Shannon Column: Close is enough for government work

Recently I received a letter from the Prince William County Service Authority — the people who bring you water and flush toilets — proudly announcing that customers could now pay their bill online.

I’ve been paying most of my bills online since 2005, so arriving only four years after the rest of the country might make PWC a veritable speed demon among governmental entities, but I’m not impressed.

Most of the delay in implementation was no doubt caused by planning meetings where skeptical executives, who were familiar with the concept of licking a stamp, thought the Internet had “flash in the
pan” written all over it.

Besides, I’m sure many in the management suite still remembered all the opposition they encountered when the service began discouraging cash payment in favor of “checks.”

It’s evident from exploring this new offering that whomever was in charge of its design, development and implementation may still be using dial-up.

PWCSA spokesman Keenan Howell says online payment was embraced to “add another level of convenience for our customers.” But it’s only convenient if you are a goose who enjoys that plucking
sensation.

American Express is happy to take payments from my bank, Comcast has no problem with me using a credit card and Sprint says, “charge it” every month. Not so in water world. They charge
a “convenience fee” of $2.60 for using a credit card and add 95 cents to the bill for bank payments.

This makes PWCSA the Ticketmaster of the toilet.

Why should it cost me to send you money? I can buy used books on Half.com with my credit card and I don’t pay a “convenience fee.” Doesn’t Prince William County have one employee who can
negotiate an agreement with a credit card company?

If the Dollar Store can do it, surely PWC can.

Maybe working for a firm whose main product is produced through Divine agency inhibits basic understand of how a free market works. Paying online by credit card — just to name one method — cuts
out the middleman, middle bureaucrat, middle mail carrier and the middle stamp. It also eliminates the bounced check and the lost check (two and counting for me so far this year). Online payment is for
all intents and purposes instantaneous, eliminating any delay.

Even the authority admits if all the suckers, er customers, sign up it will save them almost $37,000 a year, proving someone, somewhere is vaguely aware of the concept of efficiency.

Even the no-charge method of automatic deductions from your bank account is needlessly complex. Enlightened private sector service providers let you enter your bank account number and the bank’s
routing number. Approval, assuming you have a bank account, is routine. Even hunt-and-peck typists can implement the procedure in about three minutes.

PWCSA says not so fast there. If some deadbeat wants to pay for their water by dodging the “convenience fee” then the county is not going to make it easy.

First you download a form from the Web site and use your paper and printer’s ink to print. Then take time to fill out the form, attach a voided check from your bank, a copy of your birth certificate, a recent
credit report and a pint of blood. Package everything in a leak-proof container and have it notarized. After the county conducts a brief background check they may authorize your direct debit.

Ticketmaster gets away with its piracy because it essentially has a monopoly on the online ticket market, although Craigslist provides hope for free marketeers. PWCSA has a monopoly on water, but
there are other ways to pay your bill.

So why am I beating up on PWCSA if I’m not going to use the service? Because this experience is symptomatic of how government operates. It’s late, expensive and customer unfriendly. (This criticism
does not include the library. I love the PWC library system. Of course it’s hard for even me to complain when the product is free…)

Our local example should serve as a warning when we consider government “change.” The water authority is local and problems are small in scale, but just a few miles up Interstate 95 our elected
representatives are considering changes that will escalate government interference in health care.

This gigantic government intrusion is not health care reform and will not create competition any more than introducing a shark into a swimming event will provide competition for Michael Phelps. Real
reform would reduce the government footprint and introduce market discipline.

Bigger government is not better government. As my daughter Jessica used to say, “Bigger is worser.”

No change is better than this change. And if you are still naïve enough to think that Uncle Sam is really the answer to health care problems, just remember the motto of the PWCSA: “Bringing You 2005’s
Technology Today!”

Michael R. Shannon is owner of MANDATE: Message, Media & Public Relations, located in Woodbridge.