On November 19, 2006, I inquired with the GPO regarding how they decided on charging the public $8,000 for documents they produce in their normal course of printing bills. These documents are not for the end-user, but would be useful for sites like GovTrack. The U.S. Code requires most GPO documents be sold to the public at their marginal cost to distribute, and the marginal cost of distributing the documents I wanted (the “Daily Bills” product with “GPO Locator Codes”) couldn’t be more than $100 a year, and is probably closer to $1.00. Either they aren’t complying with the law, or they don’t consider the documents among those covered by that rule. I wanted to know which.
Today I got an email from GPO’s Lead Customer Service Representative:
Dear Customer: I was updating my database files and notice that your incident was still pending.
Yeah, I would say so. Better late than never.
Make a Suggestion
4 responses so far ↓
Oxa Koba // Nov 14, 2007 at 4:50 pm
That’s it?
I clicked through o the permalink hoping their was more to read. That is ridiculous.
Have you responded to the “acknowledgment” of your inquiry?
Gabriela // Nov 14, 2007 at 5:16 pm
So what did they say? Just that your request is still pending?
Joshua Tauberer // Nov 15, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Yes I responded, and no, she didn’t say anything substantive about my question — she asked if the issue was really still unresolved. I’ll post when I know more.
Joshua Tauberer // Nov 16, 2007 at 11:13 am
I got redirected:
“Thank you for contacting the U.S. Government Printing Office. Your inquiry is not handled in this office. GPO’s Office of Congressional Publishing Services serves as the liaison for print and electronic product requests between GPO and Congress. This Office works directly with the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the scheduling, processing, and monitoring of all bills, reports, documents, laws, and miscellaneous publications produced by Congress, plus the hearings and committee prints generated by Senate and House committees. The Office provides formal and informal estimates for printing and product development, and processes all congressional requisitions for stationery, envelopes, mailing franks, and reprints from the Congressional Record. ”
Next stop, a phone call with that office… (Bah.)
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