Waste & Value at the Tollbooth

Driving along the turnpike one morning this week, I rolled up to the Bedford tolls to see something odd:  A planter had been placed in front of the “Cars $1.00” sign, with bright orange flowers creating an unusual display among all the blacktop and cement.  However nice it looked, though, the plant was obscuring the sign and the information it provided.

For those who may not be familiar with the concepts of Waste & Value as they are defined in the Toyota Production System, or “Lean” as it was coined by Womack and Jones in their book “Lean Thinking,” Value is only that which the customer is willing to pay for.  Waste is simply anything that does not add value, from the customer’s eyes.

For example, if I buy a coffee cup I want something that doesn’t leak, keeps my coffee hot, won’t break and has a pleasing picture on it.  Those things are valuable to me.  The company’s accounting department, marketing, facilities costs, etc. are necessary to the business, but they have no value to me.  So, even though a very large percentage (some say as high as 95%) of things a company has to do are required, only a very small percentage genuinely add value to the customer.

So what does all this have to do with flowers at the toll booth?  Well, the sign that indicates the toll is $1.00 only transfers any value when motorists (the customers) are able to see it and know that they will need to pay a buck to get through the tollbooth.  If you block the sign – it provides no value.  So, we’ve paid to have the signs designed, manufactured, delivered and installed, only to pay again to have the planters and flowers procured, delivered and installed in front of the sign – which is the only object that actually provides value on the highway anyway.  We’ll also pay to have the plants removed when they die off, or when someone reads this column and realizes the mistake.  It doesn’t matter that it’s small dollars – the point is that any amount spent doing something that didn’t need to be done is a waste.

While this is just a tiny example, it is an indication that there are way too many folks within government – and I’m not just talking elected officials or high-level appointees – who don’t think of the tax-paying, toll-paying, fee-paying public as “customers.”  Government has the luxury, unlike a commercial entity, of demanding additional revenue when they need it, regardless of the value that is returned.  Go ahead and try explaining to the toll booth attendant that you don’t think you should pay your dollar because you don’t like the way the roads were plowed last winter.  I imagine you’ll quickly discover that paying tolls isn’t like ordering soup in a restaurant, and I doubt that you will get very far.

I’d really like to think that those employed by the government, at all levels, take to heart their mission to serve the public and do all that is necessary to make sure their funds, which are not so much received as they are taken, are used in such a way that the best possible value is returned to their “customers.”  Unfortunately, in even just this small instance, there’s a clear demonstration that we’re paying far too much, only to pay again, for far too little conscientious effort.