No one’s walking out of MVC with a license after December

Picture it. It’s forty years from now. You’re old. You’re telling stories.

“I remember when you would be handed your driver’s license right at the counter at Motor Vehicles. They’d make it on a machine right in the back. Sometimes it would still feel warm as you put it away in your wallet.”

That get-off-my-lawn future is now all of ours. The Motor Vehicle Commission announced this week that sometime next year or possibly as soon as sometime in December that all driver’s license production is being switched to a central plant. Individual agencies will no longer print their own on premises.

What happens instead? You’ll leave with a flimsy temporary 30 day license instead. Then you’ll wait for your actual license to be mailed to you. (What’s fun about that?)

They say they’ve partnered with Homeland Security. The new system is supposed to add more security against fraud. I’m not thrilled with the prospect of having a document as important as a driver’s license sent through the mail. I’m also not impressed with MVC’s track record of mailing important things such as suspension notices. How many times have we heard people never receiving the letter? Plenty.

Remember when you got your very first license? After all those practice hours and all that anticipation, to finally pass the last hurdle and hold that brand new license in your hand was such a milestone. Now my son who starts learning next year will be given what will look like a CVS coupon instead.

Great.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.