I’m suspicious when the government sends out arbitrary amounts of money to people in hopes of “stimulating” the economy. But what about sending cash for some other reason? I don’t have a problem with this, although the recipient of $5 quoted in the article sounds pretty mad:
The letter claimed to be from the Department of Transportation and said the $5 was an incentive for personal information about driving habits.
And while it looks like a scam, the DOT says it’s not. […]
“When you called me back and told me it wasn’t a scam, I got even angrier. For the government to spend this kind of money on a mailer like this just infuriated me even more,” Held said.
Sending out cash with a survey could be worth it. The five-dollar bill grabs the recipient’s attention and makes him or her feel somewhat obligated to respond. And while this gimmick may sound expensive, mailing a survey that no one replies to would itself be a waste of money. Making decisions without information is costly too.
It would be interesting to find out whether a one-dollar bill is as effective in eliciting responses. If so, switching to the lower denomination might be a way to keep expenses down. Anyone at MoDOT want to give it a try?
