Originally Posted by
W3WN
Again, it's not the fee that's the issue.
It's the pretense that it currently costs the FCC $50 to process an Amateur Radio license. AND the pretense that it currently costs the FCC an additional $50 to print and mail a paper license.
In other words, under the guise of covering reasonable fees -- and I have no problem with reasonable fees -- the bureaucrats and politicians behind this are insulting us by thinking that we can't do simple math.
I doubt that the actual cost to the FCC to process an application or renewal comes to more than $5. Consider that most of the work is already done by the VEC's who actually submit the electronic information; or the Amateur who processes his renewal via the ULS him/herself. How long does it take the FCC computer to read a file and update a record?
And I doubt that the actual cost to the FCC to process a paper license is more than $10. Again, most of the work is done by others. All someone from the FCC has to do is pick up the sheet of paper from the laser printer, fold it, and put it in an envelope. (And even THAT can be automated these days; Pitney-Bowes for one has a machine that does all that AND affixes postage as well). Then the envelopes have to be picked up and put in the mail. And that's it.
If the FCC's costs to do all that really come to $50 & $50, then they have some real serious problems to address.
I don't object to a fee. I do object to being ripped off.