IdentoGO

Suddenly there are long lines at the airport, and suddenly, for $ 85 you can get pre-​screened at IdentoGo centers, owned by a French defense company Safran. Hmmm. Does anyone smell something fishy? I certainly do.
Walk In Arrival Time: Monday 9:15 a. m
Total wait time: 75 minutes
Total processing time: 4 minutes.
Processing involves fingerprints and verbal verification of data from your passport.
Are people with reservations handled first? YES
Are people with reservations handled precisely on time? YES
Is there a one month delay for reservations online? YES
Are walkins available? YES
Is the lobby filled with people who are walk ins? YES
Is there a bathroom? Yes.
Was the front desk person an hour late for work? YES
Did her being late slow down the first hour’s worth of processing as one of the TSA screeners handled her job? YES.
Is the front desk person reluctant to tell people how long it will be because she’s afraid that something might take longer and they’ll get mad at her for a longer wait? YES
Was there a smoke detector continually beeping? YES
Was the smoke detector basically ignored by the staff? YES
Did the front desk person’s boss mandate that she tell people the wait is 15 minutes per person even though the processing time is about 4 minutes per person including walk-​ins and scheduled appointments, both? YES
Average processing time per person: 4 minutes, even if they can’t find your pre-​check in info that you painstakingly typed in online! Oy vey.

Arrived a little early for my 1pm appointment and was scolded that they were closed for lunch. Politely excused our early arrival & we went for a quick bite ourselves.
Got back at 1pm sharp and there were already a couple of people waiting. I approached the desk and said my name & that I was there for a 1pm fingerprint appointment. Cheryl, as I later learned, seemed bothered by my presence entirely. Yet managed to ask what my appointment was for. I told her and she asked what type of ID I had available so I told her drivers license. She cheerfully stated, «that’s not good enough, you need a passport or something that proves birth». As I whipped out my current passport Cheryl’s excitement faded and she was forced to assist me.
The ONLY reason this location got TWO STARS instead of ONE is the other employee. I don’t know her name but she was very professional and helped me to finally feel welcome there. Her customer service was excellent & I appreciated her assistance.

Just think of this as a typical, government-​agency experience. Prepare for the unexpected.
I needed to be fingerprinted to work as a substitute teacher. I made an appointment at the branch in Dorchester. The online system that you need to use to make an appointment is not user-​friendly. I’m an intelligent, computer-​savvy person, but you need to look VERY carefully to figure this one out. I received some kind of confirmation note, but nothing was sent to my inbox, nor was there any memo to bring your confirmation number with you.
I show up at the Dorchester branch. The place is entirely dead – no people. Just the employees who are bantering about how dead the place is.. . «Where has the time gone?».. . «Wow, it’s 11:00 already?».. . «Have you been working hard?» «No, I’ve been playing Candy Crush all day.» (This was really all said.)
So, when I arrive, there is no record of my appointment, and they can’t squeeze me in. I was like seriously? I’ve driven over 20 miles and paid 2 tolls to get here. You have NO customers!!! «Nope, can’t do it.» I left empty-​handed.
Then, I made an appointment for 2 weeks later in Methuen. This site was much busier. My appointment went off well this time, although the front-​desk clerk could not (1) identify which words were my NAME on my license even though I had just told her my name; (2) could not correctly complete the 4 column sign-​in sheet she had in front of her, so she spent about 5 minutes whiting out lines on her sheet, while I stood there.
Another customer at this Methuen branch had paid over $ 90 for her fingerprinting, but there was no record of her payment, and the phone-​based assistance had rescheduled her without her knowing for another time, when they tried to fix her payment issue. So, she too, was told to turn around and come back in 2 weeks – at which time she was supposed to be working.
Everyone who left this place asked the SAME questions. (1) When will the agency who requested this receive my fingerprints? (2) Will I receive confirmation that I can start working? So, the guy who did the fingerprinting had to stop doing the actual fingerprints each time, and address these same 2 questions. Make a poster! Make a sign! Have the front-​desk clerk answer those questions! Really though, even though people asked the same 2 questions over and over, every time someone started asking him a question, he looked at them confused at first, like he didn’t know what they were asking.
So, in the end, I drove over 100 miles to get my finger prints done. There IS always availability on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket though.. . so don’t fret! You CAN get an appointment if you want to take a ferry to get one.
Final thought: Perhaps government contractors should go to the cheapest provider with the HIGHEST quality of service!

Looks like the TSA outsourced PreCheck screening.
After a free taste of life in the PreCheck lane on an otherwise bad day at MDW, decided to sign up for TSA PreCheck online. After a quick questionnaire, scheduled an in-​person session at this Brockton site — availability for Boston is pretty tight at the Dorchester site.
Showed up a few minutes before my scheduled time, but was taken back immediately. Process consisted of questions and fingerprints. No photo. In and out in ten minutes.
This place also does fingerprints for state workers. Say want you will about the VA, but they do their fingerprinting in house.
Only issue is that location was a bit hard to identify. Nothing on TSA website suggested that I look for an outside vendor. Maybe a bigger TSA sign would help?