Is It True What They Say About .... Iowa???

Unregistered Carriers on 11/19/2009 - 1597
Unregistered Carriers on 11/20/2009 - 1575

Maine - 93.18%
Illinois - 92.61%

On Wednesday, one of our officers stopped an Iowa motor carrier who was not registered under UCR. He told us that he tried to register for UCR in Iowa, but Iowa told him they don't register carriers for UCR anymore and that he would have to go to the UCR Web site to register. Apparently, he called Indiana and asked Indiana to register him (presumably using Iowa's account) and Sandy & Co. were nice enough to accommodate him. This was the story we got from the carrier, anyway.

Admittedly, all this is hearsay, and if I was bound to any kind of journalistic integrity mandate - which, I'd like to point out with a certain amount of non-journalistic glee, I'm not - I would jump all over this situation and set off in heated and relentless pursuit of the facts. In other words, I would call Bruce in Iowa and see if the story checks out. But, for blogging purposes, I'm not particularly interested in the facts of this situation.

Instead, I would like to pursue the concept of a UCR State - ANY UCR State - telling people that if they want to register for UCR, they MUST go to the UCR Web site. I've thought about taking this approach myself.

On the one hand, I like the idea a lot. It's very efficient! Essentially, a State is "deflecting" all of the work back to the carrier and "wasting" almost no resources on customer service, mailings, etc. (One of my co-workers once said to me, "They HAVE to come to us. Why do you call them 'customers'"? If that's your mindset, then there's probably not much point in reading further. But I'll bet you're also the first one to complain about the long wait at the Driver's License facility!) Anyway, deflect the work - save the cash.

(Side note: Iowa doesn't collect a lot of money from UCR, so this approach makes even more sense from a resource standpoint in Iowa than it does in many other UCR States.)

On the other hand, why are we designated as UCR "base states"? And what are we getting paid to do? And what if a "carrier" has no computer or doesn't have a lot of facility with the computer. And what if, heaven forbid, the carrier doesn't even own a credit card and is not about to use e-Check or any other kind of electronic payment mechanism. What if he's used to doing business in cash? Remember, something like 70-80% of the people registering are operating 1-2 trucks. Mom and Pop. Not UPS. And we all know there's a whole bunch of "I don't like technology" people out there.

So, if you're a customer service guy like me, you look at this approach and say that it's a little long on self-service (State self-service, that is) and a little short on "user-friendly" for the carrier - especially the carrier who needs the help.

If we were a business (I know, I know, we're not), I don't think we'd be in business long taking this approach. Frankly, if the situation were reversed and I was the customer, I would resent being told such a thing. Imagine going to a restaurant, walking up to the counter with your $20 bill - yes, I'm the last of the big-time spenders - and being told that you have to go to a Web site to pay the bill. Better yet, imagine going to a restaurant and being told, "We don't actually serve food here. Call some other restaurant and have them deliver it to you. You can use the phone over there - for a dollar plus convenience fees!"

By the way, for what it's worth, I would have registered the Iowa guy if Sandy hadn't. Serve the carrier first - sort out the details later.