Social Security Card

Tons of people seem puzzled as to why I would need a physical Social Security card. The answer is that I need it as proof of Social Security Number in order to (belatedly) convert my New York driver's license into a DC one.

Incidentally, service at the Social Security Administration office at 2100 M Street was very prompt. I'd sort of been expecting an interminable wait during which I could make a serious dent in The Conscience of a Liberal but my number got called almost as soon as I was finished filling out the brief form. The employees working at the office were polite and helpful. Bureaucracy works!

Comments

Bureaucracy works!

Just don't ever try to immigrate to this country. Trust me.

Posted by Ryan | October 11, 2007 5:19 PM

Incidentally, service at the Social Security Administration office at 2100 M Street was very prompt.

Please expect the same from the MVA on C St. Your next post will be much more interesting.

Posted by mike | October 11, 2007 5:31 PM

Immigrants can't vote and neither can D.C. residents.

Connection?

Posted by bob | October 11, 2007 5:40 PM

They must have seen the book. You might still be there if you had brought The Road to Serfdom.

Posted by the blackbird is involved | October 11, 2007 5:40 PM

To echo Ryan. I got SS numbers for my kids really efficiently at the Federal Building in lower Manhattan. I recollect my experience was like yours. But I used to pass there daily and see lines a block or two long waiting to get into the immigration section. Thank God I was born here.

Posted by David in NY | October 11, 2007 5:40 PM

You are now officially an apparatchik for whom the Bureaucracy works.

Of course it will work if you announce your visit to the office in your extremely widely read blog.

Posted by gregor | October 11, 2007 5:41 PM

Peter G. Neumann, a professor of computer science at Stanford and founder of the RISKS forum, and Bruce Schneider, well-known computer security consultant, have written extensively (in Neumann's case for almost 30 years) on the dangers and foolishness of attempting to use the cardboard Social Security card for anything at all much less anything identification- or security-related. Good to see that your local government is up to date on security practice and theory - not.

Cranky

They have both also written on the dangers of a supposedly secure universal ID card, but we aren't allowed to talk about that either.

Posted by Cranky Observer | October 11, 2007 5:44 PM

MY, your multi-year delay in getting a DC license makes me feel better about my year-plus delay in getting mine.

Posted by SDM | October 11, 2007 5:45 PM

Sorry: I misspelled Bruce Schneier's name as usual.

Cranky

Posted by Cranky Observer | October 11, 2007 5:46 PM

Is your blog software adding the NOFOLLOW option to user-posted links? If so, are you aware that this will make your blog less of a force in Google's search calculations?

Cranky

Posted by Cranky Observer | October 11, 2007 5:49 PM

Bureaucracy works!

The SSA is a federal agency. Just wait until you have to conduct any business at 941 N Capitol St. Then you'll change your tune.

That said, when you DO get your new license, the DC DMV is not the worst thing in the world. It was surprisingly efficient. I was able to get a new license in DC in the morning and still get to work without it being so late as to make it blindingly obvious.

Posted by Tyro | October 11, 2007 5:53 PM

Please expect the same from the MVA on C St.

You can't get new licenses at that location anymore. I'm going to try my luck with the one in SW on the grounds that since many people don't realize the SW quadrant exists it probably won't be too crowded.

Posted by Matthew Yglesias | October 11, 2007 5:54 PM

Cranky,

For someone so tech-versed, you should know that you don't need to sign your posts. Your name is right-freakin-below the post.

Posted by ryan | October 11, 2007 5:58 PM

MY, your multi-year delay in getting a DC license makes me feel better about my year-plus delay in getting mine.

I've got you both beat. I've still got a Florida license, and I haven't lived there since I graduated high school over 7 years ago.

Bureaucracy works!

Healthcare for all!

Posted by right | October 11, 2007 6:24 PM

Bureaucracy works!

Generally. But I will say, I wanted to get a replacement card in the late 90s, but my local Social Security office only had hours M-F, 10am-4pm. Which was pretty appalling. (Yet made me want to work for Social Security Administration.)

Posted by Royko | October 11, 2007 6:52 PM

I recently had a similar experience getting a passport in Philly. Took about six minutes -- the security check took longer than the application.

Right : no one sane would ever give up their FL driver license. You can renew and update to any address for like ten bucks over the Internet and they'll ship it to you.

Posted by josh | October 11, 2007 7:06 PM

I actually found the Georgetown location almost always empty. Very few people actually live near it as it is bordering right up to virginia and maryland

Posted by nathaniel | October 11, 2007 7:10 PM

You can get a new social security card by mail, so you don't have to worry about lines or business hours at all. I did about 2 years ago.

Posted by mad6798j | October 11, 2007 8:00 PM

> For someone so tech-versed, you should
> know that you don't need to sign your posts.
> Your name is right-freakin-below the post.

If you look through some of my posts, you will see that they are formatted so that they can be cut-and-pasted ("repurposed" as the youngins say) as complete units without losing their formatting. When one copies the signature line that the blog appends it tends to look quite ugly.

Cranky

Posted by Cranky Observer | October 11, 2007 8:51 PM

> You can get a new social security card by
> mail, so you don't have to worry about
> lines or business hours at all. I did
> about 2 years ago.

That's why it took Matt so long: I had previously ordered three copies of his by mail, and when he went in in person they wanted to know what kind of scam he was running.

Cranky

Posted by Cranky Observer | October 11, 2007 8:54 PM

To echo other commenters, bureaucracy definitely doesn't work for immigrants. It is a Kafkaesque world of arbitrary decisions, impunity, abuse of power, and incompetence. Due process barely exists. It's enough to tempt one towards libertarianism ...

But that is less a function of bureaucracy than of our collective decision to value American lives over non-American lives. The dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy is just one manifestation of this tendency among many.

Posted by yave begnet | October 12, 2007 12:08 AM

"Right : no one sane would ever give up their FL driver license. You can renew and update to any address for like ten bucks over the Internet and they'll ship it to you."-Posted by josh

An old guy I used to work with had a lifetime driver's license from Michigan. They issued them into the early '40s. He got it revoked for points.
He said when you hand the cops an unlaminated 30 year old license with no picture, and it turns out to be really valid, they are so pissed off they never cut you a break.

Posted by Njorl | October 12, 2007 10:45 AM

Re: but my local Social Security office only had hours M-F, 10am-4pm. Which was pretty appalling. (Yet made me want to work for Social Security Administration.)

That may not have been their working hours, just their customer service hours. They may well be on the job earlier and later taking care of paperwork. The local Humane Society here is only open to the public between 1 and 5 pm but there are cars in their parking lot (presumably employees) in the mornings too.
By the way, I have never figured out where this notion comes from that customer service at government offices is uniformly horrible. Apart from a run-in with a bad cop years ago I have never had a notably bad experience with any government employee. My customer service Hall of Shame is populated by private enterprises exclusively: Expedia.com (the record holder curerntly), TimeWarner Cable, Comcast Cable, Charter One Bank, Sprint, a certain transmission shop whose name I cannot recall, and various fast food resturants and convenience stores.

Posted by JonF | October 12, 2007 1:09 PM

The contrast between your experience and mine at the SSA on Brentwood Rd NE is amazing.

Posted by Other Ezra | October 12, 2007 2:25 PM