In my area there are few options for getting a passport, particularly if the window of time to have the appointment is not between 10 and 3 excluding lunch hours, Monday through Friday. One option is to apply or renew at the post office. But first you have to schedule an appointment. To schedule an appointment you must call a post office number, which is either perpetually busy, or when you do manage to get through, you get a recording that says the person is “busy and/or away from their desk. Please try again later”. You can call back hundreds of times over weeks, and never get through. And the one person whose job it is to schedule appointments could actually be on vacation. You simply can’t know because talking to someone else or leaving a message is not an option. So you think of a work around. Try calling the post office and talking to an actual human being. Doesn’t work either because you must go through a nearly never ending phone tree, with the same results as before: call back later.
Passport appointments are now done online, have been for about a year. You go to usps.com/scheduler and are led through the process of choosing a date and time for your appointment. Post offices are not allowed to schedule these over the phone anymore.
Make sure you bring your driver’s license, certified birth certificate, payment (no credit cards), and the properly completed form or you will get to reschedule. The passport clerks are having to see a person every 15 minutes now,instead of the old 30 minute time slots.