The Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles recently announced it would no longer accept cash payments at their offices. Karen St. Germain, the head of OMV, said the policy change would lower costs and help the department save money. That's a good thing.

It was later disclosed that part of the reason the department opted  to go to a no cash policy was to prevent employee theft of cash that was used in OMV transactions.

In the world of reasonable people, there is a lot wrong with that last reason.

Here's a question for you. If you owned a business where you suspected your employees of stealing cash from the company coffers would you:

A: Change the way you do business and inconvenience some of your clients by changing your policy so that cash is no longer an option ?

Or would you

B: Hire better people who were honest and had enough personal integrity not to steal?

If you're the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles you chose option A. Perhaps the Office of Motor Vehicles is such a hell  hole that only thieves, thugs, and n'er-do-wells opt for employment there.

If that’s the case then it’s unreasonable to think that the public needs to adjust the way they can purchase it, we need to fix it within the agency.

The words of Senator Jim Fannin as reported by the Louisiana Radio Network.

I don't think employee theft is rampant in the department. In fact, I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of the OMV's employees are beyond reproach when it comes to honesty, integrity, and  professionalism. It's a shame you honest hard working people got lumped into the barrel with the bad apples. 

Still, this no cash policy has raised an issue among may of the state's citizen. Namely, those citizens that do not carry a credit card or choose not to carry a credit card.  Senator Fannin suggests in his comments that it's the OMV that needs to change their policy concerning how they handle cash transactions.

If we’re not coming up with enough cash at the end of the day to reconcile with the driver’s license we’ve sold, then we should be able to look and go right to the individual that was taking the cash.

In defense of Ms St. Germain's plan to go to a no cash policy, it is estimated the switch will save the state about half a million dollars. While the savings part is to be commended, the theft part leaves a lot to be desired.

 

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