Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 4, 1995 TAG: 9510040092
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
You've seen the ads: Want to know how to read the new food labels? Write to Pueblo. Need tips on writing a resume? Write to Pueblo. Looking for ways to lower your auto insurance? Oh, just write to Pueblo.
So how come one town in Colorado has all the answers? Well, it's not because the good people of Pueblo (1990 census: 125,972) are any smarter than we are. The city's apparent smarts are all thanks to something called the Consumer Information Center, part of the U.S. General Services Administration, that just happens to be based in the city about 85 miles south of Denver.
The CIC was established in 1970 as an information clearinghouse for federal agencies. Four times a year, the CIC publishes the Consumer Information Catalog, a list of 200 free or low-cost booklets offered by 40 agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Library of Congress and the Federal Reserve Board. The booklets cover topics that range from managing your mortgage to coping with schizophrenia, from advice for airline passengers to helping kids learn math.
Last year, the CIC fielded a record 11.8 million requests for brochures, says Nancy Tyler, a CIC spokeswoman.
"Every year, it's a little bit more," she says. "People are getting more and more consumer conscious."
Either that, or they're just getting more and more curious about booklets with titles like "Kids Aren't Just Small Adults" and "Should You Go On a Diet?''
About 75 of the booklets listed are free. You can order up to 25 free brochures for a $1 service fee. Some of the publications sell for 50 cents, and the rest range from about $1 to $3.
The difference in price doesn't have anything to do with content. Free booklets have been paid for by the agencies that offer them. Brochures that cost more than 50 cents are part of the Government Printing Office's sales program, which sets its own prices. The 50-cent booklets were paid for partially by the GPO and partially by the issuing agency.
If the CIC catalog doesn't cover a topic that you're looking for, the Federal Trade Commission is another place to check. The FTC offers a catalog called Best Sellers, a list of more than 140 booklets dealing with issues that fall under the commission's jurisdiction.
Colleen Tressler, a consumer education specialist with the FTC, says that the pamphlet topics often come out of FTC investigations. The commission is in charge of regulating the Funeral Rule, for instance, and has published several booklets about consumer rights regarding burial vaults and funeral homes.
All FTC publications are free for the asking, and some are also available in Spanish.
For those who would like to try your hand at a little consumer watchdogging of your own, the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council is always looking for new members, says Jean Ann Fox, the group's president.
The VCCC is a volunteer advocacy group that lobbies the General Assembly on consumer issues and speaks out in some State Corporation Commission cases. Recently, the VCCC has been focusing its scrutiny on the automobile industry, but the group also has delved into financial privacy, fraud prevention and consumer protection.
The VCCC is an all-volunteer, dues-supported organization without a paid staff, so it doesn't have the resources to look into individual complaints or offer large-scale consumer counseling. But, like the FTC, the VCCC occasionally publishes information pamphlets that grow out of its casework. Right now, you can get a free guide to buying used cars if you send a stamped envelope to the VCCC office in Richmond.
No, not Pueblo. Richmond.
Colorado doesn't have all the inside info, after all.
by CNB