More than $ 2 a month: DVL queues have spawned new ways to make money in New Jersey

Due to the long queues at the DVL offices, many motorists are willing to pay those who will take their place and help avoid long waiting times. The so-called “queue-holders” make more than $ 2 a month - more than the New Jersey minimum wage. The newspaper writes about it The New York Times.

Queues at the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) offices have spawned a new class of workers - the so-called queue-holders. These are people who are willing to stand in line instead of others in order to then sell them their place and help them avoid long waiting times.

One such worker is Sumbal Nadeem. Around 8 p.m., she sets up a tent outside the MVC office in the New Jersey suburbs. Nadim plans to spend the whole night there with his four-year-old son, until the office opens at 150 am. She does not need to get a driver's license or other documents for herself from the agency. However, she needs money. For a place in the queue, she will receive $ XNUMX from a motorist who needs to register a car.

The problem with obtaining a driver's license came amid the coronavirus pandemic, as MVC offices were closed for four months. Long lines have formed around them since they opened in July. “I work 12 hours a day every day. I hardly sleep, ”said 23-year-old Nadeem, who graduated from community college last December. She hopes to become a medical assistant but has not found a job yet.

Even after some services became available online and the deadline for obtaining some documents was increased, the agency's 39 offices are still overcrowded. In the wee hours of the day, queues stretch out into the neighborhoods.

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Due to limited public health options, offices often refuse to receive people by mid or late morning. The agency itself also identified cases of COVID-19 among workers, after which some offices were forced to close for two weeks.

New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy admitted that many motorists had difficulty visiting MVC offices during the pandemic. “People are as frustrated with long lines as I am,” the governor told reporters recently. “We want these queues to end as much as everyone else.”

While long lines drive some crazy, for others they become a source of income. Sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are filled with people offering to queue up; they ask for their services from $ 50 to $ 600.

Anthony Perez, 37, from Hackensack, New Jersey, was fired from his job as a designer after the pandemic. He is still trying to qualify for unemployment benefits, which he was initially denied.

To make ends meet, he makes money waiting in lines outside the MVC offices. Earned $ 80-200 a night allows him to pay some of his bills. “I'm just trying to feed my family right now,” Perez said. - I lost my job. What am I supposed to do? Die of hunger? Or be homeless? "

MVC offices were not renowned for efficiency, even in normal times. And New Jersey is not the only state where the pandemic has accumulated a huge backlog of cases. Long lines under the agency's offices also formed in Ohio and Nevada.

New Jersey Motor Transportation Commission's chief administrator, Sue Fulton, said the agency is trying to improve the situation. To do this, it offers its customers services such as updating certain driving licenses online.

Today the agency processes more transactions weekly than in the same period last year. So it tries to catch up. Waiting times for some services, such as vehicle inspection, have dropped to pre-pandemic levels.

As for the queues, Fulton said, "We have to keep working until we get through all of this."

However, not everyone who gets paid to wait in line is unemployed. Some people just want to earn extra money this way.

Jeff Mauro, a high school teacher in Red Bank, New Jersey, got the idea to take money from people after he himself stood in line. The first time he arrived at the MVC office was at 7 a.m. to register his daughter's car. He immediately realized that he could hardly resolve the issue on the same day. Therefore, Mauro returned the next day, but already at 5 am. And this time he was disappointed: he was given a ticket number 225 out of 250. It was possible to register the car only at 5 pm. “As I stood in line, I thought to myself, 'Someone will probably pay you to arrive early and reserve a seat so he doesn't have to waste his day,” Mauro said.

So he ran ads on various sites and spent part of the summer as a place in line. Thus, he earned over $ 2500. It was much easier than he imagined. “It feels like we're all together,” he said. “If you want to go out and take a walk, no one will take your place. People stay six feet apart. They are very respectful to everyone around them. "

While some earn money by queuing up for motorists, others earn in a different way. Sean Boles from Washington, Warren County, worked as a truck driver for four months before he was retired. He made $ 2400 by queuing. Sean saw people selling food to those waiting outside the MVC offices. “People bring dollar sandwiches from McDonald's,” he says. "They sell them to those waiting in line for $ 3."

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Of course, not everyone is happy that some have decided to earn extra money on the problems of others. “They have to understand that there are people who work 12 hours, and they cannot come like us and wait in line,” Nadeem said.

But there are those who happily pay others to wait in line, and they say it's worth it. Alex Tholl of Morristown, Morris County, owns a design firm. He paid the queue-holder $ 150 to register his new car with ease. Toll decided to do this because he drove past the agency's office several times and "saw how terrible it was." “I can't wait in line for four hours,” Toll added. "I hate to be misunderstood, but four hours of my time is worth more than the waiting time in line."

Anthony Salgado, a high school graduate from Sukkasunna, tried to join the state carpenters union but was unable to attend the required classes due to the outbreak of the pandemic. Therefore, he decided to cover part of his expenses as a seat holder. His services cost up to $ 200. “I sit in a mask and watch TV on my phone for about five hours,” he said.

So far, he has earned over $ 2000. “This is much more than the minimum wage,” added Salgado.

As a reminder, the crowds under the agency's offices were spotted also in Beyonne, Wallington, Jersey City and other licensing centers throughout the state.