The Bureaocrats Strike Again

It started out as a good idea. Make LED light bulbs that use a fraction of the electricity of standard bulbs, that last waaaayyyy longer than an incadescent bulb, and give people a rebate at the store.

I was never a proponent of the spiral fluorescent bulbs. I don't like fluorescent lights, period. But Hubby gave me one of these new bulbs to try out, and it was bright, not green, and doesn't get hot.

So off we went today to buy 20. 

And here's the catch.

Some bureaucrat at Hydro-Quebec decided to limit the quantities for the rebate to 5 bulbs. The bulbs cost $7.99 each, with a $7.00 rebate. You have to pay the tax on the full $7.99, but it's a heck of a rebate. But there's that little matter of a cap of 5 bulbs...

It's an instant rebate, for the consumer. But here's what happens:

You go to Reno Depot, and you grab your 20 bulbs and line up at the cash.

And wait.

See, every pack of 5 bulbs has to be processed as an individual sale. There is a form to fill out - you have to fill in your postal code, they type of bulb you're buying, and the date. The customer has to pay, then he/she gets a receipt, and finally, a receipt is printed out that must be physically stapled to the form, which is then sent to Hydro-Quebec.

So for example, we bought 20 bulbs today, so that was 4 transactions. And we were not alone. Everyone on the South Shore was buying bulbs today.

Basically, the lineups go around the block.

This bureaucrat was - as bureaucrats go - particularly "gifted." People are going to have to spend entire days waiting line to get the quantity of bulbs they need to light their homes. Reno Depot has had to hire extra staff to help keep the lines moving. To the point where I'm pretty sure they're losing money.

The best fictional example of this kind of brilliance was a short story called "Dodkin's Job," by Jack Vance. It's a hilarious story of one intelligent, though uncooperative, man's attempt to find out who gave a ridiculous order to construction crews that all tools must be locked up at the end of each day, and handed out the next morning, complete with paperwork. It resulted in about four hours each day for hundreds of workers to spend in lineups, unpaid, creating havoc and unnecessary hardship.

There's a joke in here somewhere about the Lightbulb guy not being too bright.