Saturday, May 29

STUDY IN CONTRAST



(Saturday) Cheryl's father, who is visiting with us for a few weeks, lost his wallet yesterday. One of the things that needs to be replaced is his driver's license. Since he is an Arizona resident I went to the Arizona Motor Vehicles website to find out what that would entail. I followed a link to their ServiceArizona site and filled out an online form, paid $4 with a credit card, and the duplicate license will be mailed within 5 working days. (If we were actually in Arizona we could have gone to a contract station or the Motor Vehicles Division.) It is an amazingly slick and customer oriented process. Kudos to Arizona.

I got to wondering what it would be like if my father-in-law were a California resident. So I went to our Department of Motor Vehicles website to get information on obtaining a duplicate license in our state.

First of all, you have to make an appointment to visit one of our impacted DMV offices (nothing online and no contract stations). Then to apply for a duplicate license, you need to complete "application form DL 44 (An original DL 44 form must be submitted. Copies will not be accepted.)," pay a $19 fee, give a thumb print, and have your picture taken again. They will issue a temporary and your permanent replacement license will be mailed within 60 days.

Can you see why this is an expensive place to live and do business?

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