Yosemite Sue's Journal: Getting it right

I had a pleasant surprise dealing with a government service the other day. (Never thought I'd say that!*)

In Ontario, there is a network of self-serve ServiceOntario Kiosks. These kiosks look like bank machines, and I've seen them in a few malls. I never had a reason to use one before last week, when I moved. The kiosks allow you to order personalized license plates, renew plate stickers, pay fines, get a driver's abstract, renew your "outdoor card"** ... and change your address (which is the only service I can actually comment on).

Changing the address for my driver's license and health card was amazingly easy. It took me under five minutes to change them both! The only moment of confusion I had was when it asked for my street number. I wasn't sure if it wanted only the number, or the number and name ... but when I tried to type the name, an alert quickly informed me that all I had to enter was the number. Using my postal code and just the house number, it was able to pull up my entire address from a database.

This is just the sort of thing I think is a great example of appropriate use of technology. The location was convenient, I didn't have to worry about the hours of operation. I didn't have to wait in line in a dingy building, or get served by a harried civil servant. It was straightforward to use it.

Anyhow ... sometimes it's easy for me to rant about things that I don't like, or that don't work well. It's nice to occasionally mention something in a more positive vein. :-)

* j/k - I've had both good and bad experiences dealing with government offices.
** What is an "outdoor card"? A hunting/fishing license?

Yay for ServiceOntario Kiosks

[turg]

I've been using them annually for renewing my vehicle registration (I also used one to order my custom plates a few years back) and I love them. The extra two bucks it costs to use the kiosk is definitely worth paying to avoid the half-hour line I'd otherwise stand in -- and that's aside from the fact that the experience is better and easier than dealing with a person

Re:Yay for ServiceOntario Kiosks

[Yosemite Sue]

I didn't realize there was a surcharge for some of those services (changing your address is free), but I agree, $2 isn't a lot to pay to avoid the hassle of going to one of the government offices ...

Do you know how long have these kiosks been around? (I have only lived in Ontario for a couple of years now.)

YS

Re:Yay for ServiceOntario Kiosks

[turg]

They were introduced in the early 90's