Maybe it’s different in the US, but to renew a US passport in Canada we had to book it two weeks in advance on-line, go through three levels of security checks, one bag inspection which resulted in me having to throw out an errant memory stick or else miss the appointment, being wanded twice, escorted by three different security guards, and going through three different queues.
And we certainly heard numerous times from the guy in front of us about how he was waiting for his Dad to arrive with the one document he needed. The passport people were not that sympathetic.
For the Canadian passport office, I showed up when I wanted to without an appointment. Security consisted of one friendly commissioner who welcomed me in English and French, no wanding, gave me a number, and occasional announcements about whose number would be called next.
Most everything about passports are subject to international agreements and a hidebound seriousness. It took the world decades to accept machine-readable passports.
I’m not so sure. I have a Bosnian friend who renewed his passport about 5 years ago and it still says Yugoslavia on the front. Another Russian friend has a passport with USSR on the front, even though she was born after the breakup. It seems they are still using up all of the old stock before ordering new ones.
I can see how the former communist countries might have had warehouses full of these things as the planned economies weren’t as well planned as they hoped. They would have printed as many as possible while ink and paper was in surplus as there could well be a shortage next year. And it’s probably cheaper to just stamp the new country name under the old than to repulp them all.