DMV: Privatize it, Idaho

I really admire Idaho. You enforce the law. That alone sets you apart. But gosh Kootenai County, your DMV is the worst for getting into.

I was trying to help a teenaged daughter who wasn’t allowed to own her own car in Washington renew her tags for her dad’s Idaho address with the clueless app (OK, Qless) says the DMV is closed. No appointments ever I guess. A friend said appointments, if you ever get one, are four weeks out. Really Idaho?

Meanwhile in gawd-awful Washington, one can walk into a privatized contractor for the department of licensing and get tags or stickers no problema. No line yesterday. Masks required. Red Oklahoma does private tag agencies too.

Half the people who work in Spokane don’t live in Spokane. Many live in Idaho and pay Idaho income taxes on Washington jobs. My wife did for 11 years. You’re like Mississippi is to Memphis: a better bedroom community. So we’re in this together.

Our Idaho DMV all-day waits started way before COVID too. In 2018, we were sent from Post Falls to the Coeur d’Alene DMV. Idaho needs to rethink government workers handling tags and privatize it. If private tag agencies can stay open in locked down Spokane County, I think a private tag agency would stay open sans a clueless app for walk-in service in freedom-loving Idaho.

MIKE RENO

Newman Lake, Wash.