Reader comments
Four-day work week starts to chagrin of some drivers

Umm, why are they not staggering the four-day work week so someone is still there on any given week day? Sure you'll have to pay to turn on the lights that day, but government is there to serve the people, not to serve the government employees.

My husband and I went this morning to get driver's licenses. There was a steady stream of cars the few minutes we were there. That was a huge waste of time and energy for all those people. What is Gov. Huntsman thinking by eliminating an entire day of services 7am-5:30pm and replacing it with a mere 30 minutes 4 days a week? The burden hasn't been lifted from taxpayers, just shifted: longer lines, and working around a more limited schedule. It probably cost more than $3 million just to publicize the change-which wasn't very thorough or effective.

I'm not sure WHY we're supposed to feel sorry for these people who work four days a week and are used to the luxury of having a weekday off to do things like this. Just FYI, the REST of us work five days a week, and State agencies are not open on the weekend days WE have off. We've been dealing with this quandry for years. Why, again, are we supposed to feel sorry for you?

And the guy who KNEW about the closure, but expected an exception would be made in his case... well that's his own darn fault. Just how special did he think he was?

Anonymous...It's not a mere 30 minutes four days a week...it's an extra 2 hours four days a week, meaning your husband could go before or after work Monday thru Thursday. You apparently aren't very well informed, since this has been basically plastered by the news outlets.

What a bunch of cry babies!

The state publicized this change, far and wide, long before they actually put it into effect. Those who missed the memo need to go back and read up and learn something. Today's results are a laugher, no more, no less.

When you buy the global warming worries, and the story that we're running out of crude oil, and the pc need to conserve energy, then you buy this idea of shutting down 1000 state offices for a day. Really can't be a bad thing. It's time to enter the debate instead of whining about your once a year (or once a lifetime) "need" for dmv personal services.

If they staggered the four day work week, they wouldn't save any money.
Anonymous, you're complaining that the money spent getting the word out was too much after complaining that people didn't get the word. Logical fallacy.

Weird how you know how much the budget was for the publicity but yet you still showed up with your hubby. Doesn't make sense...

Utahans get over it. Have you heard the word ADJUST!
I'm sure you had to adjust when....you got married, had children.... bought a home ...school..dogs...
family....should I go on.

I think the four day work week is great. People need to learn to use the computer. How dumb are people that didn't know it was going to be closed..Don't you ever read the paper, watch the news, or read the internet...... Time to get out from underneath your rock.

This has not only been on the Utah news, but on the national and even international news for over a month now. If you didn't know it was closed and went anyway, that's your fault for being horribly uninformed.

Do people live in a hole? This has been very publicized since it was first announced. I am sure everyone thought it would be for services that someone else uses. I don't see this as a big deal at all. For 99% of population it will simply take a thing called planning. If the government can save money by doing then as a tax payer I say save the money. I will come by one of the other 4 days of the week you are open longer.

There have been regular warning/reminders about the change for weeks now. Anyone who is upset about not being informed could probably fill a book with what they don't know. I'm guessing those who are mad about not being informed are never informed about anything, because they don't watch the news, they don't read the newspaper, they disregard notices around town, online and probably even in their own mailboxes.
And the change to a four day work week makes sense to me. The later hours on the four days of work will serve people better than the Friday day that still only served the unemployed.

I'd love to have a four/ten work week, every week. Hill AFB has two schedules of four day work weeks where teams alternate every other Friday off.

I loved how uncrowded the freeways were this morning. It was great to get to work in reasonable time. If these state workers are going to cry about it then there is always the unemployment lines.

This is a great idea and should have been done years ago.

The point isn't to save on the light bill, the point is to have a publicity point to get Huntsman plastered all over the local and national news.

Cabinet post knocking? Ambassadorship?

Just another Utah politician angling for the spotlight away from home. . .it would be nice if for a change one of them would work for us instead of themselves.

I went in on Monday to register my car, and I thought it was wonderful! For the first time the DMV was still open when I got off of work, so I didn't have to take any time off to accomplish my task. Plus, there was no line!

My question is, why would you ever use a service like the DMV (which most people only use once a year at most) without first at least calling to check the hours? Certainly you can't be naive enough to think that absolutely nothing will change over the course of a year. Even without any publicity surrounding the change, people should be intuitive enough to make sure they've covered all the details before they take a day off of work. Really there is no valid excuse for showing up on Friday for these services.

The change to 4 day workweek for govt service I think is a mistake. All five days should be available especially for car registrations and license renewals and other essential service. I believe it will create more problems than it's worth just to save a few dollars. It's more like it will cost people more than what they claim to be saving. I think the change to 4 day week is overkill when it comes to these essential government services. I believe people are right when they complain that fridays are gone for the service they want to obtain.

Never heard of so many stupid people in my life. They must live in caves. No one who is anywhere near intelligent should be aware of this 'terrible' tragedy. LoL

Ya, I needed to get a Birth Certificate today, I thought, oh I wonder if they are open, they were, but if they weren't my bad, I should have done it yesterday.

But the State Liquor Stores are open 6 days a week. If Huntsman closed them up on Friday there would most likely be a riot. Go figure.