perform work in a particular county because it falls outside their assigned territory. The homeowner is left with only one “authorized” provider – often at a significantly higher price. Territorial exclusivity agreements are common across industries ranging from plumbing and HVAC services to waste management and broadband internet. Although these arrangements are frequently justified as promoting efficiency and encouraging investment, they can also operate as de facto local monopolies that leave consumers without meaningful alternatives. When exclusivity eliminates competition in essential local services, the arrangement begins to resemble the very restraints of trade that antitrust law has historically sought to prevent.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash‍.