When government looks bad

Two incidents took place this week that further undermined our opinion of governement services. The first one was about our venerable US Postal Services that failed to tell us that they had received a parcel that we found later had been sitting for over two weeks in their backroom.

We use a PO Box and whenever a large object is shipped to us, there always seems to be a snafu. The right hand doesn't seem to know what the left is doing. Their competitors, Fedex and UPS don't seem to have these kinds of problems. They get things done, fast and almost always to the users' satisfaction. My conclusion is pretty simple, before our postal service raises the cost of stamps for yet another time, we ought to privatize it, get employees who care and aren't afraid to work. We'd save tons of taxpayers money and we could focus on getting our things done instead of worrying it about our mail being delivered the right way.

The other incident occurred when I went to our local Court to file up some parperwork. First the sheriff manning the secure entrance wasn't able to direct me correctly, then when I finally got where I wanted to be the clerk had no clue as how she should handle what I thought was a rather routine request. She had to go back and forth to her supervisor and 30 minute later I was finally reassured as to what to do. Privatizing our court system might be another challenge altogether, and I'm not advocating that we go ahead and do it, but we should “wake up” these government employees who grow fat and lazy, with their generous pensions as their sole horizon. Would strong morning coffee do the trick? I doubt it; at least not in Utah!