Yet, Government programs have excellent customer service as compared to corporate equivalents. I use one example: student loan servicing. My loans were serviced by the largest company in the business for years, it was pure torture. When the department of education offered to assume the loans, I was happy to have the pain gone. They have been absolutely lovely to work with, clear, transparent and... helpful.
In my experience, I would tend to agree that customer service from the government is generally better than corporations, from the DMV (though states my vary), County Clerk Recorders, Passport offices and even the IRS, and they generally seem happier than customer service folk at corporations who read verbatim from support guide trees and are incentivized to do what's in the best interests of the company rather than you.
In my experience of living in four different US states that the quality of customer service in government departments varies from locale to locale and even department to department, just like in corporations. My visit to the DMV here in Texas was quick and easy but the visit to the DMV in Las Vegas was such a maddening experience I'm surprised anyway bothers to get a drivers license in the first place. In the office if someone announced they were going to the DMV we would assume their inability to escape and start looking for a replacement. I heard stories of a guy that got in line as the foundation was being poured for the DMV and he's still there to this day, fifth in line.
Yea, I find the DMV surprisingly helpful. The old saying 'Good enough for government work' used to mean over engineered and built to last, now it's a euphemism for how much you can get away with when outsourcing government work.
The INS (err, BCIS, err, USCIS --a great sign of a well run institution is how many times it needs to change its name cough Xfinity) comes to mind. They are the most horrifying bureaucracy with which I have ever dealt.
DMV offices in many states are actually run as private businesses under contract to the state, not by the state government directly.
In my state, actual government offices are generally less seedy looking, better staffed, and friendlier than the universally-privately-run DMV offices are.
Deputy Registrars are independent contractors and are selected on a competitive basis as described in the Ohio Administrative Code and RFP. Deputy Registrars receive service fees of $3.50 for each vehicle, driver license and ID card transaction; and $0.90 for each vision screening performed. All fees are established in accordance with the Ohio Revised Code. Contracts are generally for two or three years per Section 4503.03 of the Ohio Revised Code.
All that said, the private contractors do get the job done, but they do it in a way that's efficient with employee time, not in a way that's efficient with customer time.
DMV in New Jersey is great. It really is. Completely painless for everything I've done there including getting a license, buying/selling cars, trailer registration, etc.
DMV in Connecticut is horrific. One of the worse "customer service" experience.
Which says to me, all of the reflexive "DMV sucks" comments are missing the real question - why does it suck in some states and not others?
BTW, despite DMV being the common complaint, I've been dealing with DMV a number of times and never had a problem. Dealing with the IRS was somewhat nightmarish though - while I can't complaint about customer service per se (people I spoke to were polite and tried to help me within what they could) the processes and the transparency were quite Kafkaesque. Basically somehow IRS decided I owe them a ton of money, and I spent several months (not consecutively, just how long it took to be resolved) trying to find out why and how to make them realize it's not true. I never found the answer to the why question but when it got to the question of me owing them something like 17 dollars (there also were cents, I just don't remember the exact sum) I just paid it up to put the whole thing behind. I still don't know why exactly they wanted it and what was wrong (my return was pretty simple and I asked professionals and IRS service people, nobody had any idea).
I had a situation last year where the IRS sent me a notice that I owed something like $20,000 in taxes from a single 1099 they claimed I did not file. In fact, they had missed a decimal point on the 1099 and read something like $75,000 rather than the $750.00 that was on the 1099. After re-sending them copies of the 1099 and all the data I had on what I filed, they responded saying the matter was settled and apologized for the inconvenience, but I'm still bothered by the fact that had that decimal place error been my own fault, I would have been fined $3,000 (according to the documents they sent) but when they make the mistake they just send a form letter apology.
I've had quite the opposite experience. Dealing with the DMV here in Pennsylvania is always a nightmare with long waits and dealing with employees who are rude and make it known they'd rather be getting a medical procedure than renewing your license or some other aspect of their job. I've only had to deal with the IRS in an official capacity twice and both times (while a PITA for the reason I had to deal with them) the people with whom I spoke were exceedingly polite, helpful, and most importantly knowledgeable about what they were helping me with.
I say this not to say that you're wrong by any means, just to offer another anecdote.
I've been to the DMV to get an ID and it wasn't bad at all. The worst I've seen happen to other people is a long line. What are the big problems people apparently have with the DMV all the time? I'm from NY if that makes a difference.
Most Texas DMVs are hugely understaffed, I assume deliberately because they don't want to fund more staff, so the wait is generally long, like 2-3 hours long, and the facilities you're waiting in are old and poorly maintained. However, that's pretty TX-specific; TX generally underprovisions government services. The CA DMV is much nicer, and you can even book a specific time online!
You can renew your license in Texas online every other cycle, the only reason it's every other is they want you to come in to refresh you photo every decade, so make an appointment.
Yeah, I do it online when I can, but I had to go in in person in 2011, and it wasn't particularly pleasant. I didn't know you could make an appointment; when I asked at the time you couldn't. Seems like there is now some kind of "get in line online" feature, though it's not available at all locations: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/driver_licensing...
Blame your city government. St. Louis City Hall houses the DMV and all other city offices and the service is stellar. I've yet to have a bad experience in over two dozen trips there.
Yes. In the last decade or so, the Virginia DMV has been painless for typical tasks. Most common tasks can be performed online - registration, license renewal, even obtaining titles after paying off loans (assuming the dealer/bank held the title electronically). The few times I've had to show up in person, I've been in and out in 30 minutes or less.
There's an obvious distinction between state governments and the far greater competence of Federal agencies. As someone who works in a business that's heavily regulated at the local, state, and Federal level, I can tell you that the differences aren't subtle. (It will also vary quite a bit depending on the state and locality.)
Yes, I went to the DMV in Illinois to get my license and managed to complete the eyesight, written and driving tests and walk out the door with my new license in maybe an hour and a half. I didn't even have an appointment.
I'm aware this isn't the case in all states, but that says more about the priorities and competence of the people running those governments than it does anything else. Unfortunately a lot of people seem resigned to the idea that things are going to be run poorly and don't even bother punishing the politicians who are shirking their responsibility of administration and blaming their own failures on some abstract idea that government is always inefficient.
DMV in the District had a pretty long line but was fine otherwise. The biggest problem I saw was people who had not read the provided information/required materials in advance of coming then started arguing or pleading their case.
You get problems when the employees cannot interpret the rules correctly, though. For example, proof of residency can be utility bill from the last 60 days, OR a DC property tax bill, and they reject a current DC property tax bill that wasn't issued in the last 60 days.
Service wise they do a pretty good job. They've spent the past decade or so beefing up their online and automated services. In most cases you don't even need to go to an actual office if you're dealing with a license or plate renewal.
I just recently went to my DMV in sunny CA to get my DL renewed (I made an appointment as without one it's literally half a day in lines). I had slated 2hrs of non-billable time on my calendar, but I was out in 15m - with the to/fro latency, it was 45m total.
