Hella

I decided I’d turn in my Texas driver’s license for a Pennsylvania one so I strolled over to 1108 Market St this afternoon to the PennDOT center. The line was quite long, I’m guessing since it was close to lunch, but I decided to stand in it. That’s when I noticed all the signs that said “Check or Money Order Only”. They don’t take cash! Well I didn’t have my checkbook handy so I went back to the apartment and relaxed a while before trying again. I left out around 3pm to try my luck at it again. This time the line was much shorter. I waited in this first queue, showed all sorts of identification (Social Security Card, US Passport, 2 documents that showed my local address, in my case a lease and a water bill, and my Texas driver’s license). Then I got my number and took a seat. This next “line” is serviced by a number of booths and when you’re number flashes up on the marquee, you’d better head right over there because they love to skip if you’re not paying attention. I had considered sprinting over to the booth in a mad dash and sliding baseball style but instead tried my chances with a brisk walk. Shortly after, the kind woman processing my request had reviewed all my identification and entered it into the computer. She asked me to verify it then sent me over to have my picture taken. I was called in just a couple minutes, sat for the picture, and my new license was ready in about two more minutes. Overall I guess it didn’t take as long as I thought it might but they could sure consider some different queueing options!

Filed under: Philadelphia