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I am seeing messages from people who applied in October and got their license in November, which is as it should be.

I am also seeing messages from people who applied earlier, and have not received their licenses.

This observation suggests to me that there is a logjam of older applications somewhere, and newer ones are getting precedence.

The internal workings of DPS are totally opaque to me, and no one who really knows has ever enlightened this forum about them. (I certainly don't blame them for not speaking out of school or opening themselves to the barrage of questions and criticism that they would probably get.)

I know about the Harris County Ike excuse. Harris County is the most populous in Texas, and many more people who don't live there work there, so it's not surprising that they would be slow.

I am not sure what any of this means, and I'm sorry if it causes you greater frustration.

P.S.: Last-in-first-out (LIFO) is a computer term meaning that the most recent request is processed first. There are times when that makes sense in computer systems. It generally doesn't work with human beings. We prefer first-in-first-out (FIFO).

I tend to forget that not everyone is a computer geek.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:
I tend to forget that not everyone is a computer geek.

- Jim

Accountants use the term LIFO as well. Inventory.

I am not an accountant and I do not play one on tv. I don't even balance my checkbook.

Anyguanywhere

Right. Probably the term originated there, as accounting has been around far longer than computers.

- Jim

anygunanywhere wrote:

seamusTX wrote:
I tend to forget that not everyone is a computer geek.

- Jim

Accountants use the term LIFO as well. Inventory.

I am not an accountant and I do not play one on tv. I don't even balance my checkbook.

Anyguanywhere

Due to budget cut backs they could no longer afford pointers required to implement their FIFO queue and were forced to result to popping a stack.

I don't think it's expected to be fifo anyone. Some people BG checks take longer than others or stuff might surface causing delays and result in people getting pushed to the back. I wasn't expecting to get mine until December or Jan given the 4 mo. turn around many people were expecting. But then mine showed up earlier this month.

atxgun wrote:I don't think it's expected to be fifo anyone. Some people BG checks take longer than others ...

I can see someone who has lived and worked in a dozen counties in five years, or has lengthy record as a bad boy taking longer; but the majority of applications are straightforward.

It makes no sense that a husband and wife who took the class on the same day get their licenses a month apart; but ISTR that happened to someone.

BTW, I'm not just ranting about this. I don't have a dog in the hunt. It seems strange, and I would like to understand what is going on.

- Jim

I am very curious about the black box that is DPS processing as well. I have a friend that works at the DPS. I forget what department but it's not license processing. All the same next time I talk to him I'll see if he's able to offer any insight to the insanity.

seamusTX wrote:

atxgun wrote:I don't think it's expected to be fifo anyone. Some people BG checks take longer than others ...

I can see someone who has lived and worked in a dozen counties in five years, or has lengthy record as a bad boy taking longer; but the majority of applications are straightforward.

It makes no sense that a husband and wife who took the class on the same day get their licenses a month apart; but ISTR that happened to someone.

BTW, I'm not just ranting about this. I don't have a dog in the hunt. It seems strange, and I would like to understand what is going on.

- Jim

Try 3 months now. Still waiting on the wife's. Letters have been sent more than once, but keep getting the "Ike" excuse, which apparently went back in time and disrupted DPS operations starting in May. (she's officially reached the 7 month mark now)

agbullet2k1 wrote:
Try 3 months now. Still waiting on the wife's. Letters have been sent more than once, but keep getting the "Ike" excuse, which apparently went back in time and disrupted DPS operations starting in May. (she's officially reached the 7 month mark now)

I cannot believe that she has been waiting 7 months!! There is no excuse for that! Harris county DPS is being LAZY, it has nothing to do with Ike. Im on day 102 myself, I cant even imagine going 7 months.

Is there something else that we are not being told here? There is NO excuse for DPS taking 7 months.

Please don't conclude that people are lazy until we have evidence of that.

It is possible for people to be working their tails off in an inefficient system and not get the job done in a timely manner.

All we know for sure is they were pretty efficient about processing licenses until this year, and now they're not. The number of applications has gone up. I don't know if it has gone up enough to cause gridlock in the system.

We know they've hired people, and the turnaround time has gotten back to normal for most recent applicants.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:Please don't conclude that people are lazy until we have evidence of that.

It is possible for people to be working their tails off in an inefficient system and not get the job done in a timely manner.

All we know for sure is they were pretty efficient about processing licenses until this year, and now they're not. The number of applications has gone up. I don't know if it has gone up enough to cause gridlock in the system.

We know they've hired people, and the turnaround time has gotten back to normal for most recent applicants.

- Jim

While that's true, the source of confusion now seems to be that applications from September and October are rolling out while applications from the Spring and Summer are still held up.

seamusTX wrote:I am seeing messages from people who applied in October and got their license in November, which is as it should be.

I am also seeing messages from people who applied earlier, and have not received their licenses.

This observation suggests to me that there is a logjam of older applications somewhere, and newer ones are getting precedence.

The internal workings of DPS are totally opaque to me, and no one who really knows has ever enlightened this forum about them. (I certainly don't blame them for not speaking out of school or opening themselves to the barrage of questions and criticism that they would probably get.)

I know about the Harris County Ike excuse. Harris County is the most populous in Texas, and many more people who don't live there work there, so it's not surprising that they would be slow.

I am not sure what any of this means, and I'm sorry if it causes you greater frustration.

P.S.: Last-in-first-out (LIFO) is a computer term meaning that the most recent request is processed first. There are times when that makes sense in computer systems. It generally doesn't work with human beings. We prefer first-in-first-out (FIFO).

I tend to forget that not everyone is a computer geek.

- Jim

Man tell me about it, see signature.

I have contacted DPS via email, and the replies have been that they are awaiting the background checks to be completed. So just waiting but getting frustrated at the same time.

Not that I want to become a record setter but what is the longest someone has waited to receive their license, barring any self inflicted problems that could have been avoided?
Jim

The longest that I recall is seven months. It looks like you are close to the record, unfortunately.

- Jim

Does she get a prize? An all expense paid trip to Austin to tell her story would be nice.