Social Security and You: Survey Says 4.5 Stars

Well, the votes are in. Several weeks ago, I asked my readers to rate the service they got from the Social Security Administration in the form of stars: 5 stars for good service down to 1 star for poor service. More than 250 of you responded. And the overall rating averaged out to a solid 4.5 stars.

This is much higher than I would have guessed based on the emails I get from folks complaining about problems they had with the agency's services and its employees. So this survey reinforces what I speculated about in a prior column. On a routine basis, people are much more likely to complain to me about poor service than they are inclined to send me an email praising good service. But when given the chance to voice their opinion, the folks who were very satisfied with the SSA's services and employees let me know what they think. I'm going to expound on your rating and your responses in a bit. But first, here are some general thoughts about ratings.

Whether you're buying some underwear at Kohl's or a burger at McDonald's, the clerk you deal with is likely to say something like this to you: "And we would appreciate it if you could take a minute and complete a survey about our service." And if they are especially bold (and honest), they might add: "And we sure would love it if you give us 5 stars!" (5 stars being the top grade in most rating systems.)

It's interesting how in the past 10 years or so, these ratings have come to mean so much to businesses, especially because of the online world and the omnipresence of social media. And it probably isn't too much of an exaggeration to say that some of them, especially smaller businesses, live and die by those ratings. I'll give two examples.

Last summer, we had a new deck installed in our backyard. I got to know the guy we hired to do the job quite well. He owns a small deck-building business in our town. I was very pleased with the work he and his crew did and the deck he built. And even though I paid him rather handsomely for the job and thanked him profusely, he let me know that wasn't enough. He practically pleaded with me to go on Google Reviews and other online sites and give him a 5-star rating. He told me that in today's world, that's how he gets a lot of business. Without a high ranking on those sites, he'd be in trouble.

And here is another rating story that's closer to home. My daughter-in-law runs a small pie business in our town. She has a pie truck and a newly opened brick and mortar shop. Because hers is a relatively new business, and because she is going up against some well-established and very well-financed bakeries in town, she has learned that good ratings on social media sites are the key to growing her little business. And thankfully, she almost always gets 5-star reviews from her customers.

But she's also learned that those ratings can be a double-edged sword. For example, she recently got a 1-star review. She was surprised and hurt -- so much so, in fact, that she contacted the guy. It turns out that my daughter-in-law uses cherries grown in Colorado for her cherry pie. And this guy insisted that only Michigan cherries should be used in pies. And thus, his 1-star rating!

That's just my way of saying that these rating systems can be important and can be an indication of the value or quality of the product or service being rated. But at the same time, sometimes these ratings must be taken with a grain of salt. I'll explain more about that with respect to my Social Security service survey in just a bit, but first, here are the results. I got 254 responses from readers. And the ratings broke down like this:

-- 5 stars: 191 ratings

-- 4.5 stars: 7 ratings

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