Stupid Government Indignity of the Day
I had an employee in a truck towing a pontoon boat from a marina we operate in Alabama to a marina we operate in California. Apparently, we have grossly violated the law because to haul our boat from our own facility in one state to our own facility in another requires that we register as an interstate motor carrier and put DOT numbers on all of our vehicles. Just great. Who wants to bet that this will be an enormous and expensive hassle?
Update: Credit where it is due: The application online was totally arcane (and of course the help link and instructions links were broken) but the guy at the DOT help line was remarkably helpful and walked me through it. It was pretty clear that a lot of folks who casually transport their private property across state lines gets swept up in this net, and they actually were prepared to be helpful. I did have to laugh when the very first screen of the application process was to get my credit card number - I think this clarifies the reason for this licensing process.
