U.S. gouging Americans on passport fees, senators say

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government has overcharged Americans by more than $100 million a year in its fee for new passports, according to cost figures uncovered by congressional investigators and analyzed by two senators and the Associated Press.

The two senators said Americans have been quietly gouged since 2002. The report they initiated showed the costs incurred by the State Department and the U.S. Postal Service for accepting passport applications were considerably less than the fee charged.

The $97 adult fee for new passports is set by the State Department, which denied Friday that it overcharges anyone.

"We are not trying to gouge the American public," deputy department spokesman Tom Casey said.

The costs surfaced only months after thousands of Americans fell victim to passport-processing delays, finding their vacations, weddings, honeymoons and business trips ruined and their non-refundable deposits gone.

Over the past year, as the government issued nearly 14 million new passports, Americans paid at least $111.4 million more in passport fees than the government's stated costs, according to calculations by the AP using information from the State Department and the Government Accountability Office.

Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who jointly asked for the GAO study, estimated the government overcharged travelers $112.7 million during 2002, when less than half of the number of new passports were issued.

The senators demanded a State Department accounting of where the passport profits have gone, at a time when more Americans than ever are required to have the travel documents as an anti-terrorism measure.

The revelation of the costs has angered some of the people who had passport problems this year, as well as at least one major travelers group.

"It's outrageous," said Linda Kocher of Wahpeton, N.D., who ended up paying twice for three passports after the initial passports she ordered failed to arrive on time for a family vacation. "You always trust the post office. You think they're not trying to make any money off me. That's baloney," she said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/110...sports1103.html

[Dakine 26]

Doesn't hold a candle to the fees what USCIS charges.

$1010 for one form. Maybe takes 15 minutes to review the AOS and 15 minutes at interview if one at all.

How much per hour is that?

[Cassie 8]

I always thought $97 for a passport valid for 10 years to be quite the good value for the money paid.

[Fandango 1,439]

What are those wacky Dems crowin about now?

Silly Democrats!

[JODO 2]

I believe when I got my passport about seven years ago, I paid $85 but then had to get it expedited and sent express mail so that was more of course. So I guess $7 in seven years doesn't seem so bad.

[Sinergy 3]

I paid like 60.00 for my passport back in 2000

[trailmix 77]

A Canadian passport is $87 and is only good for 5 years (which is totally ridiculous).

[Jasman0717 9]

I think the $1010 for AOS is even a bigger gouge

[Nagishkaw 510]

I agree, Jim. It is indeed highway robbery.

[*julez* 124]

I have to pay $82 for each of my kids to get a passport. We live so close to Canada, so we really need to get them. Its a bit steep, but we are at thier mercy.

[Geist 0]

"You always trust the post office. You think they're not trying to make any money off me. That's baloney," she said.

Erm, the inability of a business (government run or not) to make money isn't something to be proud of. The fact that the post office has only ever RAISED the price of stamps and the costs of packages should be a major clue that maybe you shouldn't rust them so much?

In anycase, $97 ain't bad. It could be worse, a lot worse. Meanwhile, Americans are being gouged by being forced to pay into programs like social security that they won't see a dime out of, being forced to pay billions to rebuild countries around the world, and are being gouged constantly by taxes...but no, let's complain about paying $97 for something for which the results are tangible.

[Caladan 19]

I don't see how it can be 'gouging' when the price didn't go up just before the new requirements for travel to Canada, which is when 'Gouging' just doesn't mean 'it costs a lot' but more like 'excessive increase in price due to a captive market.' In 2004, it wasn't a big deal to most Americans since most Americans don't travel places they need a passport.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

LOL...I think most posters in this thread missed the point. According to the GAO, there is a large discrepency between the fee charged for a passport and the actual cost. We could certainly talk about other costs that seem unfair but in this case it is apples and oranges.

[Geist 0]

LOL...I think most posters in this thread missed the point. According to the GAO, there is a large discrepency between the fee charged for a passport and the actual cost.

It depends on what they're counting as costs. Do they just mean the costs of making the passport? Or do they include the costs of hiring people to process paperwork, the buildings and capital necessary to make them, etc, etc? In Portsmouth, they had to hire contract workers who worked 24/7 to take care of the passport backlog created by the requirement that every American have a passport to leave the country. Those workers don't come cheap. I highly doubt that the State Department is making that much of a profit off of it. And I'm not against the profit motive at any rate.

What the article also addressed is the fact that a lot of people have had to pay twice for their passports...that is unfair, and I just say that's what happens when you deal with bureaucracies and it should piss everybody off.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

LOL...I think most posters in this thread missed the point. According to the GAO, there is a large discrepency between the fee charged for a passport and the actual cost.

It depends on what they're counting as costs. Do they just mean the costs of making the passport? Or do they include the costs of hiring people to process paperwork, the buildings and capital necessary to make them, etc, etc? In Portsmouth, they had to hire contract workers who worked 24/7 to take care of the passport backlog created by the requirement that every American have a passport to leave the country. Those workers don't come cheap. I highly doubt that the State Department is making that much of a profit off of it. And I'm not against the profit motive at any rate.

What the article also addressed is the fact that a lot of people have had to pay twice for their passports...that is unfair, and I just say that's what happens when you deal with bureaucracies and it should piss everybody off.

Over the past year, as the government issued nearly 14 million new passports, it collected at least $111.4 million more in passport fees than its stated costs, according to calculations by The Associated Press based on figures from State Department and congressional investigators.

The government's standard $97 fee is just a start for some people. The State Department offers to send travelers a passport in a hurry for an extra $60 plus overnight delivery costs. Some private companies offer speedy service for $180 or more. Passport photos typically cost $15.

Since 2005, a new passport has cost $97 for adults, $82 for children younger than 16. At the senators' request, congressional investigators studied whether a $30 portion of that charge was justified.

The $30 is intended to cover the cost of clerks examining and accepting passport applications at post offices, State Department passport offices, courthouses, libraries, municipal offices and universities.

The investigators' findings? The government's $30 fee was roughly double the actual cost when imposed in 2002. The Postal Service, which operates 5,382 locations where people can apply for passports, estimated its costs at $13.31 in 2002. The State Department, which operates 14 passport offices, said its costs were $16.20 at that time.

"This is not supposed to be a profit-making venture," Dorgan said. "They charge 30 bucks just for passing something across the counter."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/02/pas...s.ap/index.html

......

I think the reason why this has been brought to the atttention of the two senators is over the new requirements for traveling to Canada and Mexico.