Name Change: Social Security Documents

I live in central NC, in a moderately sized city. I went right at opening (maybe 15 minutes after) and there was already a line out the door. Where I live, there's an automated check in where you pick what you're there for and there are agents there designated to perform certain tasks. I didn't even finish filling out the name change form before my number was called.

I went to the office. I went at lunch and had to wait 3 hours, but by an hour before close the place was empty, so if I had to do it over I would go late in the day. It was pretty easy, I had my DL, passport just in case, got the form online and already filled it out, and my marriage license (after it was filed it was sent back to me, so I just brought the actual license. I got it pretty quickly, within about a month). Once my number was called I was in and out in about 5 minutes. I would definitely recommend going in person, but then I'm so afraid of things getting lost in the mail.

Thank you for the feedback everyone, sounds like it may be worth it to just try in person! I live in Corpus Christi, Texas, so the SSA is pretty busy, but I think they have one of those automated sign-ins, so maybe it would go faster.

@Jessica-I'm in Dallas, so not sure if it's similar statewide, but we had the automated check in, too, which is the weirdest system I've ever seen and I'm convinced made it take longer. They give you a number, but there's no sequence to how the numbers are called, so you could hear the number after you called an hour before you go. It was weird. I would defintiely recommend getting there first thing or towards the end of the day.

I didn't trust the govt enough to get original, vital documents back to me in a timely manner. Still don't. I printed off the name change form and showed up to the social insecurity office in person. The whole thing took about 20 min and I was able to get my name changed on my driver's license the same day w/receipt from the SSA office. Definitely something worth doing in person imo. ETA: I'm from TX too