Are there too many brick-and-mortar Social Security offices?

[jim9251]

I would think population has a lot to do with it. My closest office is 30 miles away, the next closest is 60 miles away. Those are the only two in the entire western part of the state here.

[Escort Rider]

Originally Posted by Ariadne22

Again, you are assuming people have the eyesight and mental abilities to comprehend what they are reading.

Oh dear. Please don't bash us poor City-Data posters like that!

[moved]

When I turned 62, I applied for my SS online, and still had to into an office to get questions answered, and to answer questions. Just recently, I called the 800# with a question about Supplemental SSI. My question was answered, but I have to call the 800# at the end of August/beginning of September for them to make an appointment for me to get some meet with someone in the office.

Sometimes you just have to talk to someone in person......

[GreggT]

Our closest office is 42 miles away; we have been to see them several times over the past years. All I can say as these people are the most helpful, competent folks one could wish for. I think of them when I hear someone bash government employees.
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[texdav]

I basically made a appointment and it wa handled very effciently when I retired. Also did the same for my mother in law and same expereice.I foud the perosn to be very knowledge able and helpful as long as you know what to ask and have reserched so you understand.

[Escort Rider]

As the OP here, I have found good food for thought in the responses. I myself have been to Social Security offices in person - my point was since that is not something we would do all that often, SS could save money by having fewer, but larger offices. But of course (as pointed out by others) SS serves a population which is partly very elderly, many of whom may no longer drive; so while I would think nothing of driving twenty miles to an office, it may be an inconvenient hardship for a car-less person to get there. So SS is probably trying to balance the most efficient use of resources against providing the most convenient service to the most people.

I did check on a few locations since posting the OP and discovered that there do seem to be lots and lots of SS offices everywhere in the greater Los Angeles area. I say "seem to be" because the manner of locating offices on the SS website is to enter a zip code. I entered several zip codes I was familiar with and always came up with an office nearby, but that is hardly an exhaustive search.

[markg91359]

Obviously, I'm a bit too young to collect social security.

Nevertheless, I must relate an experience.

Five years ago, my son turned sixteen and it was time for him to obtain a driver's license. When we went to the DMV, we were asked to produce his social security card. Somewhere between the time he was born and age 16, it had disappeared. DMV was merciless and told us that until he obtained a duplicate card there would be no license issued. After having lived in this state all my life, I'm a bit peeved at all this crap one must go through to function. I could rant and rave at illegal aliens and the problems they have created, but that's another story.

I went to the Social Security office in Ogden. I picked a number and waited almost two hours to be waited on. I was than told that I was missing one of several pieces of documentation necessary to obtain the duplicate card. I am not a patient person and I left the office steaming mad. The required items for the duplicate were available on one of the many government publications in the office. I hadn't read it carefully, so I suppose I'm partly to blame.

Next day, I got the missing documentation and drove to the office in Salt Lake. I was not going through the same experience I had had the day before. Lo and behold, I almost went into shock. The "culture" in the Salt Lake office of Social Security was entirely different. These were not merely public employees marking time and discussing their "perks" every minute of the working day. These folks actually cared. They wanted to help the public. In twenty minutes, the problem was solved and if I remember correctly, a duplicate card was issued on the spot.

This is a minor experience, but it made be grateful there were multiple offices in my area.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

I recently became aware (to my great surprise) of two different SS offices only about six miles apart, in the greater Los Angeles area. One is in the small city of Montebello and the other in the small city of Alhambra. I would sure hope this is the exception rather than the rule, otherwise it would represent a hell of an inefficient use of resources.

Nowdays we have on-line application procedures for starting retirement benefits, and the necessity for visiting an office in person is minimal. Or at the very least the necessity for visiting an office in person does not arise very often. So I do not see the sense in having two offices only six miles apart. What a waste!

What is the situation for other posters? How far are you from a Social Security office? (I admit to some laziness here, as I could have looked up the locations of offices in the Los Angeles area before posting this thread. Perhaps I'll do that when I have more time to satisfy my curiosity and add to the thread.)

I think that it's just your area, Escort Rider. You are right however. When I worked in the San Gabriel Valley, I remember that many cities had them. There was one in Pasadena on Mentor, one in Covina off of Citrus, one in City of Industry off Colima Rd, one in Glendora. Those are just the ones that I remember, can't remember about Arcadia or Whittier. The entire city of San Antonio, Tex has ONLY 3. My current city Corpus Christi, Tex with 275,000 has only ONE to serve the city and surrounding towns.