TWIC - Government at its Worst

[hanschristian38]

TWIC has not been able to activate cards -

On Oct. 21, the government facility that houses the TWIC system experienced a building-wide power outage. Though power was quickly restored, the part of the system that facilitates card activations was affected.
While we work to resolve this issue, workers nationwide will not be able to activate their cards until the week of Nov. 10.

One power outage puts them out of business for weeks. Too bad for those who need this to work.

Welcome to the modern age. Go to any place with a cash register, and try to do business when the power is out I have actually started complementing people who know how to make change. Too many places are too dependent on technology. Such is the price of progress?

[S/V Illusion]

If the process was not managed electronically, it would cost a fortune compared with it's cost now, be FAR more laborious and delays would be common as would errors. Some duplicative system would presumably suffer equivalently as well as increase costs. There is no option other than the present system obviously dependent on power so what's your point?

Simple really, the faster we go, the slower we get there. I am no ludite, but it would seem to me that a critical system like this would have some sort of built in safeguard or work around. In contrast, knowing how to make change is the work around to an electronic cash register. True they are whole different worlds, but the basic concept of redundancy is the same, whether it is human redundancy, or electronic redundancy. Providing people with the training to use these redundancies is equally important. If your employees are making minimum wage, you probably are not gong to try to teach an adult who has not learned to make change, how, Not cost efficient, but if you own the store, you will likely take the time to learn so that you can keep doing business. This leads to the underlying question. If TWIC cares about the fact that they will stop doing business if the system goes down. Does it impact their bottom line? Not if they are a government agency. Sad, but true, there is no accountability, so no incentive.

[Reality Check]

How about solar panels, Wind generators, nuclear plants and a buried power grid that is networked effectively. All very possible with a bit of effort and thought.

Hanging wires from poles and oil fired electrical plants will never get us anywhere but to a candle...

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Kai Nui

Welcome to the modern age. Go to any place with a cash register, and try to do business when the power is out I have actually started complementing people who know how to make change. Too many places are too dependent on technology. Such is the price of progress?

My wife wanted to buy one hair clip. They were 3 for $5. First the girl at the counter, calculator in hand no less, entered 3 X $2.10, then she entered 3 X $1.50, then she called a friend over and they entered 3 X $1.70, then the manager came over and the three of them entered 3 X $1.60.

Finally, bemused enough I asked if they might try 5.00 divided by 3. Skeptically they pushed the digits. To verify I wasn't cheating I convinced them to enter 3 X 1.67 and offered to pay an extra penny for a hair clip.

The best was the comment by the first girl, "Wow. You must be like a math teacher or something!"

<sigh>

[jrb]

thats what is taking so long to get my card. 6 to 8 weeks my foot.

[GordMay]

Who was it who asked:
"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?"

[hanschristian38]

Power outages are understandable but a single outage should never cause a system to be unavailable for several weeks. Mission critical systems should have battery backup. Certainly, a power outage at your local market should not cause them to close for weeks.

[hanschristian38]

I went in again on Tuesday to get the new card activated only to be given the error message "weak PIN" - They told me the card would need to be reissued and I should come back in 2 weeks. Better work next time as they are closing this office at the end of November.

[Guzzi]

There's a reason people can't make change...they aren't being taught!

Not in the schools OR at home!

[donradcliffe]

First of all the TWIC program is a $250 million boondoggle, foisted off on the government by Lockheed lobbyists. Secondly, it really has nothing to do with US Coast Guard license holders for under 500 tons, as we still won't have or need access to US ports. Thirdly, for a simple power outage to knock out the card-issuing center for 3 weeks is gross incompetence and mismanagement on Lockheed's part. If it wasn't a government job, there would be half a dozen people fired by now.

The worst part is that you have to pick up your TWIC card in person, and when your local office closes at the end of November you and I are going to get lost in the system.

I'm counting the hours until January 20th, when change will start from the top.

[Guzzi]

RIIIIIIIGHT.

You really believe that, do you?

Barry is an established do-nothing Senator, his VP is an old line beltline boy, nothing has changed at the DNC, what do you think will change?

He had 4 years to try to make changes and did nothing, why do anything now?

[hanschristian38]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

I'm counting the hours until January 20th, when change will start from the top.

You don't really think that a different president will make a difference in this do you?

[donradcliffe]

Don't get me started--It will take a while to trickle down, but the anti-terror campaign was manipulated by Cheney to ignore the constution and place additional and unnecessary controls on the public, all in the name of 'doing something'. Obama is smart enough to understand that making 80 year old grandmothers take their shoes off to get on an airplane isn't really making us safer, and neither is requiring six-pack captains to carry TWIC cards.