The whole licencing system is now broken.
For decades the hand written licence has been the norm. It had it's share of flaws, but it worked. In a previous life i spent many years behind the counter issuing those licences. The vast majority of people coming in for licences, purchased nothing else. In fact, a few would go as far as getting vocally frustrated at the fact that they were not accommodated as quickly as they desired because all the available floor staff are servicing people wanting to purchase equipment. It was a PITA, with numerous other headaches that others here have mentioned, but it did work Ok.
An example I witnessed today of the new Tidal Waters system was as follows:
Customer - Can I buy a salt licence here?
Clerk - Sure, do you have your old licence or angler number?
Customer - No, I got my licence at a lodge last year and have no such number. He also tried to call to retrieve the issued number, and was given a message that it could take up to 3 days to get back to him with his angler number. He wanted to fish tomorrow.
Once an anglers information is in the system, there is no way to circumvent the process. Name, address, phone number - redirects back to the angler number request.
I'm sure the majority of people who post on this forum take care and diligence to save that information for the following years licence, but I can assure you that X1000 regualar Joe Public does not.
In these situations the shop can't issue the licence, because with the new system the onus is on the licencee to provide the information to submit for the new licence.
Regardless of time, cost, manpower, to a licence vendor. I can't blame them for washing their hands of it.