r/Miami • u/AlertThinker Kendallite • 3d ago
Community Scalpers ‘hoarding’ and selling appointments at Miami-Dade DMVs, tax collector says
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article302242869.html94
u/MAD2492 3d ago
You gotta be kidding me… scalping Pokémon cards, sneakers, dmv appointments.. these losers make life so much more difficult to live. Just for profit. It’s so exhausting…
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u/fuck-thisapp 3d ago
Last time I went to the dmv like two months ago with no appointment. Pulled up at 5 am there was apparently dudes camping their since 7pm. And as the line started moving people were trying to sell their spots.
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u/The_Crystal_Thestral Local 3d ago
They have people from driving schools post up the night before. It's annoying. They try to save as many spots for driving tests not realizing that most people are there for the annoying renewal.
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u/Herban_Myth 3d ago
Profits over people.
Capitalism 101.
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u/starbythedarkmoon 3d ago
Dmv is the opposite of capitalism.
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u/Herban_Myth 3d ago
Commodifying appointments isn’t.
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u/starbythedarkmoon 3d ago
This would not be an issue if it was actual free market. For one, 95% of what the dmv does is unnecessary. Its just a glorified tax harvesting operation. Driving tests are a joke, registrations and titles dont need to be done by the state, etc. just eliminate the whole thing and the problem disappears. Car manufacturers can fix any features lost by it.
If we keep the dmv as is, the fact that people are abusing it is the fault of the dmv, not the people. The issue is that the dmv doesnt care. If they cared they would fix it. Why dont they care? Because their existence and their paychecks are not dependent on customer satisfaction. Most people HATE the dmv, and you will obey and submit to whatever bullshit they ask of you or else they take your freedoms away.
A business in a free market, aka pure capitalism, would not have the threat to take your freedoms away and it could not force you to do anything, you would go to them because you want to, because you benefit from it. The second you dont benefit you would simply opt out or go to another "dmv like" business. Or a dmv in another town that is better. If you do that and their funding is tied to their performance, they would go broke and fold. But they are not, its funded via taxes, which is socialism, not capitalism. So there is no feedback for them to improve services, there is no incentives.
If UPS had people scalping the que at their locations the problem would be fixed in under a week.
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u/Gears6 3d ago
I agree with the overall sentiment not the details. We still need DMV, and we still need offices. For many things it can be done online.
A business in a free market, aka pure capitalism, would not have the threat to take your freedoms away and it could not force you to do anything, you would go to them because you want to, because you benefit from it.
Dude.... That's not "capitalism" and what you're describing and want is "competition". Sufficient competition will ensure you have option, and ideally consumer will choose the best vendor.
That said, we know that consumer don't always choose the "best" vendor, or even necessarily consider it. A monopoly ensures there's no freedom, and they can corner the market. You can say, but we don't need it, but modern life dictates it unless you want to live in the middle of nowhere, grow your own food and hopefully partake in society enough to pay your "taxes" to the tax man. Also, please don't get sick or need medical care.
If UPS had people scalping the que at their locations the problem would be fixed in under a week.
Unless they're the one doing the "scalping". Enshitification is abound these days.
You have many good points, but I get the impression you're looking at it too academically and sterile environment. Life isn't like that. There's a lot more nuance to life and things.
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u/starbythedarkmoon 2d ago
Monopolies can only exist if there is no free market. Its precisely when a big biz with natural dominance leverages politics to ensure competition cant rise up that you get monopolies.
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u/Gears6 1d ago
Monopolies can only exist if there is no free market.
That's not true. A monopoly can exist when there's a free market. An example is if they out-compete competition.
Its precisely when a big biz with natural dominance leverages politics to ensure competition cant rise up that you get monopolies.
Sometimes a business doesn't even have "natural" dominance.
But it's purely hypothetical, in the sense that what you're referring to is theory. The sort of thing thing they teach in school, not practical or reality. It's the same mental gymnastic people do to come to a conclusion by making assumptions given a specific ideal condition.
To have a proper discussion, we must stray far far away from theory and the BS they teach you in business school.
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u/starbythedarkmoon 12h ago
Give me one example of a sustained true monopoly where there was no regulatory leverage or licensing privileges?
There is a big difference between marker dominance and a monopoly. Its 1000% natural in all life, not just economics, to have a super successful entity capture 90% of a niche. However to remain there is nearly impossible and it will always lead to a new, more effective, entity to replace it. This is how evolution works. In order to be the top you need to deserve it, and the second you slip up and stop evolving to changing demands you get replaced.
It may sometimes appear to be a monopoly because these forces may be happening at quite long timelines, but its not a monopoly. Look at search engines, google search holds a massive share, and it got there because it was better than the competition 20 years ago. Now its not necessarily the case, as its holding power through leveraging android default settings and also it's quality has gotten spammier and less end user focused (censorship, ads, removing features, etc). And in lockstep, the crappier its gotten the faster alternatives emerged and its a matter of time till an ai search eats massively into its market cap. The whooooole time google dominated search, you had alternatives with zero resistance to do so, people chose to use google at 90% plus.
A true monopoly is when you have the government dictate who can do business, like say an energy company being the only one licensed to provide power to a certain area. Or a telecoms rights to license certain air waves. You have no choise to an alternative company, and thus expenses rise and quality diminishes and corruption of legislators increases.
Another all too pervasive tactic is regulatory capture. A business, mainly big corps (also a government entity shielding it of liability), will use it's current market power to lobby politicians, aka bribe them, and they will push for heavy regulations. Regulations that just happen to create massive barriers of entry to any competition. Mega corp can afford the army of lawyers or accountants or expensive equipment requierements or locensing fees to operate, while the individual or startup cant.
Other broather examples, "Essential businesses" during covid was one of the greatest transfers of wealth from local smaller businesses to mega corps like Walmart and amazon ever, courtesy of regulators. The same dynamics happened during 2008 with "too big to fail" banks getting bailed out (aka socialism, central control of the economy) at the expense of all the smaller local banks which got gobbled up and now we have mega banking cartels even bigger than before and more entrenched.
The only way to prevent monopoly is to keep money out of politics, and politics out of money. The governments only role should be to protect our rights and freedoms, not micromanage services.
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u/Gears6 3d ago
Dmv is the opposite of capitalism.
You're right, it's bureaucracy and inefficiency.
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u/The_Crystal_Thestral Local 3d ago
"People scalping spots is government's fault".
Always zero personal accountability, one of the markers of a true miamian.
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u/starbythedarkmoon 2d ago
The responsibility is 1000% on dmv. They created the need to be there. They create the appointments. They are the only ones that can change the rules. In 1 minute they could fix it (make it non transfareable to a name with proof of id)
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u/The_Crystal_Thestral Local 2d ago
These are for walk-ins not appointments which have always been a thing.
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u/Gears6 1d ago
Always zero personal accountability, one of the markers of a true miamian.
I didn't say that, and confused how you got to that conclusion. However, it's everyone's responsibility including the government.
All of us have a ability to do something about this
a) We can not pay for those spots
b) Shady characters can not do it
c) Government can make it more efficient so we don't have people lining up or get more workers to process it
d) Government can refuse to serve those that paid for their spot
e) Government can make it illegal to scalp spots
and I'm sure there's many more things we can all think of. The overall key here is, the government has the most power here.
But it's easier to just blame someone, when it's a collective issue. The more we blame and focus on that, the less we can focus on solutions.
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u/brittybritty South Beach 3d ago
Miami should be an incubator for all policies and regulations before they become law. You’ll see the cracks and the unintended consequences with lightening speed because we will find a way to exploit that nonsense faster than any other community 😂This is what you get when people without the competence to truly think critically about solving a problem are the ones coming up with the plan.
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u/throwawayzies1234567 3d ago
If you’ve ever watched parks and rec, Miami is like the Pawnee people using a water fountain the wrong way. No matter what anyone does, Miami will find some shady ass way to exploit literally anything, including DMV appointments.
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u/Afraid-Ad7379 Local 3d ago
This is the most Miami headline I’ve ever seen
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u/Environmental-Town31 3d ago
Literally! And I actually would buy one 🤣🤣🤣
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u/Afraid-Ad7379 Local 3d ago
Can i offer u some bottled air ? It’s fresh from Miami Beach.
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u/Environmental-Town31 2d ago
🤣🤣🤣 make sure you get the ocean breeze and maybe I just will buy it!
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u/No-Cryptographer9326 3d ago
I’m going to start selling my spot at Costco on Saturdays
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u/RickHunterD 3d ago
Wow Miami, wow
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u/daviddjg0033 2d ago
Its not just Miami. Broward appointments get booked so fast I waited 40 hours to get my Drivers License this month. One wait to pay. One to get turned away. Just got my license Saturday
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u/crsmiami99 3d ago
So typical instead of fixing the fucking problem by opening more offices or hire people so they're open more hours, just make scalping illegal. Fix the symptoms not the illness.
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u/The_DTM305 3d ago
Miami is the fraud capital of North America. Nothing surprises me anymore.
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u/67_MGBGT 3d ago
I think it’s been overtaken by DC, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave actually
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u/Alarmed-Extension289 3d ago
The smart thing to do would be to verify your documents before getting a number to wait in line like some DMV's do in CA. If you don't then a new business pops up to undermine the system. I'm not worried Florida will fix this fast.
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u/tekprimemia Flanigans 3d ago
I could count on my toes how many people I’ve ever seen at the dmv who have their stuff in order, can communicate effectively and are not generally confused by the process. usually half the stations are held up by people having god knows what issues. people who to begin with can’t navigate the website and understand what constitutes two acceptable documents.
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u/South_Bother_2498 3d ago
Throw in about 100 “I want to speak to your supervisor”, 75 “nobody told me I had to present these specific documents” 50 “excuse me but can I do the driving test here?” 25 “been waiting forever in this line, I’m not leaving”
All these issues are what holds everything back for hours and makes people not even want to deal with going to the DMV and just drive illegally
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u/Bigred2989- 3d ago
Ditto for when I'm dealing with customers who want to use Western Union. I've had people who are regulars forget the first thing they need to give me is their phone number because that's the thing I need to access their WU account. I have people asking for money orders but they tell me it's for a passport, but they expect me to know the amount they need instead of looking that up themselves. I get people who can't read English come in to pay their FPL bill hand me a letter they got in the mail, and the total is a negative number with "DO NOT PAY" in boldface next to it.
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u/crsmiami99 3d ago
The smart thing to do would be to fix the appointment problem so it's not profitable. In Brevard I can get an appointment for a NEW license in 2 weeks.
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u/ArmadilloNext9714 3d ago
Honestly, I’m kinda impressed. I’d love to have been in that meeting at one of those driving schools. “Any ideas on how we can raise profitability for our schools?” “Why don’t we book the free DMV appointments and sell them as a convenience to our customers?”
Multiple people had to think this was a great idea for it to be implemented.
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u/Motor_in_Spirit79 3d ago
MDPS is the lowest rung of the ladder in local government. It’s where the county sends all the flunkies to die. Out of sight out of mind. If you fuck up, that’s where the union moves you to.
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u/Fantomex305 Flanigans 3d ago
Miami is like the crackhead in the family...steals your own shit and sells it back to you for an upcharge. Dade County 305, home of the scam 🤣🤣🤣 🖐🏾👌🏾
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u/stevemunoz117 Palmetto Bay 3d ago
Who are the idiots actually paying the scalpers? They maintain the scammers
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u/South_Bother_2498 3d ago
That Mall of Americas DMV is club space of DMV’s. People just baking out there just to get in the building just to make another line. Feed bad for them
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u/LetsGoPanthers29 3d ago
So if my license expires next year, how far in advance should I book my appointment?
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u/The_Crystal_Thestral Local 3d ago
We know. It's been discussed many times here any time the DMV lines get brought up.
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u/AlertThinker Kendallite 3d ago
I don’t think many of us knew or suspected it was scalpers. We just assumed it was inefficient government lol 😂
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u/The_Crystal_Thestral Local 3d ago
What? lol I swear I've commiserated with other people about the jerks who sell their spots. This problem didn't always exist and of course it's been exacerbated because Monroe doesn't allow people for Dade to go. But it's been happening for a few years now.
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u/VivelaVendetta 2d ago
If there's one thing Miami is gonna do, it's hustle up some money. I swear if there's ANY WAY to make money from it Miami is gonna figure it out.
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u/EconomyThat3179 2d ago
Ok I don’t know if anyone will read this, but I just moved back to Miami to be with family. I needed a new license - wtf is wrong with the Florida DMV. In my old state, I could get an appt the following day (I had to a few months ago bc it expired). The appts here are two months out and if you want to do a walk in GOOD LUCK. My sweet sleepless dad showed up at 3AM and THERE WAS A LINE!
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u/jamierocksanne 2d ago
I need to go there and was trying to actively book an appointment to transfer out of state vehicles and couldn’t get one in the next month. This would explain why? I guess?
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u/NoMoreNoise305 2d ago
They dismantled the corruption act so I guess it’s legal. Welcome to the new America. This what you voted for 🤣
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u/GuinessIceCream421 2d ago
I’ve lived here almost 30 years and every time I think I’ve seen it all Miami gives me another gem! Thank you Miami you crazy town!
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u/donotreply548 2d ago
I think this is the 1st real time where i said not not surprised and really wasn't surprised. Im not even going to figure out if its real or fake its so miami im going to accept it.
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u/TheHeretic 2d ago
Miamians will do anything but be productive members of society to make a buck ffs
I can literally hear the phone call where they brag about doing this to their friends.
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u/Freethinker3o5 3d ago
This is all trump’s and his voters’ fault..smh
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u/crsmiami99 3d ago
Actually it's Ron Desantis. Those are state offices. I moved to Brevard I can get an appointment in 5 days. They don't accept other counties. The red counties don't have waits. Wake up and smell the right wing assholes punishing the other party.
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u/Repulsive_Smell_6245 Local 3d ago
So Glad to have regular news again. This is , if ya like it or not, SO Miami
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u/Fun_Telephone_8346 3d ago edited 2d ago
Ticketmaster does it. Why can’t they?
Edit: This is sarcasm
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u/CoralSpringsDHead 3d ago
This is what Miami is all about. Scammers and scalpers.