| Saving
the Sacred Dollar |
| Tough
economic times are on the way. |
| For some companies, tough economic times have already hit,
and for the Fairfax County government, tough times are right
around the corner. The Observer published an article a couple
of weeks ago about Fairfax County cutting about 5 percent
of its budget now in advance of predicted drop-offs of tax
revenue in the future. |
| Those cuts will threaten many programs across the county,
but one that many Reston people have campaigned for is the
expansion of the women's shelter. |
| Now, I'm not an expert on balancing a budget. I just recently
got used to the idea that since my wife, Katie, and I are
spending money at the same time, my checkbook will never be
in real balance again. |
| Not that it ever was. But when I was single I always had
a general idea of what the balance was in my account, even
when I didn't pay attention to it much. Now, it's pretty much
always up in the air because on the same day Katie buys lunch,
gas and some fruit, I go buy a gargantuan TV and our bank
account balance from that point on is anybody's guess. |
| However, when it comes to crunch time, Katie will tell you
that I've got suggestions at the ready on how expenses can
be cut and savings can be stuffed away in a hurry. |
| No more buying lunch, no more buying clothes unless your
boss says you're not allowed back at work in "those old rags,"
no more fancy and highly unusual vegetables from the Asian
market just because you wanted to make your dish "authentic." |
| Tips like these will slash spending and even out the accounting
in a hurry. |
| Well, I have a tip that Fairfax County could use to do the
exact same thing. |
| Over the past two weeks, I have collected some of the piles
and piles of unnecessary and repetitive mail The Observer
receives every day, and I found that a large portion of it
comes from Fairfax County. |
| The county Office of Public Affairs mailed to my office
no fewer than 12 envelopes in two weeks, each of them arriving
in triplicate or quadruplicate or quintuplicate, looking an
awful lot like billionuplicate. |
| It's not hard to figure out how one company can get on the
same mailing list in several different incarnations. One letter
is mailed to Liz Crotty at The Reston Observer, while another
is mailed to Liz Crotty, "Government Reporter," at The Reston
Observer. |
| One letter comes to Tom Grein at The Reston Observer, while
another, identical package is sent to Tom Grein, "Publisher"
at The Reston Observer. Mail comes to me addressed to Christopher
Moore at The Herndon Observer in one envelope, and again to
Christopher Moore, "Managing Editor," on another envelope. |
| Now, gather the kids around because we're going to do some
math. Math should be a family activity, after all. |
| Each of these envelopes costs exactly 34 cents to mail.
If the county could put more than one press release in an
envelope, and reduce the repetitive addresses, 10 of the 12
envelopes we received could be eliminated. |
| So in just a two-week period at one company in a county
filled with daily commerce, Fairfax County could have saved
itself $3.40 in postage alone. |
| That would total something more than $80 a year in savings
just in mailing to The Observer. I'll bet that if a county
worker fine-tuned the list by calling recipients and finding
out what they need, eliminating duplicate or useless addresses,
and combining releases, Fairfax could save $50,000 a year
or more, and that wouldn't even count the savings in paper,
printer ink, etc. |
| And while we're on the subject of duplicate mailings, the
Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Library
of Virginia should take this advice to heart, as well. |
| I realize the Fairfax County budget is over $1 billion these
days, and saving $50,000 won't even be noticeable to county
accountants. But that $50,000 will go a long way to people
who need one more bed at the women's shelter, or who need
one more police officer on duty, or who need one more person
to be able to answer the phone at their local elementary school. |
| But don't do what Fairfax County school officials did. Don't
stop mailing altogether. All the Fairfax County school press
releases we get now arrive by e-mail, which is probably a
great savings and a good bit easier on the county budget. |
| Now, the messages don't always get read, because it's easier
to scan a printed sheet in a few seconds and glean any details
than it is to scroll down and down and down until you find
something interesting. |
| When economic times get tough, paying attention to the pennies
can get you a long way away from trouble. Meanwhile, I'm going
to eat some of the lunch I brought from home. |
