Need a New Fishing License? The Truth about the New License System
There has been lots said recently about the changes Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is making with the licensing system. Some say this is innovation, some say this is horrible and others say this might just be the biggest headache . Lets take a deep dive into the licensing follies.
History
For the past 25 or more years license providers like fly shops, gun store and even the local hardware store have sold fishing and hunting license for FWP. FWP would give these dealers the computer, printer, paper, monitor etc to log onto a special portal to provide these licenses to customers quickly and easily. FWP would sweep the money each week for licenses sold from providers accounts. For their trouble the providers would get compensated about 25 cents per license. Providers were not getting rich but covered a little time. They system was quick to access, easy to find people who had licenses prior and by the end just comfortable to use. This lead to a generation of fisherman showing up knowing that getting a paper license was quick and we could easily find them.
Current
FWP decided this state wide system of providers was antiquated and they say they were loosing money on the computers they were providing. They also say that eventually they would like all license to be paperless with everyone going on the FWP app and housing all their licenses there. The app is available for all smart phones. They even have some slick videos on You Tube to help you navigate this.
FWP went to all providers and took back the computers and turned off the provider portal. Now they want business to be license ambassadors. Basically, the business needs to provide a dedicated computer, monitor, key board, and printer. Once set up we can help customers get licenses on the FWP website. The customer will need to put in a credit card directly to FWP along with a credit card fee to purchase the license. Providers help but provide all the equipment, time, labor including the printer to print these license. In exchange the provider gets nothing. I know we spent almost $1000 to set up our new license computer, printer etc. Providers are allowed to charge a small fee to help facilitate a license. So now the customer credit card is used to buy the license, a fee from FWP to use the credit card and now the provider needs to charge that same card again on their POS system for the fee to provider. Sounds fair ?
Beyond the Money
What FWP is not telling you is that the new system on their website that the providers are accessing is the same system as in the app. Here is the problem. In the new system to find a customers ALS number we will now require a 3 point match. This means whatever phone number along with zip code that customer used to purchase his original license must be known in order to find that customer in the system. Many customers have changed zip codes and cell number over they past 20 years of buying licenses and never updated their FWP profile. Also now names are super important. If you are a Bill but your license is under William good luck finding it. If you are a Brad and your license profile says Bradley no luck. Long story short it is difficult at best to find many customers who have had licenses in the past. Also, now customers are required to fork over their email address in order to purchase a fishing license. Also, want to pay in cash? You will need to go to FWP headquarters in Bozeman. Need to change your profile from non resident to resident or just got married and need to change name. Plan a trip to FWP headquarters.
We did a little test. I had the folks in the shop find Me (John Way) in the system and issue me a license. I have had a license in Montana every year for at least 30 years. It took them 8 min. to find my ALS number before we could even start to issue a license. This is going to be fun 4th of July weekend with 30 people needing fishing licenses at 7 am.
Moving Forward
So, what is the best practice moving forward? We are asking our out of state customers to jump on the app and get the fishing license ahead of time. Also, if you are looking to get a paper license in store please keep track of the ALS number. This is your birthdate followed by a random number and is in bold on the top of your last license. This will be key to efficiency. We are also asking customers to be patient in store as we navigate this new licensing frontier. We are set up and ready to go with a new computer, printer, monitor to help and assist customers get fishing licenses. We will be charging a fee of $5 to facilitate the license for them. Don’t want to pay the fee just download the app and get it on your own. You can even steal some of our wifi to do it. Basically we are here to help. Let us know what you think of the new license system.
