The DMV used to be a whole day thing, now I'm in and out in 20 minutes

Back in 2011 I had to renew my license in Austin and took a half day off work, stood in line for 3 hours, and the lady behind the counter barely looked at me. Last week I walked into the same office on a Tuesday at 2pm, did the eye test, took a new photo, and paid $16 with my card. They even texted me when my number was up so I could sit in my car instead of on those hard plastic chairs. I honestly miss the old paper ticket system a little, felt more real somehow. Anybody else notice their local office got way faster, or is it just mine?

1 comments

1 Comment

shane2447d ago

My buddy Dave went to the one in Portland last month and he was bragging about it for days. He got there at 8am thinking he'd beat the rush, but the place was already packed. Still, he was out by 8:37 with a new license and he kept showing me the time stamp on his receipt like it was a sports trophy. The weird part is he said they had this little kiosk where you could check in and it texted him when his lane opened up. He told me he actually sat in his truck listening to a podcast instead of staring at the wall, which feels like a huge upgrade from the old days. I remember when he had to take a whole morning off work to do the same thing back in 2015, so yeah, the change is real in his corner of the world.