Snail Mail and Departmental Blunders

I often complain that the postal system in this area is sadly lacking. Sometimes it seems that it would be quicker to walk with the letter in my hand to the person I want to send it to, rather than to mail it. It’s more likely to get there that way too.

Case in point – back in June, I received a letter telling me that my driver’s licence was due. I didn’t need to get a new photo ID, it said, because the last one was still valid. So I paid for a 5-year licence via the internet and waited for my card to arrive. And waited. Two weeks later I got a receipt, but no card. I waited some more, but then P, who had paid his a week later than mine, got his new card. So I phoned the relevant Department to be told that no, it had been sent, so it must be lost in the mail. But I couldn’t apply for a new one until thirty days after I reported it.

Thirty days later I phoned back to ask for a new one. No worries madam, they said. You’ll get it within ten working days.

Twelve working days later I phoned back to ask why I hadn’t received it. They said they’d sent me a letter ten days ago to tell me that my photo ID had run out and that I’d have to go and get a new one. The letter finally arrived five days after the phone call. Now, the Department I rang was a hundred kilometres away, not in Outer Mongolia or Far North Alaska. I know they call it ‘snail mail’ but I think even a snail would have got here faster.

Anyway, I now have my new licence, albeit two months late, complete with a photo of me that makes me look like a mother hobbit. Thank goodness I won’t have to go through that again for five years!