Summersault Blog

In October 2006, I received a postcard at Summersault asking us to try out a new web-based wage reporting system run by the Social Security Administration, that would hopefully save on paperwork and related costs. I don’t necessarily like what the Social Security system represents (as an individual and as a generator of paychecks), but I did try it out, and had an unimpressive experience with the site. As a web developer, I appreciate getting feedback about the tools that I help to build, so I thought I would do the same for the SSA. I guessed the e-mail address of the official whose name was signed at the bottom of the postcard, and sent him a note:

Mr. Liptz,

Greetings. I’m the co-owner of a small business in Indiana and I recently received your letter regarding new Social Security Administration options for electronic filing in small business. After receiving a follow-up postcard this week, I tried signing us up for the service, and found the process rather user un-friendly. In the end, the registration process was not able to “match up” my information with whatever is in your internal databases, and I was locked out after 3 attempts. I realize that there were other options for pursuing the matter (calling the phone number, etc.) but my interest and excitement faded at that point.

I just thought I would let you know that as a small business owner and website developer, I’m very much in favor of using the web to reduce filing paperwork, but in this case it was not a successful transition.

I look forward to future efforts by the SSA to make small business filing more efficient.

Thank you for your time.

Chris Hardie

I have to say, I wasn’t expecting a response at all. In fact, I was expecting the message to be bounced, lost, etc. But to my great surprise and pleasure, Mr. Liptz wrote me back (apologetic that it was a few months later):

First, I appreciate your e-mail. We’re testing out direct mail marketing this year, the letter and post card that we sent you. I’m glad that you read them and decided to come to our website. I get paper reports from over 3 million employers like yourself and we’ve been trying to find a cost effective way to educate and encourage employers to try electronic wage reporting.

Obviously our registration process failed you. You stated that you found it rather “user un-friendly.” We are in the process of changing the screens for next year. There will be more screens, but they will be shorter in length. We think this will help step people through the process.

Even though you made it through the screens we could not authenticate you. I’m familiar with the authentication routines and know where we tend to have problems authenticating people. It’s often happens with new employees or folks who run a company but are not listed as an employee with the company per se.

Again, I apologize for not getting back to you when you experienced your difficulties and when it was fresh in your mind. I try to respond to most e-mails when I can, but when I’m on the road I have a tremendous backlog of e-mail to get through plus what flows in every day.

We do try to take everyone’s experiences both positive and negative into our planning process. Thanks for your feed back.

Chuck Liptz
Director
Employer Wage Reporting and Relations Staff
Social Security Administration
410-965-7057
chuck.liptz@ssa.gov

It’s very difficult to picture any U.S. federal agency involved in taxes, social security, wage tracking, etc. that would have the desire and capacity to respond to individual e-mails from small businesses, let alone the infrastructure. I’m impressed with Mr. Liptz and the SSA for not only shattering that notion in this case, but doing so in such a personalized and positive way.

Now we’ll just have to see how well the online wage reporting system works this year.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 12:45 am and is filed under Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.