MUA: Huggers and haters weigh in

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Wow!

Who would have thought the MUA could generate all that heat after all these years?

Full disclosure: I was giving what I thought was a well-deserved compliment. The new recycle schedule is a good thing, in my humble opinion. Maybe not up there with the invention of sliced bread, but up there anyway.

What seems to have brought out the beastie in everyone is the LAUNCH. It sort of sputtered.

Seems I was not alone in being confused on the issue. Received several reports of others -- and their neighborhoods -- who duly trudged the co-mingles out last Wednesday. O poor benighted slobs we were!

So I did the manly thing (you DO know that's the new buzz word, right?), and engaged in problem-solving, as opposed to hand-wringing, behavior.

Whether or not the MUA had previously informed me, I clearly didn't have the info. So, I called the MUA and found out there was a schedule and that I could pick it up. Done. On track. Hmmmmm....on the off chance I wasn't the only insect caught in the amber, let's let the WHOLE WORLD know via the blog.

You should know I'm a MBWA (management by walking around) guy, so it's interesting to have another input. This from a resident who evidently believes if an agency is going to inform us, it should do so by pushing the info to us in advance, not passively waiting for us to 'get' it:

"...I called too. 'It's in the new schedule.' We did not get a new schedule. Nor did anyone I spoke to about it. Maybe our dogs ate it, or maybe the person delivering the bulk mail was accousted by aliens en route to the PO. Or maybe it just didn't get mailed before the first 5th [Wednesday] crept up on them..."

That last thought may be what's really gone on. Especially, in light of the comment I got from a HUGGER (an MUA official?):

"FYI - the PMUA did put ads in the paper yesterday [Monday] and today [Tuesday] informing everyone of what to put out on Wednesday, April 5th... In addition notices were left at all houses yesterday and today...recycling schedule was in PMUA Newsletter which was in mailboxes first week in January... Dan, get facts straight before printing them."

Sheesh! And I thought I was giving them a tip of the hat.

Then I had a Shakespeare moment ("The lady doth protest too much, methinks." - Hamlet: Act 3, scene 2). Why the ads if everyone already knew? Why the notices -- all the ones I saw making my 6 AM run to the store for the papers were stuffed halfway into the lids of the bins -- if everyone already knows? Methinks the MUA knew -- or found out after last Wednesday -- that everyone DIDN'T know.

Having been in direct marketing for many years before serving as the city's information officer, I can't resist offering some wonkish advice about communicating, especially where you want people to change a deeply-ingrained schedule:

• Don't clutter the message. Putting it in a newsletter is fine, but that cannot be THE communication on the subject. It needs a standalone message, where the changes are outlined succinctly -- the handout I picked up at the MUA was quite adequate, but...

• Push the message to the audience. Having it in the MUA's literature rack does not cut it. It needs to be in the audience's mailbox. The DPW's Spring leaf pickup schedule is a good example. It arrived this week, just as the leaf pickup schedule begins, with detailed instructions about what to do -- in Spanish as well as English.

• Delivery should be timely. In direct marketing, where your livelihood depends on getting the audience to respond to your message, you learn very quickly the importance of timing. There is a window of opportunity for getting people's attention -- roughly two weeks to one week before the action needed. That's when that fine flyer should have been in our mailboxes!

• If using voicemail, cover all the bases. A recorded message can be very helpful in getting the info to those who call. But there is a checklist to cover.

• First, if it's a major change, make sure the option kicks in at the top of the message tree ("If you are calling for recycling information, press X now; for all other calls, select from the following menu" -- then dump into regular phone tree).

• Second, cover as many of the 5 W's as needed: who, what, when, where, why. If you're going to tell me the 5th Wednesday schedule has changed, tell me what to do next...should I put out my recycles next Wedesday? or not?

Lastly, if you have to use CYA measures such as last-minute ads (who read these?) and flyers tucked half into bins, don't toot the horn on these, it only makes you look a day late and a dollar.... aaahhhhhh, I'm not gonna go there.

So, we have a great solution to getting people to move to a better routine. NO ONE has complained about that -- in fact, one person said their youngest son (the 'recycling honcho') would be helped by printing out the schedule and taping it up in a convenient spot. Tip: this person also pointed out that it works best if you set the printer to 'Landscape' to print out the chart.

One HATER did wonder what the MUA workers were doing on the 5th Wednesday. Let the MUA explain that one. All I can say is they are NOT goofing off.

Whew! Enough, already!

Tell you one thing, I'll be very careful before I throw a bone to the MUA again.

-- Dan Damon