Your tax dollars at work, and not
It's rare that I feel the Feds get something right but the states botch it, but here we go.
As you may recall (https://drwex.dreamwidth.org/984064.html) it's not a clever plan to let all your government paperwork expire at once. I had sent off my passport, paying extra for expedited service. By Sunday when there was no sign of the new passport I started to get a little worried (OK, freaked out, you try being reasonable with an anxiety disorder acting up). I figured "oh, I can get a non-Real ID MA license which will be good for flying until 2020, giving me plenty of time to sort out this mess."
I forgot to mention that last time, Thing 1 and I went to the RMV on a Friday morning. And the line was out the door. After an hour-plus of sitting we had to punt. This time, I figured "right, not on a Friday, not on the first day of the month and let's give a little time for the morning crunch to disappear." So I went over at like 10:30 on a Monday. BWAHAHAHA line out the door again.
Also, no. You can't get _any_ sort of MA Driver's License without a passport or birth certificate now. Um, I have a license. You people gave it to me. Doesn't count. I need proof of citizenship. Seriously, MA, you don't even trust your own documentation? Fine.
Go home, search fire box of paperwork for birth certificate. Find nothing. WTAF. OK, go online, visit PA state registry. Find out they do know who I am and they do have the ability to send me a copy of said certificate. Click "expedited processing" link, go through second process. Determine that for the sum of $58 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will (if it hurries) send me a copy of this certificate in 75-90 days. I don't even want to ask what the NON-expedited processing time is.
At this point I sort of despair. I spend about an hour on hold waiting for someone at the PA office to pick up and tell me if that's really right, is there no way to get a copy of the cert any faster. Eventually the hold message says (in politer language): "Give up, we're not going to answer your call that we told you was important 45 minutes ago."
Just for consolation, I go onto the us.gov site where there's a clear handy link to track your passport processing. This link tells me that the processing is in the final stage and it should reach me by the 13th. I panic somewhat less.
Then Monday's mail arrives, with the new passport in it, 48 hours earlier than promised. I have a hard time coming up with another case where the Federal government accomplished a service task ahead of schedule, for far less money, far more expeditiously than the states. Usually it's so very the other way around.
As you may recall (https://drwex.dreamwidth.org/984064.html) it's not a clever plan to let all your government paperwork expire at once. I had sent off my passport, paying extra for expedited service. By Sunday when there was no sign of the new passport I started to get a little worried (OK, freaked out, you try being reasonable with an anxiety disorder acting up). I figured "oh, I can get a non-Real ID MA license which will be good for flying until 2020, giving me plenty of time to sort out this mess."
I forgot to mention that last time, Thing 1 and I went to the RMV on a Friday morning. And the line was out the door. After an hour-plus of sitting we had to punt. This time, I figured "right, not on a Friday, not on the first day of the month and let's give a little time for the morning crunch to disappear." So I went over at like 10:30 on a Monday. BWAHAHAHA line out the door again.
Also, no. You can't get _any_ sort of MA Driver's License without a passport or birth certificate now. Um, I have a license. You people gave it to me. Doesn't count. I need proof of citizenship. Seriously, MA, you don't even trust your own documentation? Fine.
Go home, search fire box of paperwork for birth certificate. Find nothing. WTAF. OK, go online, visit PA state registry. Find out they do know who I am and they do have the ability to send me a copy of said certificate. Click "expedited processing" link, go through second process. Determine that for the sum of $58 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will (if it hurries) send me a copy of this certificate in 75-90 days. I don't even want to ask what the NON-expedited processing time is.
At this point I sort of despair. I spend about an hour on hold waiting for someone at the PA office to pick up and tell me if that's really right, is there no way to get a copy of the cert any faster. Eventually the hold message says (in politer language): "Give up, we're not going to answer your call that we told you was important 45 minutes ago."
Just for consolation, I go onto the us.gov site where there's a clear handy link to track your passport processing. This link tells me that the processing is in the final stage and it should reach me by the 13th. I panic somewhat less.
Then Monday's mail arrives, with the new passport in it, 48 hours earlier than promised. I have a hard time coming up with another case where the Federal government accomplished a service task ahead of schedule, for far less money, far more expeditiously than the states. Usually it's so very the other way around.