My son went to the BMV this morning to renew his drivers' license.

[Ohiogal]

It used to be, when you went there, you took a little paper ticket out of a dispenser, sat down, and waited for them to call your number.

Now, upon entering, you must go to a kiosk where there are Ipads, and type your name and why you're there onto the Ipad. Then you are assigned a number, and you go sit down and watch for your number to come up on a screen up near the ceiling over the counters, kind of like being in an airport. A pad of paper and a pen are there by the Ipads for you to write your number down, if you wish.

I said to him, so everyone has to touch the Ipads, and he said Yes. He said someone came out to clean them off once while he was there. He did not see anyone clean off or replace the pens.

I guess this is Progress.....

[Marthe48]

1. My friend got her license renewed

she made several trips to the bmv because of the exhaustive demand for ID. The last time she went back, she told me there were kiosks. She hates kiosks

[Ohiogal]

2. Your friend might have been applying for a Real ID

My son did this as well .... he said starting this fall, you will need a Real ID to board an airplane or enter a Federal Building and a couple other things.

He had to bring his old Drivers' License, his birth certificate, his SS card, and proof of residency (he brought a credit card bill).

You can still just renew your drivers' license without doing all this, evidently.

I just don't see the need for the Ipads when the old system was just as good, does this save $ or eliminate a job? I don't get it.

[genxlib]

3. The last time I was at the DMV

There isn't just one list.

There are lists for renewals, new issues, needing photos, driving tests etc.

Doing it this way allows for a lot more flexibility.

It really was an upgrade in the Pre-CV world

[targetpractice]

4. Apple closed all of its retail stores today for exactly this reason...

Common use, public touch screens are certainly a coronavirus vector... Apple's retail model is all about touching their products to try them.

We rely on touchscreens for paying for stuff at stores, entering our PINs at bank ATMs, and unfortunately for modern voting.

Touchscreens are an amazing inventions... Who knew that they would eventually kill us all.

Think about the days when you checked out groceries at a store... You handed cash to the cashier, got your change and left... NO TOUCHING surfaces that a bazillion other people touched before you. Same with paper ballots.

Perhaps, wireless transactions will become more common and allow us to go go back to the days of NO TOUCHING.