It takes 3 to 5 days to load money onto a Clipper Card!!

Please note that when you add value online, it can take up to 3-5 days for the value to be available to be loaded onto your card, and you must tag your card to a card reader to load the value.

I was hit with that message when trying to load my Clipper Card tonight. On top of that, you can't actually add money onto your card online. You need to go and tag your card at a card reader before the money can be loaded. No wonder the page title is "Add value online" instead of "Add value to your Clipper Card online".

The next stupid thing is this line.

Your card balance will not be updated until you have tagged your card and loaded the value.

Of course, you don't know when to go and tag your card because it can take up to 3-5 days before the money is available. I guess you can go and tag your card everyday then go online and check your balance. If your balance went up then you have successfully loaded your card. What a dump design. I bet those engineers made a bunch of money coming up with this stupid process too. So much for trying to be more efficient.

Of course, I do have an alternative way to do this. If I walk to my local Walgreens, they can put money onto the card right away. Since I have to walk to Walgreens to load my card, I might as well just get a new one. The card is free.