3 ms·

Every time someone or some system lazily says "driver's license", substitute "state-issued photo ID" in your head. You can get one from your local DMV office fo

by nknight 15y ago

Every time someone or some system lazily says "driver's license", substitute "state-issued photo ID" in your head. You can get one from your local DMV office for a few dollars and a little time. It and its number will work fine in any context (other than actually driving) in which a driver's license may be called for.

shinratdr 15y ago
Precisely. When I get carded I don't complain that this discriminates against people who don't drive, I realize they want any sort of applicable government ID and offer what I have. I'm pretty sure all states and provinces offer an alternate form of ID for those who don't drive.
bigohms 15y ago
Agreed. The poster most likely has one and didn't state the fact. It is a requirement to have a government issued ID card (with number) to apply and receive disability benefits.
- hga 15y ago
  Really? If so, it was only to apply, and only when I visited the local Social Security office (initial application in the middle of the last decade was online). I don't remember being asked for it, but if I was I most likely wouldn't remember. After that, in the journey of a successful appeal because the denial was totally bogus (as in the denying staff doctor, who never saw me, wrote up a report that the administrative law judge, his assistant, my lawyer or myself simply couldn't understand), and dispersal of benefits, absolutely no demands for an ID card were made. Side note: I have an official Missouri "NONDRIVER LICENSE" (that's what it's called :-). Amusing name aside, everyone understands what that means and for everything non-driving related it serves the same purpose. It's also very cheap to get. Heck, my father has one because Missouri's concealed carry renewal period is shorter than the driver's license renewal period so this saves him money and hassle. EDITED: Massachusetts has one: http://www.mass.gov/rmv/license/13bMAID.htm http://www.mass.gov/rmv/license/13bMAID.htm along with a "Massachusetts Liquor ID" (!) that appears to be the same thing except for the obvious age limit. A bit expensive at $25/5 years but that's Taxachusetts for you (says this refugee from that benighted state). One also heard horror stories about suburban DMV offices but I always found the central Boston one to be on the ball, pleasant and efficient.
jiggy2011 15y ago
In that case why specifically say "driver's license"? And when she complained that she did not have one surely it would have been easy for the person on the phone to correct her and state that any valid ID would be fine rather than insist on a driver's license, I'm sure it's not the first time this has come up. In the UK people will usually say "Passport or Drivers License" (or if your in a bar just 'ID?') since almost everybody will have at least one of the two. Pherhaps this is because less people in the US have a passport?
- nknight 15y ago
  (Edit: I'm rather displeased that the comment I'm replying to here is getting downvoted. It's in no way deserved. He asked a reasonable question as a European to whom this aspect of American culture is, not surprisingly, alien.) It's an embedded cultural assumption that gets written down for people who abdicate thought to what their computer screen literally says. Historically, almost everybody in the US has a driver's license, and almost no one has any other meaningful form of ID. Many, if not most Americans will never leave the country, making a passport useless, and up until a few years ago, a US citizen could travel throughout much of North America and the Caribbean without one anyway. They say it because it's what people say. Treat it as an historical quirk of American English.
- bowyakka 15y ago
  We do say this in the UK, but ....... its really rare to be asked for ID, it happens but only on the really big stuff (loans, getting a car, buying a _house_). You would not need to provide a driving license to buy an iPhone. I have just moved to the US for work and I am amazed at how often you guys get asked for driving license / SSN etc.
  - nknight 15y ago
    We're the country that invented the TSA. You shouldn't be surprised we have a long tradition of security theater. :)
- shinratdr 15y ago
  > In that case why specifically say "driver's license"? Because more people are confused by government ID thinking it means passport, military ID or something like that, than are confused by thinking Drivers License means only a drivers license and nothing else. They may also try to offer items that don't count, such as a photo-ID health card.
Mz 15y ago
A lot of the people that will try to ask for this info aren't that knowledgeable and won't realize there is a way around it. It can be a real problem. My ex was career military. So was his father. He spent most of his life on or near military bases, where everyone will take a federally issued military ID. He renewed his driver's license by mail one year when we lived very far from the state where he was registered as a voting citizen (paying taxes and keeping his driver's license from there). It showed up with no photo and in place of the photo it clearly stated that it was valid as proof of license to drive but was not to be used as "identification". He was on recruiting duty, so we weren't actually near a military base. Which meant that for the first time in his life, no one wanted to take his military ID (with photo and SSN on it) as ID if he wrote a check or something. They all wanted his driver's license, which he would then whip out and show them it couldn't be used for ID purposes. This stumped a great many people in entry level retail jobs.

by nknight 15y ago

shinratdr 15y ago

Precisely. When I get carded I don't complain that this discriminates against people who don't drive, I realize they want any sort of applicable government ID and offer what I have. I'm pretty sure all states and provinces offer an alternate form of ID for those who don't drive.

bigohms 15y ago

Agreed. The poster most likely has one and didn't state the fact. It is a requirement to have a government issued ID card (with number) to apply and receive disability benefits.

hga 15y ago
Really? If so, it was only to apply, and only when I visited the local Social Security office (initial application in the middle of the last decade was online). I don't remember being asked for it, but if I was I most likely wouldn't remember. After that, in the journey of a successful appeal because the denial was totally bogus (as in the denying staff doctor, who never saw me, wrote up a report that the administrative law judge, his assistant, my lawyer or myself simply couldn't understand), and dispersal of benefits, absolutely no demands for an ID card were made. Side note: I have an official Missouri "NONDRIVER LICENSE" (that's what it's called :-). Amusing name aside, everyone understands what that means and for everything non-driving related it serves the same purpose. It's also very cheap to get. Heck, my father has one because Missouri's concealed carry renewal period is shorter than the driver's license renewal period so this saves him money and hassle. EDITED: Massachusetts has one: http://www.mass.gov/rmv/license/13bMAID.htm http://www.mass.gov/rmv/license/13bMAID.htm along with a "Massachusetts Liquor ID" (!) that appears to be the same thing except for the obvious age limit. A bit expensive at $25/5 years but that's Taxachusetts for you (says this refugee from that benighted state). One also heard horror stories about suburban DMV offices but I always found the central Boston one to be on the ball, pleasant and efficient.

jiggy2011 15y ago

In that case why specifically say "driver's license"? And when she complained that she did not have one surely it would have been easy for the person on the phone to correct her and state that any valid ID would be fine rather than insist on a driver's license, I'm sure it's not the first time this has come up. In the UK people will usually say "Passport or Drivers License" (or if your in a bar just 'ID?') since almost everybody will have at least one of the two. Pherhaps this is because less people in the US have a passport?

nknight 15y ago
(Edit: I'm rather displeased that the comment I'm replying to here is getting downvoted. It's in no way deserved. He asked a reasonable question as a European to whom this aspect of American culture is, not surprisingly, alien.) It's an embedded cultural assumption that gets written down for people who abdicate thought to what their computer screen literally says. Historically, almost everybody in the US has a driver's license, and almost no one has any other meaningful form of ID. Many, if not most Americans will never leave the country, making a passport useless, and up until a few years ago, a US citizen could travel throughout much of North America and the Caribbean without one anyway. They say it because it's what people say. Treat it as an historical quirk of American English.
bowyakka 15y ago
We do say this in the UK, but ....... its really rare to be asked for ID, it happens but only on the really big stuff (loans, getting a car, buying a _house_). You would not need to provide a driving license to buy an iPhone. I have just moved to the US for work and I am amazed at how often you guys get asked for driving license / SSN etc.
- nknight 15y ago
  We're the country that invented the TSA. You shouldn't be surprised we have a long tradition of security theater. :)
shinratdr 15y ago
> In that case why specifically say "driver's license"? Because more people are confused by government ID thinking it means passport, military ID or something like that, than are confused by thinking Drivers License means only a drivers license and nothing else. They may also try to offer items that don't count, such as a photo-ID health card.

Mz 15y ago

A lot of the people that will try to ask for this info aren't that knowledgeable and won't realize there is a way around it. It can be a real problem. My ex was career military. So was his father. He spent most of his life on or near military bases, where everyone will take a federally issued military ID. He renewed his driver's license by mail one year when we lived very far from the state where he was registered as a voting citizen (paying taxes and keeping his driver's license from there). It showed up with no photo and in place of the photo it clearly stated that it was valid as proof of license to drive but was not to be used as "identification". He was on recruiting duty, so we weren't actually near a military base. Which meant that for the first time in his life, no one wanted to take his military ID (with photo and SSN on it) as ID if he wrote a check or something. They all wanted his driver's license, which he would then whip out and show them it couldn't be used for ID purposes. This stumped a great many people in entry level retail jobs.