By Thursday BramI get free books in the mail every year. I don't have to review them, pay postage or do anything else with them. Uncle Sam sends them to me because I ask for them. These publications aren't exactly the sorts of books you snuggle down with for a quiet afternoon, but they are extremely useful.
My personal favorite is the Consumer Action Handbook, which you can order at ConsumerAction.gov . It has scores of tips for consumers, from very general advice on avoiding scams to very particular tips on choosing life insurance. But that advice is only about half the book. The other half is basically a telephone book: it's full of contact information for consumer assistance organizations. I'm not just talking about the phone number for your local better business bureau, either. It has the full contact information for Toyota Motor Sales' Customer Assistance Center, FedEx Kinko's Customer Relations department and Whirlpool Corporation's Corporate Headquarters. If I need to ask a question or file a complaint for pretty much any major corporation in the U.S., the federal government has already given me the address.
But through the Federal Citizen Information Center , I can order a slew …

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