Timely reminders

So, Geoff Paddock is one of the people who don't get their reminders to renew their license plates. He forgets and is issued a ticket. He complains to the BMV and is told, well, it was one of our computer glitches, and it's just a courtesy anyway, so quit yer whinin'. Paddock isn't buying it:

 “But it's more than a courtesy. License fees are a tax, and the least the state can do is to mail notices in a timely manner.”

We know that in our personal lives if we do somebody a favor long enough, it begins to be seen as an obligation, and we're stuck doing it forever. Same thing on the macro level -- if a courtesty is done long enough, it begins to be seen as a duty. I know I'm that way with people who have a claim on my money. I don't keep track of anything -- I get a bill, I write a check. If the bill is late, the check is late. I was tardy in making my fall property tax payment last year because I forgot it was due. The county puts the payment stubs for both the spring and fall payments in the same billing envelope, and we're supposed to remember to hunt the thing up several months later.

The need for a reminder doesn't make Paddock or me right, of course. What's due is due, whether we're nudged or not.