While improving the quality of governmental services is an idea no one
would dispute, using the rhetoric and approach of “customer service” has
both practical and theoretical difficulties. In the first place, the notion of
choice is essential to the economic concept of the customer. Generally, in
government, there are few if any alternatives. There is only one fire department,
for example (and the fire department cannot choose to go into another
line of work). Moreover, many services provided by government are services
the specific recipient may not want—receiving a speeding ticket, being held
in jail, and so on. Even identifying the customers of government is problematic.
Who are a local health department’s customers? People who visit a
clinic? Citizens who might be concerned about a particular health hazard?
Doctors and nurses? Local hospitals? The general public? All of the above?
Even listing all the potential customers points out another dilemma: All the
customers of government seem to have different interests. For example,
often there is a conflict between the interests of the immediate recipient of
government services and the taxpayers who must pay the bill. And, of course,
some government services—foreign policy or environmental protection, for
example—do not connect with individual customers; once they are provided,
they are provided for all, whether you want them or not.