Do you own a store? here's a business idea (terrible gov service)

[sv2007]

I want to tell you guy an amazing experience I had this Saturday.

We had to go in-person to the passport office to to renew our son's passport; this is actually a pretty inconvenient because both parents and kid have to show up.

So I called the offices around me (about 15 inside 10 miles radius); all were booked full until mid-December. On problem, there's 1 that takes walk-in so we decided to go this past Saturday.

This office opens at 10AM, we show up at 10:45AM.

Guess what? The doors are LOCKED with a sign saying they are "full for the day". I esd in disbelief because this office opens until 4PM. So I knocked on the door and a customer inside opened it.

There's a number ticket machine and it's taped over with another sign saying "full for the day" or something like it and one more sign saying something along the lines of "you must be at the counter within 5 minutes when number is called".

I couldn't find workers to talk to (there were 2 , yes 2, only 2, workers that I can see at the counters helping customers). I waited next to one until she finished and she quickly called another customer and ignored my question: basically I just wanted to make sure things are really what they appear, i.e. they are fully booked , i.e. all numbers given out, etc.

So I went and waited next to the other worker (now, these 2 workers pretty much sit next to each other so the other worker definitely heard me). Anyway while I waited, one of the customers came over and told me that all numbers were give out already and that this was her 2nd visit to the office (first visit same as me).

Unbelievable. Anyway, now I'm waiting for tomorrow to make an appointment (which who knows, since 2 weeks have passed since I lasted tried to make an appointment)... I'm worried that I won't even be able to get a Dec. appointment. This will mean I may have to pay for expedited handling.

But, what I am seriously wondering is... and I mentioned this to my wife while walking away. Are those people waiting there really can last until 4PM? Oh, heck, even if I were to get a number, I don't think I'm going to wait around until 4PM or risk losing my plce. This is worse than the DMV.

Now, after looking over the State Department's web site, it looks like they allow private people to handle this passport processing office business. So, here's a business idea. All you have to do is open up shop (you don't even need to smile) and you're already miles ahead of the competition.

[sv2007]

Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention above:

Almost all the customers inside were sitting on the floor. Yes, floor. Because there seems to be only enough chairs for 10-20 people.

Here, we have tons of families (mostly with kids so everybody needs to show up in-person). Even little babies in carriers and strollers. Unbelievable !

I don't remember this issue when getting my son's passport 5 years ago. Not at all. In fact, itwas completely uneventful that I can't even recall how to happened or even where I went (although I think I just went to my nearby post office, but now they are appointment-only. So I'm not exactly where I went, but it was completely uneventful <-- which is very good).

Terrible. terrible. terrible. and very rude workers.

[moneybags]

We just renewed a passport at the post office. We called and made an appointment a few weeks before. Sounds like your place needs to use the appointment system.

[sv2007]

We just renewed a passport at the post office. We called and made an appointment a few weeks before. Sounds like your place needs to use the appointment system.

Out of the offices that handle passport processing within 10 miles of me, all are appointment-only except 1 (which takes walk-ins). And the closest appointment was 5 weeks away and at a bad time, a good-time appointment was simply not possible when I called. Bad time = I had to take time off work and withdraw my son early from school... so I decided to "walk-in".

I guess I learned my lesson with the passport office.

[sv2007]

Good time = just me taking time off from work.

You'd think 5 weeks away (with 15 offices to pick from) can get a good-time appointment; well it can't even get you a bad-time appointment.

I think the bay area's public infrastructure is overloaded. Everywhere I go, there's too many people. I'm seriously re-considering the idea of moving to HI and just live here during the summer months.

[MonkeyMama]

Getting two passports for my kids was one of my most awful experiences of recent memory. Horrible customer service and very rude employees, for sure.

[creditcardfree]

We are calling tomorrow to get an appointment. I'm also not thrilled with the idea of pulling my daughter out of school for this. Maybe we will get an appointment over Christmas break.

[creditcardfree]

Update on our passport experience...

I was able to get an appointment within a week of calling, but chose to get an appointment for today as my daughter is out of school.

We had a 9:15am appointment. We arrived 20 minutes before our appointment, and found a lot of people already waiting. Signs indicated walk in appointments only between 9-10am. There were numbers for those people to take. I wouldn't want to be a walk in. The odds of getting in that way seems very, very slim. We were called back around 9:25 and were leaving just before 10am.

A woman, who ultimately helped us, did come out asking for appointments. We checked in with her, she quickly asked us if we had certain items. We didn't have another copy of our ids for our daughter's application, so we were directed to the copier to make copies. This was the most frustrating part since the instructions were hard to follow.

We were called back shortly after to apply for new passport for myself, my husband and my daughter. We presented original certified birth certificates (which were attached to our applications and will be mailed back), a copy of birth certificate (which was handed back), the application filled out, our original military ids, and copies of our military ids. Our daughter, age sixteen, needed at least one copy of a parent id with her application (again, this is where we weren't prepared).

We had our pictures taken at this office. Those were $15 each. We received three copies each to take home. One was attached to our application.

We wrote three checks to the US State Department for $110 each. One for each of us with our first name and date of birth in the memo line. I wrote a fourth check to USPS for the service fee and the photo fee. Total for that one was $120. I probably could have charged this one as I presented it at the postal counter to obtain a receipt, but I didn't know that part in advance when she was telling me to write checks. And maybe it wouldn't have been an option. I was glad I thought to bring more than one check! I even counted the checks and knew I only had three, so grabbed an extra book to take with.

We had just renewed our military ids the day before. They have gone to an appointment only system. I think this is a very good idea for the passport office to implement!

Just thought I'd chime in with our recent experience if it helps anyone.

[sv2007]

Just an update: I got an appointment after making those posts, it was the earliest available time at 1/18/17. <-- The SF bay area service is terrible; your midwest experience sounds absolutely excellent by bay area standards.

Fortunately, we've changed our Feb trip to a cruise and moved the overseas trip to April. so everything kind of worked out.

[creditcardfree]

Just an update: I got an appointment after making those posts, it was the earliest available time at 1/18/17. <-- The SF bay area service is terrible; your midwest experience sounds absolutely excellent by bay area standards.

Fortunately, we've changed our Feb trip to a cruise and moved the overseas trip to April. so everything kind of worked out.

Glad you have an appointment and your trip changes worked out. We are in the Southeast now and a bit of a smaller town (200K), so I'm sure we are not competing with as many people for appointments. I was still surprised at how many people were willing to wait without an appointment! I guess if you are desperate it may be worth it.

[disneysteve]

Fortunately, we've changed our Feb trip to a cruise

If the cruise is starting and ending in the US, you don't technically need a passport but it's still a good idea to bring it if you have it. In the event of any type of emergency while you are out of the US, you could be in a heap of trouble if you don't have a passport.

For example, if one of you gets sick or injured and you need to return to the US, you won't be able to without a passport. Or if you go on some excursion and don't get back to the ship before it sails, you'd be stuck there without a passport. Unlikely scenarios but stuff does happen.