I read an article in today’s Springfield Republican today about how the State Registry of Motor Vehicles is getting together with AAA of the Pioneer Valley so that AAA clients can avoid waiting in lines at the registry. The state has trained employees of the AAA and presumably installed some kind of systems at the AAA office to allow people to renew registrations and conduct other registry business.
This isn’t a service that AAA is offering to the public. They are offering it to members only.
Doesn’t anyone see this as a problem? Perhaps violating the state constitution? We have taken a step to provide public services in an unfair way – with better services going to members of a private organization.
This comes on the heels of how some states have partnered with Bank of America to provide benefits cards to the unemployed – the caveat being that you need a Bank of America account to get your unemployment, and you need to pay their fees to take the money out of the bank.
Why should citizens need to patronize certain businesses either to get services, or to get better access to services?
The article outlines the problem perfectly:
“It is so much easier, so convenient,” Agawam resident Marsha L. Loso said after not having to wait in line at AAA Monday to get her driver’s license renewed.
The last time she had registry business, Loso said she had to wait in line about half an hour in its Chicopee office. Services are available at AAA in West Springfield Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Neither AAA nor the registry are compensating each other for the arrangement.
What is going on in both this state and country? The answer to the long lines at the RMV is to first streamline via technology (which was done long ago), and then hire more RMV staff members or open more RMV locations. The RMV even closed a satellite facility in the Eastfield Mall about 2 years ago, a storefront for which they weren’t even paying any rent. That’s when the lines got longer at the other offices.
I wouldn’t have as much a problem with this if the registry had a program that allowed any business to offer such services, or if the AAA window was open to the public. But this is setting a dangerous precedent because it is allowing common government services to be awarded differently to those willing to pay more for them.
They are also high-volume users.
Maybe you’re thinking about the vehicle inspection sticker? Those have been done by private parties, including car dealers, for years; I don’t think that you have to have bought your car at a dealership to be able to get a sticker there though. That’s the main difference to me – if I’m not a AAA member, I’ll need to wait 30 minutes in line at the state RMV, if I am, I get gold-touch service at AAA.
that when you buy a car, the dealer processes your registration so that you can drive it off the lot with tags.
If I’m not mistaken, the dealer sends someone to the RMV office with the paperwork, and that someone stands in line like everyone else. Insurance companies do that, too. It used to be that you could be stuck in line behind someone from one of those places who was processing 10 or 20 registrations, but I think the Registry imposed a numerical limit on how many transactions a person can submit without having to go to the back of the line.
I haven’t been inside a Registry for years, since I can renew my license and registration online.
I see from porcupine’s comment below that dealers (at least a bunch of them) don’t have to send people to the Registry office.
The AAA program is modeled on the DRIVE program that some car dealerships are authorized for. If you buy a car from them, they will register it and get the plates, etc. Insurance agents had done this for years, and auto dealers were added.
They didn’t do it for the general public either – just for their customers. And it isn’t all car dealerships either – just some.
This isn’t new, and in fact, many other AAA offices have been doing this for a while – maybe it’s just reaching western MA? It’s going to be tough finding a constitutional violation for something that’s been going on over a dozen years – longer, if you count insurance agents.
Are you telling me I can go to my insurance agent’s office and renew my driver’s license? Or my car dealer? I’ve never heard of this before. I have heard of car dealers processing your registration, but my assumption was that they had to send someone to the RMV to wait in the same line that everyone else waits in.
I think it is pretty clearly a constitutional violation when the state provides one tier of service for some people, another tier for customers of a private company who has made a deal with the state.
Imagine if your city had a program whereby customers of a particular landscaping service would have their street plowed first, before everyone else? Or one where paid members of Greenpeace would get recycling picked up every week but everyone else would get once every other week pickup? What about giving preference in the school choice program to people who subscribe to the local newspaper? How about priority police response for your burglar alarm if you use ADT?
It is clear that this is beneficial to AAA only because they are able to offer a public benefit for their private service. The RMV is trading reduced costs for private access to public services for those willing to pay for them.
Public benefits should be the same for everyone.
Licenses I do on the internet.
Is it still the case that dealers employ runners, or people hired to go to the RMV, wait in line, and process the registrations via a face-to-face transaction?
If so, would this be how AAA would be doing it? And would’t this just mean that AAA customers weren’t getting preferential treatment, but basically getting a service where someone physically goes to the RMV essentially as the customer’s proxy?
No, as the article says:
They presumably have some kind of computer systems installed at AAA too which allows the services to be provided.
The article also states that:
As Peter Porcupine mentions, this is not new – the article mentions that it has been done in Framingham, Worcester, Saugus, Boston and on Cape Cod. That doesn’t make it right, though.
This is from a 2001 [RMV news bulletin http://www.mass.gov/rmv/rmvnews/2001/progrpt4.htm%5D
And that was in 2001.
Here’s another link – http://www.mass.gov/rmv/evr/#benefits – about the program now.
No, the insurance agents and car dealers directly access the RMV database to perform services. And they do it for customers, not the public.
I am amazed that you all are planning to protest a system that has been outsourcing these tasks – with no apparent constitutional crisis – for more than ten years.
One impact of this is that the AAA members are not affected by the recent budget cuts that reduced the RMV hours. That means only a portion of the citizens have been effected by this reduction in service. The rest, who can afford it, go to AAA.
A situation doesn’t have to be glaring to be wrong. Aren’t there insurance agents out there who are losing business to AAA because AAA can offer a state benefit that they cannot?
…for clarifying.
Shakespeare would call this “much ado about nothing.”
This isn’t RMV resources going to AAA members. In fact, by enabling AAA to do this, it’s making things easier for everyone who’s not in AAA, not having to deal with those extra thousands of AAA users who choose not to go to the RMV.
As others have said, this is what car dealerships and insurance agents have been doing for decades, and as you admitted, the state isn’t being paid by AAA for this. I would imagine any similar organization could come up with the same arrangement as the RMV has with AAA, there’s no special relationship or shady business going on here.
I didn’t allege that RMV resources were going to AAA. I am alleging that AAA is receiving a large state benefit (for free, no bids) and as a byproduct, their members, and only their members, are allowed a “fast lane” for a mandatory state service.
It’s nice that you choose to see this as “making things easier for those not in AAA”. I would argue that is false – the RMV has been closing registries and reducing hours for years, perhaps comfortable knowing that the AAA members aren’t impacted.
I’m glad so many people are on board with selling preferred access to public services. Let me make some suggestions.
– A large contractor can fund an employee in the city’s building department (private hire, so no public wages or benefits schedules need to be followed), and if any of his clients need a permit, they get next-day service while other contractors have to wait a couple of weeks. Hey, it’s taking the strain off the other inspectors, right?
– A group of parents can chip in their money to hire a special teacher’s aide, which would only be available to help their children in the classroom. Hey, she’s freeing up time for the other kids, right?
– Residents in a wealthy neighborhood can pool their funds and hire a special security guard who has police powers, one who would instantly respond to calls from their neighborhood. That guard could arrest people, write tickets, etc., but could be hired at a lower wage than a regular officer because he wouldn’t be an actual town employee. Removing those calls from the system would free up the police to go elsewhere, right?
– An subdivision of wealthy people in a community decides to kick in extra property taxes in exchange for their own public school, only available to those who paid the extra taxes. The school would still be administered by the school department (just as the RMV administers the basic vehicle registration program), and the district would pay for the infrastructure of the education, but the association would pay the salaries of the teachers – at wages they could set themselves. This would obviously be a benefit for everyone else because it would take kids out of other schools, right?
See the problem here? Money should not be able to be used to purchase preferential access to public services. Public services are supposed to be equal for everyone. In the case of the RMV, AAA members get a wait-free registration, non-AAA members get 30 minutes at the RMV. And of course, the impact is that people start hating the RMV more and more, comparing it to AAA — when AAA is free-riding on core RMV functions.
If the RMV wants to “open source” their functions, then by all means, let anyone with a PC be able to offer this service. Let the local convenience store offer this as a way to get customers in their door. That is not what is happening though. This service is being reserved for larger players like AAA.
AAA members aren’t being given special access to the state’s “retail services.” The state doesn’t get paid for this and AAA isn’t paying the state for this, and it’s not AAA members going to the RMV and skipping the lines there.
A better way to think of this is to consider it the RMV “open sourcing” a little bit, enabling other entities (including insurance companies and car dealerships) to take on some of the tasks typically performed at the RMV, to create efficencies for the people involved and to reduce pressure at RMVs, which have been more burdened over the past 10 years than probably ever before. This makes all sense around — and isn’t the state giving up on its duties or giving preferential treatment to AAA members at RMV offices.
Since when do we want people to go to the RMV for no reason? If they can do it as part of their everyday business, all the better for everyone involved.
For now, it means that there’s more resources — AAA + RMV. Next round of budget cuts? Fewer RMV. That *reduces choices* for those who aren’t in AAA.
It’s not at all “open sourcing”. It’s adding a single closed source vendor. If RMV were “open sourcing” then they’d publish the API and allow any vendor — public or private, for-profit or not-for-profit — to plug in to the RMV system and offer the same services. They’re not doing that.
P.S. Of all organizations, I’d rather not drive business toward one which actively lobbies Congress against spending money on sidewalks and bicycle lanes.
Glad that the RMV is allowing AAA to do this – as long as it’s not costing taxpayer dollars, I’m all for it. Maybe AAA should even be paying the RMV for the bump in memberships it may create. It shouldn’t be stopped, though. I don’t feel your outrage.
In fact, everyone benefits from this. Less folks at the RMV office means a shorter line for non-AAA people.
AAA gets more customers. There’s a business advantage for AAA. A car dealership is doing a courtesy for customers, but people don’t buy a new car to avoid the line in the registry.
The ACLU won’t have a problem with it. Unionized employees might, but this might be granting a benefit that exceeds the value of $50. Why limit it to AAA? Why not cross-train people in WalMarts or supermarkets or other business that might want? I don’t know how that stuff plays out at the state level. It might not be an issue, but it reminds me of conflict of interest law at the municipal level.
and free up RMV workers to handle thousands more “other” customers. It’s a win-win for everyone but thanks for trying to throw a monkey wrench into this new initiative. It’s an example how government can be so inefficient and unproductive because of concerns like this. Call the ACLU and see if they could stop this program and keep those RMV lines going out the door!
I find the AAA somewhat troubling by itself. I know they do great things for individual members, but their lobbying efforts deserve attention:
http://www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/media/2001/010101amicus.html
the AAA is more focussed on selling asphalt and cars than it is on serving travellers.
insurance, of course.
and I learned on PBS that their original function when they were formed in the early 20th century was to promote automobile travel and they made maps of routes that you could drive on (when road qaulity and maps had more variety)
The RMV-AAA partnership is designed to make Registry services more easily available to Massachusetts residents. It will provide the 2.2 million Massachusetts AAA members with easy access to a limited range of services like license and registration renewals. When people use an AAA office to conduct Registry business, there is a ripple effect – the lines are shorter at area branches. Both the AAA partnership (in West Springfield, Worcester, Framingham, Saugus, Boston’s Financial District and South Dennis) and our online branch are designed to shorten wait times in person or on the phone. The AAA branches are particularly convenient for senior citizens or the disabled, who will benefit most from the short lines and quick services. And this was not a new idea in Massachusetts. AAA had already teamed up with the motor vehicle departments in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Since the Monday opening of the West Springfield office, AAA has processed 43 license transactions and 8 registration transactions. So it is already proving a popular and convenient outpost for our services.
License renewals began to spike upward beginning November 1, a trend that will continue upward in the coming months. That makes the partnership with AAA timely and practical. We live in a time of limited budget resources and RMV decided to be proactive about looking for solutions, rather than make excuses for poor service. We recognize that not all Massachusetts residents are AAA members, but a substantial number are and we believe all residents will benefit from shorter wait times.
Rachel Kaprielian
Registrar of Motor Vehicles
The issue isn’t the partnership itself. It’s the favoritism being shown to AAA’s customers.
n/t!
maybe even below that.
then you should also be partnering to provide RMV services at supermarkets, drugstores and public transit hubs (Forest Hills? South Station?). Really, don’t insult our intelligence with this talk of better serving the elderly and disabled – there’s nothing special about the location and accessability of AAA offices except their readiness to squeeze dues out of people. This is privatization of public services, pure and simple. Make it free and broader based, or don’t do it at all.
I’d like to see what other “partnerships” were considered and the reasons why they were rejected. There are a number of ways to improve customer service at the registry and shorten wait times that do NOT involve privatizing the registry.
Is the RMV paying ANY attention to the resonance with the public that the Occupy Everything movement is stimulating?
This is a time when we need to decrease, rather increase, corporate influence on governance.
why not have limited RMV services elsewhere. In this circumstance AAA put up the bucks to install the system. I imagine to be used as a benefit to AAA members. Are their other partnerships that we could establish, that fist doesn’t cost additional dollars, or at a minimum offer a low cost alternative to opening more branches.
I hate auto correct
LOL
having read about the German postal service, which has “franchised” a lot of it’s services to high-traffic retail locations.
I’m uncomfortable about this for a few reasons:
– AAA has branched out into other products and services – now they’ll have access to our private information. Will I be inundated by them and their business affiliates with spam and solicitations?
– ‘Convenience factor’: meh, ok, that remains to be seen, but the mention of this relating to seniors immediately had me wonder…will AAA perform eye exams to determine license renewal, and if so, are they accepting of the potential liability attached? It would be a nightmare if somebody was hurt because one their reps allowed renewal to a driver now visually-impaired.
– “Neither AAA nor the registry are compensating each other for the arrangement.” So, AAA is doing this at their own expense? I don’t think so.
The basic problem here is that the state is rationing access to services it needs to provide (RMV services). The line at the RMV is often 30 minutes long. Instead of either funding/staffing the RMV properly, or contracting with an outside party to provide lower-cost services to everyone, the RMV is giving a group of private people special access to these services and then crowing about how it is so great for those left behind in the rationed queue because perhaps their wait might drop from 30 minutes to 25 minutes.
I don’t doubt that this has been going on for a while; it certainly smells like a Republican program. However, the fact that it has existed for so long does not make it the right thing to do.
When the Fast Lane was being built, would it have been OK for the state to contract with Citizens Bank so that the only way you could use the Fast Lane would be if you had a Citizens Bank account — on the rationale that this super-class of people would be taking pressure off the cash-only lanes? Of course not. So why is this OK?
At the very least, AAA should offer the service to everyone, not just its members. I say that as a AAA member, by the way. The RMV should also allow anyone to offer this service, not just AAA.
The idea behind this, and yes it is a Republican idea (thanks Bill Weld), is that people will gladly pay a premium in order that they are not taxed at a lesser amount so long as that premium is paid through a business and not the government..
Think about that for a second… Let it sink in. I’ll wait.
Yes, when you think about it for a minute it STILL makes no sense: but the idea remains that Republicans would rather citizens shell out a quarter to AAA for the privilege of not being taxed a nickel by the CommonWealth.
And the car dealerships don’t get any special perks; they are merely piggybacking on the insurance industry; which industry is a heavily regulated, but universally mandated, service in the CommonWealth. You cannot drive an uninsured vehicle in the CommonWealth: All car buyers have to go through the insurance companies to get to the RMV so there is no exclusion here.
When I first moved back to MA in 1983, my first encounter with the RMV Framingham office to trade out an out of state license for a MA license (no test) took over 3 hours (for what was a 10 minute routine). For most of us, many transactions can be taken care of online or through a car dealer. Really about the only thing you need to go to the Registry is for the new picture. If AAA wants to offer that service, I have no problem with that; I went to the Newton AAA office 2 years ago and took care of that matter myself.
I also remember the License Express storefronts in the malls over the years. Anything that can be done to pull routine transactions out of the regular Registry lines only works to the benefit of everyone. Whatever happened to the License Express storefronts anyway?
AAA isn’t exactly an elitist club; not like the RMV is setting up special branches at the Algonquin Club for their members.
Free? Also no. Spends money lobbying Congress to spend more money on roads and less money on sidewalks and cycling infrastructure? Yes.
Yes, the AAA staff performs eye exams. I would have no reason to believe that they are better or worse trained then RMV staff. I renewed my license at AAA and it was very quick!
I ride the T, and we get audio advertisements for RMV every day. Online services, yadda yadda. I don’t even own a car.
My question: do folks waiting in line at the RMV get treated to audio advertisements for monthly Charlie Cards or rail passes?
To be clear, this is a completely serious question.
…I don’t own a car either.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the RMV had announcements urging people to simply ditch their cars altogether?
There are plenty of us who would not or could not use the T at all unless we got TO a T station with our cars first. As to stomv’s question, I’m sure there are plenty more T patrons who also have cars than there are drivers who may have use for the T, though in some Registries promoting Charlie Cards might make sense. It all falls under MassDOT now anyway.
“There are plenty of us who would not or could not use the T at all unless we got TO a T station with our cars first.” This is true, but it does not have to be that way. A hundred years ago, there were municipal streetcar lines linking just about all of what is now Metro Boston, out to where rte 128 (95) is. The city was not unique in that.
What happened to all that mass transit? One thing that happened was a massive corporate conspiracy involving GM, Firestone, Standard Oil, and Phillips Petroleum, among others.
I’m, of course, referring to the urban Boston metro here. Nearly every single motorist could use the T some of the time. Maybe to commute, maybe for a weekend trip downtown, maybe the commuter rail to a Pats game. Maybe they drive to the T station and park, but they’re all “in the mix.”
There are plenty of T riders who can’t drive. They’re too young. They are disabled. They simply don’t own a car.
I’m not suggesting that the RMV run MBTA ads in P-Town or Pittsfield. I am suggesting that they run local mass transit ads in the agencies where that local transit exists.
In a similar vein, a charter school in California is being exposed as a virtual private school.
The basic facts are that a group of wealthy parents applied for, and received a charter for a school to replace a neighborhood school that was closed. A number of seats in the school are reserved for residents of the wealthy neighborhood. The school markets itself as a virtual private school, and dissuades less wealthy people from sending their kids there by asking for $5,000 “suggested donations” from each parent.
The school has small class sizes and offers things like Mandarin Chinese in Kindergarten, lesson plans tailored to each student, etc.
The parents who are sending their kids to this school are very happy with it, because compared to the $25,000 per year cost of private school, $5,000 is a great deal. If you read some of their comments on the article, you’ll find a sense of entitlement, with parents referring to their “tax dollars”, and how they are entitled to the best education for their children, or language that suggests that charters that are designed to help poor kids are actually taking from the “hard workers”.
The big fight here centers around the fact that the charter school is trying to exercise its right to have a building provided to them. They are trying to get their old school building back from the city. Although the old school was closed, it was later reopened.
The same argument floated here is being presented there – the local school district is making out because they don’t have to educate the kids who attend the charter. Or that the district is able to spend a bit more on the kids left behind because the per-student amount for the kids who attend the charter school is lower than the per-student cost for the district. However, those arguments rely on the law of averages, ignoring that if you take out the better (i.e. less expensive to educate) kids from the system and take out the average cost from the district, you wind up spending more money on the easier kids and less money on the harder kids.
This is probably going to be the next wave of charter schools in this state. We already have two charters in Western MA which are located in wealthier suburbs and who market themselves to middle and upper class parents. Although no “suggested donations” are asked for (to my knowledge), the geographic location of these 2 charters (Chinese Immersion and Pioneer Valley Performing Arts) is such that they are not as convenient to the needier urban population in the region. Their enrollment demographics reflect that fact.