5 masks for a safe and efficient experience at the dmv—in a pandemic! (sacramento broadway branch)

have i got your attention? if there ever was a “man bites dog” headline, this is it—dmv efficient and safe? in a pandemic, what?

during the pandemic, i had occasion to visit the largest dmv in sacramento, twice, a month apart, and i was impressed. it seemed that the public health necessity had driven them to a much greater efficiency and care with people’s time. here’s what i did and what worked best. i’m assuming much of this will apply no matter which dmv you go to in the state, but i really have no idea:

1. went to the california dmv online portal first—i definitely recommend this because
   • you might be able to do what you want to do online—like renewing registration or some things to do with driver’s licenses.
   • if you have a printer and can figure it out, it will save you time to figure out which form you need, fill it out and print it (or vice versa, depending on your computer assets).
   • make an appointment if it’s the kind of thing you can make an appointment for (i think that might be only driver’s tests right now).
2. then i drove by the branch closest to me to see what it looked like and to see if i could show my form to anyone and find out how it worked. in my case this was the sacramento broadway branch of the dmv. (btw pre pandemic i would have made an appointment for this at a remote branch to avoid this branch but that was not possible). when i arrived, mid afternoon, there were 2 very short lines outside under shade tents. the people staffing the lines were wearing masks and carrying clipboards. there were large guards gentling but firmly keeping the people in lines to 6 feet apart with masks on. people without masks were ask to get a mask and return.   i waited for like 2 minutes in line before a clipboard person talked to me. she looked over my paperwork and told me to return at 7am (an hour before the branch opens).
3. i returned at about 7:20am a day or two later (couldn’t quite make it by 7). by that time there were about 20 people ahead of me in line. although it was an hour before the dmv officially opened, there was already a guard holding people to masked and 6 feet apart in the line. and by 7:30am i was surprised to see a masked clipboard employee approach each of us, take a look at our paperwork, ask a couple of questions and hand us a paper that told the next steps.
4. some of the people in line were given a paper to get in the “appointment” line. some of the people in line including me were given a paper to get in the other line.
5. the other line didn’t begin to move until 8am when the dmv opened but when it did move, it moved very quickly. by like 8:15am i had a specific number (like b126 or something) and was given an option, which i took, of receiving a text with a link to check my place in line.
6. this meant i could go sit in my car and periodically check the link to see how close i was to going in (just like the monitor we used to watch in the dmv that would show b122 had been served at window 12 and that there were 3 people in front of me in that queue).
7. a lot of other people stood around outside listening to the loudspeaker announce people’s place in line “now serving b122 at window number 12,” etc.
8. after about 20 minutes, my number was up. i returned to the non-appointment line and was quickly admitted to the building. all employees were wearing masks and the only other people who were in there were in the process of being served. they asked me to move back from the window after i had presented my paperwork and each window had plexiglass between the employee and the customer.
9. they served me efficiently and i was done.

one month later…having successfully retained our vanity plates so that we could put them on our new car (in case you’re interested in what i was doing), i needed to return to re-assign the plates to our new car (it took that long for replacement plates for the old car to arrive). this time the experience was a little different and involved the appointment line. here were the steps:

1. also went to the website and printed the form and filled it out.
2. showed up at 7am this time
3. this time the clipboard people appeared right at 7am.
4. by 730am i had an appointment for 9:00am (this also comes with one of those d178 type numbers).
5. i went home for a while and then came back at 9. waited in the car for about 15 minutes while reviewing that same link that told me how far back i was in line. they wouldn’t let you wait in the appointments line unless you were “first in line.”
6. when i was “first in line” i went up and was admitted this time there was a person who asked me if i had any covid symptoms, whether i had had any exposure to anyone with covid symptoms in the last 2 weeks and then took my temperature. this was a new step from late july to late august.
7. i went in and again all the dmv employees were wearing masks (real masks covering nose and mouth). this time they more rigorously asked folks to stand back from the windows.

all in all i was very pleased by both visits. contrast these with my 5 days back in 2010 of trying to get served at the same dmv branch (see Day 5 blogpost below)and you’ll see why this was a huge upgrade

Day 5 at the DMV

[note: there’s a good chance you don’t care or haven’t noticed that i’ve moved from a “snout-based” to a “mask-based” rating system during the pandemic. i reserve the right to revert to snouts at any time. at first i was just using masks for reviewing public in person things but then i realized, we also need to review our online content from a point of view of not only physical but emotional safety. so the masks are an indication that i highly regard the physical and emotional experience of what ever i’m reviewing from the point of view of me during this pandemic. plus the rating system]