Well Done, DPS and USPS!

[badkarma56]

Dudes and Dudettes:

I'm happy to report that my freshly-minted CHL was hand delivered this afternoon by the fine folks of the United States Postal Service. They're a bunch of solid Americans if you ask me!

I alluded to this in another post, but I figure it bears repeating to all. For those of you who have been approved, and are only left waiting on USPS to actually deliver your plastic, don't expect any sort of exceptional or irregular envelope. As a matter of fact, your CHL will arrive disretely packaged in a very thin and regular-looking envelope. The only "give away" to it's contents will be the return address on the envelope ("Reg. Licensing Service...TX Dept. of Pub. Safety..."). If you are in the habit of instantly junking spam letters from pre-approved credit cards and insurance companies, I recommend that you briefly suspend this behavior. Why, you ask? Because I nearly threw the DPS letter away without even looking at the envelope...that's how unremarkable and discrete the packaging was! The envelope didn't even really feel rigid to the touch...you know, I expected the envelope to "feel" like it contained a card-sized license.

Bottom line, look at all of your incoming mail very closely from now until you actually get your plastic. Resist the impulse to trash seemingly anonymous letters without really looking at the return address first.

Additionally, once you receive your CHL, you can decipher the actual "date of issuance" by inspecting the coded set of numbers to the left of your photo. Simply ignore the first two numbers and also the final four numbers...what's left will be the actual "date of issuance" for your CHL. These numbers appear on my CHL as: 01071620070842, thus my CHL was actually "issued" on 07/16/2007. The odd thing about this "issue date" is that it was only four days after DPS took receipt of my completed application (07/12/2007)! I can only conclude that the folks at DPS actually go ahead and print your plastic soon after they get your completed paperwork, and then only mail the printed license after the background check concludes. I suppose that DPS simply destroys the "un-issued" licenses for any applicants who "fail" the subsequent background check.

I also got an extra year of licensure on my CHL. Since the date of issuance came after my June birthdate, my license is set to expire in June of 2012 instead of June 2011. That's cool.

[KooLLaiD]

That's Awesome that your's only took just over a month. I hope mine is a speedy :p

[badkarma56]

That's Awesome that your's only took just over a month. I hope mine is a speedy :p

Thanks dude. The force will be with you, always...

[seamusTX]

Additionally, once you receive your CHL, you can decipher the actual "date of issuance" by inspecting the coded set of numbers to the left of your photo. Simply ignore the first two numbers and also the final four numbers...what's left will be the actual "date of issuance" for your CHL. These numbers appear on my CHL as: 01071620070842, thus my CHL was actually "issued" on 07/16/2007. The odd thing about this "issue date" is that it was only four days after DPS took receipt of my completed application (07/12/2007)!

I doubt that's the case. If the number means anything like that, it is the day they started processing your application.

Congratulations on the plastic, and good luck.

- Jim

[badkarma56]

Additionally, once you receive your CHL, you can decipher the actual "date of issuance" by inspecting the coded set of numbers to the left of your photo. Simply ignore the first two numbers and also the final four numbers...what's left will be the actual "date of issuance" for your CHL. These numbers appear on my CHL as: 01071620070842, thus my CHL was actually "issued" on 07/16/2007. The odd thing about this "issue date" is that it was only four days after DPS took receipt of my completed application (07/12/2007)!

I doubt that's the case. If the number means anything like that, it is the day they started processing your application.

Congratulations on the plastic, and good luck.

- Jim

A plausible theory, "Brother Seamus"...but I prefer mine!!!

[Mark G26]

Congrats badkarma56

The wife also got her's today, one day longer than you!

[badkarma56]

Congrats badkarma56

The wife also got her's today, one day longer than you!

Cool, thanks for the kudos, Mark.

[rkhal]

I also received my chl today. I was going to do my Wally Walk but was informed by my better half that I was gonna do said Wally Walk at Costco. Despite being armed I did as I was told. I tried to explain that the law stated that the first outing must be Wally World but......

[RPBrown]

[quote="rkhal"]I also received my chl today. I was going to do my Wally Walk but was informed by my better half that I was gonna do said Wally Walk at Costco. Despite being armed I did as I was told. I tried to explain that the law stated that the first outing must be Wally World but......[/quote

Not legal yet then.

[starrbuck]

Additionally, once you receive your CHL, you can decipher the actual "date of issuance" by inspecting the coded set of numbers to the left of your photo.

Interesting! My date was 06/25/2007, and they received my app on 06/18/2007, so the date was obviously very soon after they got it.

Regarding the expiration, I got an extra few months too. Mine won't expire until my birthday in February of 2012. :)

[HooG19]

mine came in the mail yesterday too, and it doesn't expire until June 2012...about as close to 5 years as I could get with sending in my app right after my Bday

<---getting ready for my Wally Walk

[Venus Pax]

I remember the wait. It seemed like it took forever.

[badkarma56]

Ladies and Gentlemen, this round's on me! Congratulations to all...

It's so cool that so many of us were taken care of around the same time...synchronicity at it's finest!

And yes, Venus, the waiting period seemed like forever, but in retrospect it was only about a month. Funny how expectations can really drive ya' plum loco!