For those of you who've read my posts from the last couple days, you know I sold one travel trailer and purchased another. Here in the People's Republik, you have 10 days after purchase to register a vehicle. A search at the DMV web site showed that all offices within 20 miles or more have no reservations available for 3 weeks or more--and even then, I'll be on a trip--I decided to go in.
I've written positively about DMV before. I will not be doing so today. I arrived before opening time. Here are some texts I sent today:
7:57 I'm at DMV in Rocklin. Parking lot is full, about a hundred people in front of me.
9:23 Still in line outside. Haven't even gotten a number yet.
10:14 Just got a number. Will be another hour or more before my number is called.
12:05 Still waiting. Numbers being called are bouncing around. No idea how long this will take.
(I left from about 1:00-1:40, and then resumed my wait.)
2:42 Number just called.
At 2:44 my work was complete, and I walked out the door. Seriously, over 6 1/2 hours of waiting for 2 minutes of work.
I'm a former manufacturing manager. Spotting inefficiencies is my superpower--not that you need a superpower to spot any today. They could do such a better job, if they had any motivation to do so.
3 comments:
You got off easy!
My niece just turned 18 and didn't have a driver's license or passport or any form of government issued photo ID. Thus, she can't get on an airplane.
So, I look for appts on the DMV website in early June, and find none are available until the end of July. (She needs to fly for college orientation in mid July.) So, I take a day off work to take her to the DMV, but before we go, I notice that they estimate a 60-day turn around time for actually getting the ID. So, we reverse course and head to the local Post Office, which the State Department website claims is a "Passport Acceptance Facility". It's not. So, we drive half an hour to Glendale to go to the post office there, stand & sit in line for about an hour and fill out the paperwork for an expedited passport--delivery in 2-3 weeks.
Got a bounce back from State about a week later saying that they need more documentation, please call for more information.
I call, but as soon as I mention my niece, I hit the privacy wall. They won't even talk to me hypothetically after they find out about her. I manage to get her to join me on a conference call, and they say they have no idea what is needed, but can have someone who know does call back in 3 days. I start to give her a call back number, but the woman at State stops me and says my *niece* has to be the one to verbalize the phone number, even though we are both standing side-by-side in the kitchen: I can't say it, niece has to.
Three days later, as could be expected, they call the home phone around 7AM (not the number we gave for call back) exactly as my niece is half-way through her shower. "Well, if she gives permission, I can talk to you!" This despite the woman 3 days earlier claiming that she couldn't even listen, if I read off a phone number instead of my niece.
Anyway, turns out State has outsourced the identification process to the state DMV's (which in the case of crazy CA might not be wise.) We have to go to the DMV after all.
I take a second day off work and on a Friday we go to the nearest DMV. We get there at 2PM, they close at 5PM. At 2:30 they come out and say that they already have all the people inside that they can handle: go away. They do hand out a list of DMV's that are open on Saturday. (I'm really glad they came out to tells us they were full and didn't waste everybody's time.)
I wake my niece up at 6AM on Saturday, we leave at 6:30 to get to Santa Monica by 7AM to be in line long before they open at 8AM. We are probably the 15th in line.
They open, we are out of there by 8:45. (Santa Monica DMV staff are the nicest people!) They also think that it only takes a week or two to actually get the ID from CA, not the 60 days listed on the website. We send in the CA ID documentation to State and cross fingers.
Passport arrived on Thursday, passport card today, and still waiting on her CA ID. From the time we first went to get the passport to the time it arrived was actually about 3 weeks, so that worked.
I looked up the DMV appointments last weekend and the nearest was 78 days away. If they are serious about the 60-day time to actually get an ID, that makes 138 days between signing up for an appointment and actually getting an ID in the mail.
Why? Likely because CA decided everybody who can get across the state line deserves a driver's license. So now, many more in L.A. need to go to the DMV, but they didn't add DMV offices, hours, or staff. In fact, I think they reduced hours.
Misery for everyone! Yay!
Wow, that's a lot worse than my kid, who also spent the morning at the DMV. Three hours to get a driving permit. I dropped Kid off at about 7:30am.
Who has ever heard a bad DMV story before? :-)
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