DC Government More Efficient Than Private Business

Steven Pearlstein writes in the Post about his problems with bureaucracies, particularly Verizon. But he includes this nugget:

"While on this vacation, I discovered at 6:30 one morning that my wallet had been lost or stolen. Normally, this would have ruined my day. But by 8:30, using the hotel's Internet access and dialing some 800 numbers, I was able to order up three new credit cards, a new bank card and a new driver's license. When I returned home two days later, I found the replacement license from the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles in the mailbox. (Honest!) All the other cards arrived within the next two business days."

Back to Verizon--his wife was sold a one-stop solution for phones and Internet, but there wasn't good communication within Verizon on the different pieces. Pearlstein rightfully complains, but as a bureaucrat that's what you have to expect. It's much easier to present one face to the customer if the face is really a mask than to reengineer the reality.