ACA Success story! ...Or not

[Bauce]

Fine here are some yelp reviews of the Santa Rosa dmv. Why their opinion is more substantive than people in this site, I have no clue but there are lots of positive reviews, and an overall average of 3.5 out of 5. Not bad for a place that is inherently an unfun chore to go to even if it's run well

http://m.yelp.com/biz/santa-rosa-dmv-office-santa-rosa

And note, user Stephanie V says:

"Been here twice in 12 years. Can't really complain. My last visit was stellar - they got me in and out of there in under 8 minutes"

Yet she still only gives them 3 stars out of 5. So even though you'll see some negative reviews, consider how good they have to be to even get a 3.5 average.

[uebermann]

[Bauce]

So instead of throwing your hands up and saying government can't do anything right because they have no competition, why not become an advocate for the states that aren't doing it right to model themselves after states like California. If some states are doing a good job then it's proof that the government can and does run things well under the proper model.

[uebermann]

[dontworrybehappy]

Very true. If a business KNOWS you have to buy their products or use their services and they know they have no competition or worry about losing their jobs, they're going to naturally treat you like crap/not care what you think.

If you could privatize the auto licence industry, imagine how fast the DMV would get its act together. People here say that "the gov't does a great job" at stuff that there is really no direct competition for. If I'm the only company making ABCD widgets, then yea, most would think I'm good at it. Because nobody has seen that another company can make the same widgets at a much lower cost. The USPS has no real competition as far as letter delivery, but that doesn't mean a private company, or companies, could not take it over. Right now UPS and FedEx have the USPS beat hands down on package delivery. Their tracking is better, shipping is faster, prices are competitive, etc. The DMV has no competition. You can't go anywhere else but a local DMV office to get DMV stuff done. So how can anyone say a company, that has a monopoly on a product/service, is doing a good job with it? You can't, at least not without making a fool of yourself.

Just look at hospitals. There are several hospitals near me. All have ads on the TV hoping you'll go there. They have to compete for your "business", if you will, so they treat you like gold when you walk in. But with a single hospital serving the entire populace, they would be able to charge what they wanted and treat you like they wanted. I saw it first hand at the airport I used to work at. There used to be two FBO's serving general aviation. Then, the airport commission drove one of those companies out of business and off the field, so then there was 1. Overnight, AVGAS prices went from 3.50 a gallon at either FBO to 7 a gallon at the one FBO left on the field. Prices of hangar rent went through the roof as well, from 200 a month to over 600 a month for small single engine aircraft. The jet increases were even worse.

The USPS is so well established in its mail delivery system that its hard for a private company to get set up. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the USPS to mail a package, stood in line for 20 minutes, and said out loud "This is ridiculous, I'm going to UPS down the road" and walked out the door and had people follow me to the UPS store 2 miles down the road with no line, no waiting, and friendly staff.

I keep trying to use the USPS, and they keep failing, miserably.

[The Comrade]

yeah i'm sure you started a big walkout at the post office.



"what do we want? CHEAPER STAMPS! when do we want them? NOW!"

[dontworrybehappy]

Um no, but I definitely had a few people follow me every single time.

Did I say I caused a massive exodus from the post office? You talk about my college degree, I guess you're pretty jealous, considering no one as illiterate as you could graduate from any university like I did. Rather than comment on anything I said, you do one of your famous "drive bys" and troll.

Go troll somewhere else, troll.

[The Comrade]

weird how it isn't trolling until it calls anything you say into question.

sorry, but i doubt your story. one,because you're saying it, and two, because it seems incredibly unlikely.

and three because it doesn't make any sense. short of getting a passport done, there is nothing there that can physically take longer then five minutes. the sole exception is if there is a shitty customer (lol) who is causing a problem for the people at the counter. much like idiots at the DMV who can't read or write their own name on a form and have to keep going to the back of the queue over and over again.

so all you've told me is that the post office has long lines and you get huffy and storm off to a place that does less business in your area.

[Indy]

The whole post office analogy is lame to begin with.

[Bauce]