This is a story about the confusion consumers can face when public information isn’t clear. In this example, the consumer is me and the public information comes from Brisbane City Council.
The lesson is simple enough – but, oh, so difficult to implement. Clear public information requires anticipating users’ questions and providing sufficient detail. When public information falls down, the most likely casualties are consumer confidence and frustration or stress for public-facing staff.
This week, I helped my son to dispose of an old mattress and bed base. It should have been an easy task: we pulled the bed base apart, loaded the base and mattress into the back of my car, grabbed a council waste voucher, and drove to the tip (aka resource recovery centre).
Brisbane City Council provides residents with 10 waste vouchers per year, and each voucher can be used for up to 100 kg of either general or green waste. Easy, right? The mattress and base together weighed around 40 kg, so one voucher should be sufficient.
I tore one voucher from my set, quickly scanned the printed information to check whether there was any possibility I was making a mistake, and set off for the tip.
Council’s printed information included no mention of mattresses and no suggestion that some items might be treated differently.
I’ve never heard of mattress recycling, so I assumed I was carrying general waste. Either way, it wouldn’t matter, as the council takes recyclables for free – no voucher or payment required. The maximum of 100 kg per voucher is mentioned in multiple places on the printed materials.
So, I didn’t anticipate the problem I encountered when we arrived at the tip. It turns out that mattresses fit in a special category – they’re recyclable, but they attract a fee.
To drop off a mattress and bed base requires 2 vouchers or payment. Never mind the 100 kg limit for each voucher – there’s something about mattresses that puts them in a separate category.
The problem for me was that I didn’t know to ask this question before leaving home, and council’s printed information did not provide it.
The weighbridge operator who explained the situation to me had clearly encountered this problem before. Something about his response made me think that he’s forced to explain mattress recycling and payment multiple times every week.
I paid my fee, disposed of the mattress and bed base, and drove home wondering what the council could do to prevent this particular confusion. Specifically mentioning mattresses on the printed information would be a good start – but it’s possible that there are several mattress-like items that would be difficult to fit in the printed materials. Maybe the printed materials could simply mention exceptions and provide a website link.
When I got home, I checked council’s online information about waste disposal, and it took me some time to find the information I needed.
The general resource recovery information includes nothing about mattresses.
Eventually, I found mattresses in an alphabetical listing of items that can be recycled – so this means I’m only going to find the information I need if I start my search already knowing that mattresses are a recyclable item.
The mention of mattresses includes bracketed information: ‘$35 per mattress’. There’s nothing here about using a voucher instead of paying the fee, but the mattress listing is a live link to additional information.
The link took me to a separate box about mattresses, which explained that mattresses are recycled but attract a $35 fee, payable on arrival at the tip. OK – that’s clear enough, but it’s not information I could have easily found, and it’s not included on the printed information. It also doesn’t mention that a voucher can be used instead of payment.
The box about mattress recycling includes yet another link, deeper into the site. There, I discovered that mattresses can be recycled at the tip either by paying the $35 fee or by providing a waste voucher.
It’s getting clearer. But there’s still one important piece of information missing. Nowhere could I find information explaining that the 100 kg voucher limit does not apply to mattresses. Each voucher works for 100 kg of general stuff OR a mattress (or presumably any other special category that I haven’t yet thought of).
As a consumer, I was left to draw the logical conclusion: if I want to dispose of a mattress and a bed base, the total weight is not relevant. I’ll need 2 vouchers or I’ll need to pay a fee. I’ve been unable to find this vital piece of information on the council’s website.
I got rid of my son’s mattress without too much difficulty, and I now understand how the system works. Next time, I’ll take 2 vouchers. The trouble is that next time will probably be in 5 years or more, and I’ll have forgotten what happened. And my understanding doesn’t help other people who want to dump a mattress.
So, what’s the real message here – one that goes beyond mattresses and waste vouchers?
It’s difficult for writers to anticipate readers’ questions and problems. When we’re writing, we need to think about content from as many perspectives as possible. We need to imagine what it’s like for people who try to use information. We also need to test documents with real readers whenever possible.
But we also need to monitor what happens to our documents when they’re used in the real world. In particular, writers need to consult with customer-facing staff. I’m guessing that the council’s weighbridge operators know more about mattress-disposal confusion than anyone else.