snopes.com: Massachusetts License Renewal

Claim: Massachusetts is no longer mailing notifications for driver's license renewals.

Status: True.

Example: [Collected via e-mail, November 2008]

This is just a heads up to everyone. Effective immediately the Registry of Motor Vehicles will no longer be mailing out License renewal applications or reminders to renew your driver's license. It is now the drivers responsibility to know when their license is expiring and renew it on there own. This may be a surprise to all of you and it should be, there has been no public information sent out about these changes. Fortunately enough we received the info in one of our trade publications. This idea could change in the future but as of right now it's a huge cost savings and they plan to run with it. Below is a blurb from the publications.

Mailings Eliminated

The RMV will no longer mail out the following materials to customers:

License renewal notices
Mass ID renewal notices
License reinstatement letters:
Letter sent to a licensed customer when his/her license is reinstated, provided that the license is still active
Letter sent to an unlicensed customer when his/her right to operate is reinstated
Registration reinstatement letters:
Letter sent to a person or corporation whose suspended registration has been reinstated
Letter sent to a person or corporation whose revoked registration has been reinstated
Vehicle Inspection reminder letters for vehicles that are overdue for inspection
Inspector license renewal notices
7D license renewal notices
Driver's Education Certificates
Junior Operator Brochures for parents (still available in branches)
Change of address labels (customers can create their own)

I am just passing this along, my suggestion is to pull out your license and some how set suspense to yourself to make sure you renew it. This is just a heads up so that no one gets pulled over and car impounded because they didn't realize they hadn't renewed their license.

Origins: We're

used to seeing certain types of notices arrive in our mailboxes regularly — aside from monthly credit card statements and water/gas/electricity bills, every year or two the mail brings us income tax forms, voter materials for upcoming elections, automobile registration renewals, etc. One common type of mailing won't be arriving in mailboxes of Massachusetts residents any more, however: renewal notification for about-to-expire driver's licenses.

As of 3 November 2008, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) will no longer be sending out notices to residents reminding them to renew their driver's licenses. Statewide cuts and spending controls announced by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in October 2008 slashed $2 million from the RMV's budget, so the RMV has eliminated mailing license renewal reminders and other courtesy notices in an effort to save money (in this case an estimated $800,000):

Governor Deval Patrick said that he will eliminate 1,000 jobs from state government and slash the budget by more than $1 billion, reacting to the national economic crisis with sweeping cuts that his administration called the worst single round of midyear budget rollbacks in state history.

The reductions will be spread across almost all sectors of state government, biting deeply into state university campuses and community colleges, the state's health insurance programs, and dozens of social service programs — from assistance for at-risk teens to services for the mentally ill and the elderly.

The cuts range from a hit of nearly $300 million on healthcare spending to the elimination of letters to residents simply reminding them to get their driver's licenses renewed.

As noted in a "Message from Registrar Kaprielian on RMV Budget Cuts" displayed on the Massachusetts RMV web site:

Like many businesses across the Commonwealth, the RMV is working to squeeze every penny of savings from our budget in the wake of a drastic downturn in the state's economy.

To weather this financial storm, the RMV is adopting operational changes that, we believe, will minimize the impact on customer service in our branches.

RMV MAILINGS
The RMV will eliminate courtesy notices that are sent to customers for the following services:

License and Mass ID renewal notices
Vehicle Inspection reminder letters for vehicles that are overdue for inspection
Inspector license renewal notices
7D license renewal notices
Driver's Education Certificates
Junior Operator Brochures for parents
Change of address labels

For now, at least, it's incumbent upon residents of that commonwealth to be aware when their licenses are due to expire and to initiate the renewal process on their own in a timely fashion.

Last updated: 4 November 2008

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Sources:

Viser, Matt. "Patrick to Cut 1,000 Jobs from State Payroll.": The Boston Globe. 16 October 2008.