The laws are full of unintended consequences and they usually end up costing the taxpayer.  In an effort to shore up the security of North Carolina drivers? licenses, the General Assembly passed a law last session, that beginning July 1, 2008,  drivers? license applicants will no longer get their new license on the spot. Instead the DMV will mail it to the applicant?s home if all of the documentation proving legal residence checks out.  Already, there are problems.  It seems some folks use a post office box to get their mail for their own security reasons.  Now the DMV is considering using FedEx to deliver the licenses and, of course, passing that cost on to North Carolina drivers. 

 

From a report today from Barry Smith with Freedom Newspapers:

DRIVER’S LICENSES: The state Division of Motor Vehicles is aware of problems arising from a state law that requires all driver?s licenses to be mailed to a residential address beginning July 1, an agency representative said Wednesday. ?We have not reached a solution, but we will achieve a solution where everyone will be able to receive their driver?s license,? Johanna Reese, a lobbyist for the DMV, told the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee. The law, passed in 2005, requires that licenses be sent to residential addresses, not post office boxes. Some people get their mail delivered to a post office box for security reasons. Post offices in some towns and communities have no residential delivery.

Rep. Cary Allred, R-Alamance, raised the issue at Wednesday?s committee meeting. Rep. Nelson Cole, D-Rockingham, said the committee would take a more in depth look at the problem, and possible solutions, at a later meeting. Among the possible solutions that have been discussed are having some other courier, such as UPS or FedEx, deliver the license to residential addresses. Such deliveries could require the driver to pay the added shipping expense. Reese said that the DMV is also working with the U.S. Postal Service to try to arrive at a solution.