Rant time.

These days where nearly everyone (especially Government departments) wants you to do everything online we still have something like this:

I have to go to a WA Department of Transport (DOT) office today (Cannington or West Perth, I haven't decided which one yet) and wait for probably an hour or two to register my Age Pensioner Concession Card which arrived in the mail on Friday so I can get a concession for my car registration and drivers licence.

I already get a concession for my drivers licence with my WA Seniors Card which I've had for 4 years.

Anyway... my question is... why can't this be done online through my account with DOT? It's a one page form for crying out loud.

You only need to fill in half of one page, actually.

And surely they should be able to use an uploaded, scanned copy of the Concession Card and any other documents? Centrelink and other government departments do it so why not the WA DOT? It wouldn't (or shouldn't) be too hard for DOT to verify the validity of the uploaded documents if they needed to.

There's no problem whatsoever with paying your car registration or drivers licence renewals online of course. I get the impression the DOT and the WA Government couldn't care less about inconveniencing people who wish to apply for concessions because... well... it means the State Government will be getting less money.

I intend to ask them about this (when my ticket number eventually gets called, I might have fallen asleep by then).

Rant over (for now).

Carl D wrote on Oct 14^th, 2024 at 9:44am:


While I can't speak for the Transport Department of WA, I have worked within similar Australian systems and I can guarantee you that department staff would prefer online tractions to the OTC experience. They dislike the negative interaction as much as the customer - maybe more.

The reason some processes are still done the old way is usually due either to personal data security overheads or third-party connectivity/security/customer authentication issues - in your case the welfare systems.

I'm sure aquascoot will be thrilled to hear this.

Had to wait nearly an hour and a half at Cannington (Beckenham) DoT for my ticket number to come up then the nice lady who served me took my application and photocopied my Pensioner Concession Card.

So now I only pay half price for my car registration from now on and my drivers licence is free when it needs to be renewed.

But, guess what? I paid for a 5 year renewal of my drivers licence last April (about $160) and the nice lady said they will be refunding most of that because I'm now on the pension.

Wow, I didn't know they were going to do that and I probably wouldn't have known they could/would do it if she hadn't told me.

I'm impressed. 

Oh, my plan for today was to bounce out of bed, start this thread and think to myself: "I bet aquascoot will be the first one to reply".

Well, I was close enough (Hi MeisterEckhart). 

aquascoot wrote on Oct 14^th, 2024 at 4:42pm:


Since you mentioned Covid I should point out that if you valued your life (and health) highly you would wear a mask if you had to go to where I went this morning.

People jammed into the DoT like sardines (Monday is always very busy apparently with it being after the weekend and lots of people take their driving tests on Mondays so I overheard).

Saw about 3 other masks there besides mine - including one staff member in a 'baggy blue' surgical. Heard quite a bit of coughing and sneezing amongst the unmasked hordes, of course.

Plus we had the 'helpful' messages popping up on the numerous screens displaying the ticket numbers being served, for example:

"Try to keep a 1.5 meter distance between people" (bit hard to do if you're sitting and waiting with no spaces between the seats - and that's if you can get a seat to start with. And, as I've already said - people were jammed in there like sardines - sitting and standing. And, it's been known for a LONG time now that viruses like Covid and the flu DO NOT travel less than 1.5 meters when exhaled then 'magically' fall to the floor - the long disproven 'droplet' dogma).

"We clean and sanitise surfaces regularly for your protection" (I didn't see any of this happening during the one and three quarter hours I was there and it's totally ineffective for airborne viruses that you breathe in anyway).

"Cough and sneeze into your hands or elbow" (again, totally ineffective when dealing with airborne viruses - and a lot of people don't even bother doing that).

It felt like I was back in 2020 again. 

Thank goodness my elderly aunt (who I took with me for the ride) stayed in the car during the whole time I was there.

aquascoot wrote on Oct 14^th, 2024 at 7:47pm:


Sounds more like you owe me another white flag.

Accepted.

Just add it to the large number you already owe me and send them when you can.

Thanks. 

aquascoot wrote on Oct 15^th, 2024 at 5:15am:


The authorities need to be notified that you're an idiot (but I suspect they already know that if you have any sort of regular dealings with them).

The outside temperature at the time would have been about 15 degrees Celsius and there was cloud cover. She was quite comfortable in the car and the windows on both sides were partially wound down. I also went to check on her every so often while I was waiting for my ticket to be called, the car was parked right outside the front of the building (we have an ACROD permit).

She even got out to 'stretch her legs' (while holding onto the car door) a couple of times.

And when we (finally) got back home she said she enjoyed the trip and wasn't uncomfortable waiting in the car. She would normally be at the Belmont Seniors for a few hours on Monday mornings getting her hair done and socialising but the hairdresser is on holiday for 4 weeks.

If My Aged Care (one of your "authorities", I guess?) would get their fingers out of whatever orifice they currently have them stuck in and hurry up and approve the package we've been waiting for since April I would be able to arrange for a carer to stay at home with her while I attend to things like this.

Plus, (as I mentioned in another thread recently) I would be able to get ramps fitted at the front and back doors to make it easier for my aunt to get in and out of the house with her stroller.

Oh, I do believe that's another white flag you owe me (it should be 2 after such a stupid - and I strongly suspect trolling - post).