14 Minutes. That’s how long it took me to renew my driver’s license.
I like to give credit where credit is due – not much point in only pointing out the bad example…what not to do. I got my renewal slip in the mail and, with a lot of whining and moaning, I made an appointment to get my CDL renewed.
The DMV and I have a special relationship – among my mother’s many different jobs, she was the official ‘Paperwork person’ at a local junkyard. That means all the paperwork associated with the 1000s of junkers that passed through that place – my mom was the person who would take that paperwork to the DMV and stand in line for hours while they processed every single ‘Salvage’ title. Imagine spending hours of your summer vacation inside the DMV…When you’re 9.
No – I do not like those green eggs and ham.
I just expect the DMV to be both boring, painful and involving an argument with some angry civil servant because no matter how much you prepare, you never get everything correct. I expected it to be bad…I was very surprised to find it the opposite. Yes – I thought ahead and made an appointment. Then, I also visited the ATM and also cajoled my SO to bring the forgotten DMV renewal slip. That was the length and breadth of my prep. After that, walking inside – I was struck by something peculiar: no lines. No lines at the DMV!? Is that even legal? Still bewildered, I walked to the Info line that was only 3 people deep and was given a number to be served by. Then I went and had a seat. 4 ½, 5 minutes later – I was at the front desk processing my renewal and parting with $28. Three minutes after that, my picture was taken and I was out the door.
I was shocked…how long had this been going on? A government office that actually got you out the door on time? I think the DMV, in the time I hadn’t been visiting, has gone through a pretty serious overhaul in terms of process management and information management. They have a system to route you to the right window with a minimum of confusion. The biometric scanning and camera are updated – no muss, no fuss.
Like I said – going to the DMV did not make me miserable. That says so much on its own – all you really have to do to make your customers happy is keep the misery-inducing processes to a minimum. I’m just surprised and pleased to see that philosophy flourishing in a place where you automatically assume it will never occur. I don’t know under who’s keister the match was lit, but the DMV wasn’t horrible to me today and for that – I credit the updated IT and process management that I saw.
IT is supposed to make people’s lives better. In the case of the Department of Motor Vehicles, that has been accomplished. I got what I needed, in record time, and I came out the experience going “Wow – that went better than I could have imagined.”
Nice going.
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