How NC DOT keeps people from getting mad at them for bad pictures

Within a month of our moving to NC (not New Cumberland... it took me years to recognize that abbreviation as New Cumberland, and now I have to retrain myself), three of my friends also moved out of Central PA. One headed south to her grands in Texas, the second and third each headed to the Pacific Northwest. It's been good for me to see how the process (and it is a process!) is going for them.  It also reminds me of things I need to do. 

The new Texan recently blogged about her mug-shot-like new driver's license, and I realized I hadn't changed mine yet.  I'd actually been delaying it because according to the official website, regardless of if you were moving to the state or if you were a new driver, you had to take the written test and possibly even take a driving test pending the examiner deeming it necessary.  And THAT was not high-priority for me.  (The website overstated.  Real people let an out-of-state license suffice.)

But although they took a photo, they didn't send me home with it on an immediately-ready shiny plastic card.  Instead I got a North Carolina 20-day Temporary Driving Certificate.  If I got stopped, I would have to show my PA license as well as this half-sheet of printer paper with all my stats.

The real card will come by mail next week.

Which is one thing for a library card (they do that to verify your address), but on a driver's license it means that the infamous driver's license photo goes unseen until there's a week between you and the clerk at the DMV.  There's no doublecheck on the photo.  There's no retakes.  And the clerk gets no repercussion.  The mail carrier might, though.