Friday, March 22, 2013

One More 'Our Tax Dollars At Work'

Yesterday we got a "Return to Sender" letter in the mail. It was a Christmas card we sent out last December, postmarked Dec. 19, 2012. Yes, it took the Post Office three months to figure out that the recipient had moved and to send the card back.

Lee Dreyfus, former university president and governor of Wisconsin, once said that the federal government's role should be limited to  "defending our shores, delivering our mail and staying the hell out of our lives."

After observing how the Post Office is run -- especially in contrast to FedEx and UPS -- I'd like to amend that to "defending our shores and staying the hell out of our lives."

3 comments:

Toejam said...

At least you got it back, CTT.

In Ireland (my wife's home country) NO ONE uses "return addresses". That includes most businesses. Some businesses use small print: return to "P.O. Box 1234 Dublin". No company name or address.

The Irish feel it's a privacy matter. They believe the sender's name and address shouldn't appear on the envelope.

Stamp cancellation is non existant as well so when you receive a letter 3 months late there's no stamped date or postal facility name to indicate how long or where the item has been.

Go figure!

CenTexTim said...

The more I hear from you about life in Ireland the more I wonder how the public image we have of it over here can be so off-target.

Toejam said...

CTT, Ya gotta live in Ireland for longer than a two week visit to understand the culture. However, having experienced that, I wouldn't wish the experience on anyone.......Cept maybe a Democrat.

Life in Ireland ain't the usual Paddy's Day BS of green beer, parades and shamrocks. As a matter of fact St. Paddy's parades were never a thing in Ireland till the "Irish-Americans" started the tradition decades ago. It was a Holy day in Ireland. Work stopped and everyone went to church.

Incidently, speaking of idiocy:

They just announced a new residential "property tax". The owner must "self-assess" his or her house based on what they THINK the selling price would be. What a laugh. That's like a taxi driver doing his or her own dental work.

But it doesn't cost the Irish government anything to contract with a professional assessor to go around.

If you assess you house at $300,000 and then a year later you sell it for $400,000 the govenment will come after you for the tax on the difference ($100,000). However if you over assess and sell the place for $200,000 they don't want to know you.

The entire Irish social system is in a shambles, but everyone continues to party hearty and kick the can down the road.