Who says the government is not efficient?

This morning I had to go to the California Department of Motor Vehicles to pay a fee, take an eye test, have my photo taken for a new license and give my thumbprint. I expected it to take hours.

In fact, I left my car at 8:55 a.m., walked into the DMV for a 9:00 appointment, and was back in my car by 9:05 a.m.

I can't think of any appointment in the office of any private company that has ever been so efficiently managed and so fast.

It was astounding. And I wasn't the only citizen who was very impressed by the courtesy and unusually good organization in the place.

These people who badmouth the government are just plain wrong. It's the same in the government as it is in the private sphere. Some offices are great. Some employees are great. Some aren't. Just depends. The deciding factor is not whether the office is public or private but who is running it and whether there is good morale among the workers.

And THAT is the money shot.

Had to change my registration from Calif to Az. And get an Az. License. No appointment. I walked in and out with a new Dl and new plates in less than 20 min.

Administration is efficient, too.

Now going into a store is very different much of the time.

I have to go to the DMV this week, too.

any questions. It's horrible. The concept of service in private corporations has vanished.

10 minutes from car to office to car? At a DMV in Los Angeles? I've lived in the Greater Los Angeles Area all my life and cannot for a minute believe that what you say is true.

Let me break it down... You parked your car where, at the door? That's gonna be hard because the DMV opens at 8 am every day except Wednesday.

You couldn't have stood in any kind of line in order to get your appointment slip, A-1 through H-Whatever... So you're saying you walked up to the information desk and were handed a number immediately. And then, as soon as you're slip was issued, that annoying computer generated woman's voice called your number IMMEDIATELY.

While it's possible that you parked at the door and were given your appt slip immediately, it's not possible that you didn't have to go to another window after paying your fee, taking your eye test, and giving your thumbprint since pictures are taken at their own window. I guess that by 9 there were still no people in line to have their pictures taken?

After those things, you walked back to your car which was parked at the door?

Come on JDP. Those of us who've spent our lives going to DMV offices in Southern California know better than that.

PS, If I'm wrong, could you please tell me which office you went to, so I can go there from now on?

I got a number. My number was called as soon as I sat down to wait. I didn't have a chance to read a single word in the magazine I had brought. I could hardly believe it. I would wait behind one person, but then I was taken in my turn right away.

I received a form in the mail, made an appointment, filled out the form except for the signature at home and zip, zip, zip.

This was the DMV across from the park in Lincoln Park, Plaza De La Raza. It's right across the street.

I parked a ways into the parking lot, not right next to the door.

requirement. I do think it made a difference.

Not the case here in Texas. I have had to wait at the DPS for well over 2 hours, on quite a few occasions.

They are mostly the result of ISOLATED incidents of lazy civil servants blown up into huge deals by RW gasbags.

It is inefficient for the most part. Part of the problem is there isn't much room for promotion. State workers are pretty safe (at least in Indiana) and would have to do something really stupid to get fired. You cannot get fired for just being a slow or poor employee, you would have to look at porn online or come to work drunk to get fired.

Because of that, most state employees don't have much reason to work harder. Their salaries are fixed, some have no opportunity for overtime, so if a project takes longer than expected, it will just have to get done next week. There were situations where I would have gladly stayed many hours late to work on a project if I was being paid. However, I wouldn't be paid for the time that I stayed over, so my supervisor actually wasn't allowed to let me work more than 40 hours a week.

Going back to the BMV, I've had times where its been just like your story...in and out in no time. I have also had times where I've sat and waited for over an hour before getting service. Most of that isn't really on the workers, it's on the customers. When I had to wait an hour, it was because there were about 30 people in front of me in line. The employees can't do anything about that because they have a fixed number of employees. The crowds tend to come into BMV offices around the turn of the month. If you go into a BMV branch at 2PM on a Wednesday in the middle of the month, it may be like a ghost town. But 4pm on the last Friday before the end of the month, and you will feel like you are in grand central station.


So I guess what I am getting at is, yes, many government services are inefficient. However, it's not a good idea to make a generalization because there are some services that are extremely efficient.

Promotions aren't the only thing that build morale. Having a boss who is fun to be around, liking your co-workers, knowing that you don't have to go in if you are sick because your work will be done in your absence -- and then having pride in a job well done. If working someplace is a great experience most of the time, if things are well run so that the public is not constantly complaining about the wait or the service, then employees work more efficiently. So it depends on the office. Another DUer was saying his experience with the DMV has been not so good. I think that the office I went to had a lot to do with my being finished in ten minutes.

maybe computers have helped. I had a few horrible experiences a long time ago which required me to get a lawyer involved. I was a young lady then and just believed what they told me. The "me" of today would have insisted on seeing a higher up.

My more recent experiences for me and my teenage son have been extremely smooth and efficient.