Since, approximately, the Articles of Confederation, Americans love to bemoan government services, especially federal ones. They are slow, inefficient, bloated, blahblahblah. Well, I have had plenty of positive interactions with government, whether that is calling emergency services, non-emergency police, 311, contacting a representative, and so on. So, to remind everyone that government is good, I would like to share my two most recent positive ones.

The first concerns the California DMV. In 2023 I was adjusting to life as a father, so I was slow to send in my car registration. I sent the registration renewal in about a month before the deadline and could see via the DMV website that it had been received and processed. My registration was therefore current, but I did not have the tags to prove it. Digging around the DMW website, I learned I could get a proof of registration, though to obtain the proof I would have to visit a DMV in person. For most people, this is where the trouble starts, as DMV lines are notoriously long. I cannot remember the last time, however, that I had to wait in line. No, there is not DMV Pre (though that would be cool). Instead, it is easy to make an appointment online, which is what I did. It took me more time to find a parking spot than it did to wait for my number to be called. The clerk verified I had paid and was the owner of the car, and I walked out with temporary tags. The process did not take more than 15′. The moral: make a reservation online.

In California, the DMV also has digital kiosks that allow you to complete many basic functions. Without having to fight for parking or talk to anyone, you can renew your registration, submit proof of insurance, replace or renew your driver’s license, and more. There are 289 in California and they accept cash. In California, a bad DMV experience is more likely due to user error than government error.

Next, I recently had the smoothest possible experiencing expediting my passport renewal. I have a European vacation scheduled for late March. I am then visiting a country in June that requires a visa, its application two months early, and a passport valid for at least six months after entry. My old passport was set to expire in October 2025, so I needed to renew, but the March trip meant I needed to renew before it. I did not realize any of this until early February, and normal processing time is 4-6 weeks, excluding shipping. The night of the Wednesday I realized I need to expedite, I felt overwhelmed; the most daunting part was that mailing the passport can only be done at certain post offices, the three closest to me did not accept them, and I had visions of waiting 30+’ just to drop a package. (One can renew a passport online, but not for expediting.) I therefore looked into private companies, all of which charge around $200 for the service. For peace of mind, that seemed reasonable.

With 36 hours of relaxing and reflecting, I realized the $200 is not worth it. There were two turning points. First, I found the State Department’s form filling tool. It asks you questions and then provides you a completed form to fill out, so I did not have to worry about using the wrong pen color or missing fields. Second, the AI chatbot of a private expediting service informed me that they could not actually quicken the processing time and I would still have to visit the post office to mail the passport; well, they could for $500+, which was a no go. When I pressed then on what their value add is, they said they ensure no mistake is made on the form. In other words, they use the form filler tool! What a rip off – USA, USA!

Confident that I completed the form correctly, helped with my wife’s double-checking, I went to the post office. I made a mistake on the first envelope and so had to complete a second one, but there each time I got in line there was only one person in front of me. I paid for overnight delivery there, to Philadelphia, for $30, and also paid for expedited shipping back. I dropped off the passport on a Friday at 11:30 a.m., and the clerk told me it would arrive on Monday. I found that a bit annoying, but the passport ended up being delivered Saturday afternoon. 2.5 weeks later, it arrived.

Government works.