6 ms·

Except the government employs 2.7+ million people. If Google ran the DMV there'd be no one working at the building, no support email, no customer service, and

Except the government employs 2.7+ million people. If Google ran the DMV there'd be no one working at the building, no support email, no customer service, and you'd have to get answers to questions from other pedestrians on unofficial forums.

ianai 9y ago
You made a genuinely good comment. Sorry it got downvotes.
malvosenior 9y ago
You choose a funny example. I can't imagine the hellish nightmare that would be trying to email the DMV for support. If Google ran the DMV we'd get our drivers licenses instantly delivered in digital form to our Android phones. We wouldn't have to stand in line or "take a number" and waste a day in a filthy office building packed to the brim with disgruntled bureaucrats.
- atmosx 9y ago
  ...good luck finding a person to talk to, if your license was revoked for no apparent reason. Careful what you wish, might actually happen.
- galdosdi 9y ago
  Actually, I emailed the NY DMV last year to complain about a paperwork snafu and to my shock, I got a reply within a day or two politely saying they had fixed it for me! Also, last week I went to renew my license. I was also updating my address and upgradig to class E. I went to NYC's special "License Express" DMV office. It was clean and nice with comfy chairs and everyone was polite and nice and I was out of there in under 30min despite having no appointment. I noticed several big signs, "if you have an appointment and have been here 15 or more minutes, please immediately ask to speak with a supervisor" Maybe your state just sucks? Anyway, I am sick of t shirt libertarians stereotyping all government as dogshit. Private and public sector both contain great and terrible customer service orgs
  - malvosenior 9y ago
    I'm willing to bet NYC has better DMVs than most places. This is not a typical experience. > Anyway, I am sick of t shirt libertarians stereotyping all government as dogshit. I'm just speaking from my own lived experiences with DMVs.
    - falcolas 9y ago
      In-The-Sticks experience with the DMV shows the same experience, down to the signs asking you to speak to a supervisor. This tells me that perhaps your experience with DMVs is out of date. I do remember when the DMV was hours of waiting in uncomfortable plastic chairs, but that's no longer the case.
      - malvosenior 9y ago
        It's possible. Last I went was a few years ago in California and it was really terrible (many hour wait, not clean...). Good to hear that's not the case everywhere though.
    - galdosdi 9y ago
      Does not matter. My point was not that all DMV or government is great. My point was some is good some is bad. The OP seemed (to me anyway) to be saying it's almost always bad, and that stereotype ("lol government is sooolo inefficient eberyone knows it lol") is in fact a common one. It was worth showing its falsehood, but that doesn't mean the polar opposite is true either. I've also had good and bad govt agency experiences in other states. I seem to remember the Arkansas "DMV" (they don't even have a real DMV exactly, its duties are or were back then split among a few other agencies) being simple and not particularly frustrating to deal with. Or does that not count either cause Arkansas is such a similar state to new York? /s
  - TimJYoung 9y ago
    Similar experience here, but with different area of the NY state government. Last year our company had a screw-up with a part-time employee that resulted in us getting a workers comp penalty of a few thousand dollars for not carrying the proper amount of insurance. We sent the workers comp board a letter explaining the screw-up, and how we've rectified the issue promptly (we fixed it as soon as we were notified by NY state). After two months, they had adjusted most of the penalties down to almost nothing and had resolved the whole issue to our complete satisfaction. The whole process was completely fair and just. We also never had any issue getting someone on the phone to talk to, and the NY state web site was very easy to use in terms of tracking our situation and getting updates.

ianai 9y ago

You made a genuinely good comment. Sorry it got downvotes.

malvosenior 9y ago

You choose a funny example. I can't imagine the hellish nightmare that would be trying to email the DMV for support. If Google ran the DMV we'd get our drivers licenses instantly delivered in digital form to our Android phones. We wouldn't have to stand in line or "take a number" and waste a day in a filthy office building packed to the brim with disgruntled bureaucrats.

atmosx 9y ago
...good luck finding a person to talk to, if your license was revoked for no apparent reason. Careful what you wish, might actually happen.
galdosdi 9y ago
Actually, I emailed the NY DMV last year to complain about a paperwork snafu and to my shock, I got a reply within a day or two politely saying they had fixed it for me! Also, last week I went to renew my license. I was also updating my address and upgradig to class E. I went to NYC's special "License Express" DMV office. It was clean and nice with comfy chairs and everyone was polite and nice and I was out of there in under 30min despite having no appointment. I noticed several big signs, "if you have an appointment and have been here 15 or more minutes, please immediately ask to speak with a supervisor" Maybe your state just sucks? Anyway, I am sick of t shirt libertarians stereotyping all government as dogshit. Private and public sector both contain great and terrible customer service orgs
- malvosenior 9y ago
  I'm willing to bet NYC has better DMVs than most places. This is not a typical experience. > Anyway, I am sick of t shirt libertarians stereotyping all government as dogshit. I'm just speaking from my own lived experiences with DMVs.
  - falcolas 9y ago
    In-The-Sticks experience with the DMV shows the same experience, down to the signs asking you to speak to a supervisor. This tells me that perhaps your experience with DMVs is out of date. I do remember when the DMV was hours of waiting in uncomfortable plastic chairs, but that's no longer the case.
    - malvosenior 9y ago
      It's possible. Last I went was a few years ago in California and it was really terrible (many hour wait, not clean...). Good to hear that's not the case everywhere though.
  - galdosdi 9y ago
    Does not matter. My point was not that all DMV or government is great. My point was some is good some is bad. The OP seemed (to me anyway) to be saying it's almost always bad, and that stereotype ("lol government is sooolo inefficient eberyone knows it lol") is in fact a common one. It was worth showing its falsehood, but that doesn't mean the polar opposite is true either. I've also had good and bad govt agency experiences in other states. I seem to remember the Arkansas "DMV" (they don't even have a real DMV exactly, its duties are or were back then split among a few other agencies) being simple and not particularly frustrating to deal with. Or does that not count either cause Arkansas is such a similar state to new York? /s
- TimJYoung 9y ago
  Similar experience here, but with different area of the NY state government. Last year our company had a screw-up with a part-time employee that resulted in us getting a workers comp penalty of a few thousand dollars for not carrying the proper amount of insurance. We sent the workers comp board a letter explaining the screw-up, and how we've rectified the issue promptly (we fixed it as soon as we were notified by NY state). After two months, they had adjusted most of the penalties down to almost nothing and had resolved the whole issue to our complete satisfaction. The whole process was completely fair and just. We also never had any issue getting someone on the phone to talk to, and the NY state web site was very easy to use in terms of tracking our situation and getting updates.