I visited my local BMV branch (New Haven in case anyone is curious) today to renew my driver’s license and discovered how the BMV has managed to reduce waiting time so much the last few months. It seems that the time of my visit, which is shown on my receipt as being only 1 minute and 57 seconds, was timed from when I checked in to when they took my money (which as it happens occurred in the same transaction that included my checking in). The 10-12 minutes I stood waiting in line to check in didn’t count. The time I spent waiting to have my photo taken didn’t count. The time to take the photo didn’t count. The time I waited until my new license was finished didn’t count. Mind you, I didn’t think the service was too bad, about 30 minutes from beginning to end, but telling me that 30 minutes is 1 minute and 57 seconds irks. But it is so typical of what passes as improved service from our State government under Gov. Daniels, which seems to consist of being told how much better things are now and using creative math to make the point.
I had a similar experience. The service itself was nothing to complain about, but the time on the ticket didn’t bear any real resemblance to the actual wait. In particular, the time in line waiting to get a ticket was significant and uncounted. Cooking the books isn’t the same as fixing things.
It strikes me as indistinguishable from the Soviet definition of “efficiency”, that is, to use monopoly power to transfer non-liquidated (but a still heavy economic) costs to consumer.
Bummer– we need our daily fix, Doug.
I visited my local BMV branch (New Haven in case anyone is curious) today to renew my driver’s license and discovered how the BMV has managed to reduce waiting time so much the last few months. It seems that the time of my visit, which is shown on my receipt as being only 1 minute and 57 seconds, was timed from when I checked in to when they took my money (which as it happens occurred in the same transaction that included my checking in). The 10-12 minutes I stood waiting in line to check in didn’t count. The time I spent waiting to have my photo taken didn’t count. The time to take the photo didn’t count. The time I waited until my new license was finished didn’t count. Mind you, I didn’t think the service was too bad, about 30 minutes from beginning to end, but telling me that 30 minutes is 1 minute and 57 seconds irks. But it is so typical of what passes as improved service from our State government under Gov. Daniels, which seems to consist of being told how much better things are now and using creative math to make the point.
I had a similar experience. The service itself was nothing to complain about, but the time on the ticket didn’t bear any real resemblance to the actual wait. In particular, the time in line waiting to get a ticket was significant and uncounted. Cooking the books isn’t the same as fixing things.
Paul,
Welcome to the Republican/conservative/capitalist definition of “efficiency”.
It strikes me as indistinguishable from the Soviet definition of “efficiency”, that is, to use monopoly power to transfer non-liquidated (but a still heavy economic) costs to consumer.
Paul,
Agreed. Efficiency is much more easily boasted about than achieved.