You don't need to let them scan your drivers license.

I held up the line at Target today because I was buying cold medicine and the clerk asked for my drivers license and while I was willing to show it to her, I wouldn't let her scan it.

I've done this before, but previously the clerks would accept my refusal, tap a few keys and get past the screen where the register requested an ID.

In this case, the clerk was utterly baffled by my refusal.

I suggested that if she didn't know what to do then she should call the manager to approve the sale. She flipped the switch to make the light blink to call a manager.

No manager came.

For the next several minutes, she repeatedly asked to scan the back of my drivers license while we waited for the manager.

I told her that she had no valid reason to scan my drivers license. She could verify my age from the date of birth noted on the front of the license. The DMV info on my license is between me and the state government and is none of her business.

She insisted once again that she needed to scan the back.

That's when I noticed something on the screen at the register. There was a big picture of a drivers license with a diagram showing how to scan the back. It also had a little tiny text-field in the upper-left corner of the screen for manually entering a DOB.

I suggested that she enter my DOB in that field. Again, she was baffled. Apparently nobody ever told her she could do that.

I convinced her to try it.

It worked.

So, if you would like to join me in preventing the people at Target from collecting and selling even more of your personal data, remember that little text-field the next time they ask for ID. Then you won't have to hold up the line like I did.

Good to know.

---

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

I guess another question is: Why does the DMV even include a magnetic stripe on the card? What is the official use purpose of it? Do traffic cops carry a card scanner?

interesting...
when i went to buy cold medicine containing pseudo-ephedrine last year, they scanned my license. i have only bought this medicine twice but they scanned my license both times. nowhere was i given the option of not doing so. in fact, i had to sign something to the effect that i was buying the meds for my use as a remedy.

apparently, people who bought this stuff to make crystal meth have ruined it for the lot of us.

---

Hurts like a bastid...

WAIT... you can make meth from pseudo-ephedrine?


.... off to the pharmacy... ;)

---

---

> Why does the DMV even include a magnetic stripe on the card?

It's not a magnetic stripe. It's one of those 3-D barcode things.

Cops can scan them so that they don't have to write out all of the info on a ticket anymore.

...

As for the medication, they no longer sell any drugs that can be used for meth over the counter in this state.

I think there's a legitimate reason for age-verification when it comes to medicines. There's no good reason for them to collect all of my DMV info at the same time.

...

One additional note:

Had she successfully snatched my license from me, the clerk would have been baffled yet again since I covered the barcodes with stickers that say, "My privacy is worth more than your profits" and "I stop shopping when you start swiping."

I got the idea from a story in Wired.
[www.wired.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2009 01:28PM by Doc.

Are you sure that Target is gonna save that information and inundate you with junk mail?

Where did you get the sticker?

Quote
the_poochies
Are you sure that Target is gonna save that information and inundate you with junk mail?

No. I'm sure they're going to sell it and aggregate it for statistical analysis. Then someone else will send me junk mail.

Quote
beerman
Where did you get the sticker?

I wrote out the text in TextEdit and printed it onto sticky-back paper.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2009 01:32PM by Doc.

Remember the good old days when Radio Shack wanted your life history in order to make a simple purchase?

BTW, my Alabama driver license has a magnetic strip as well as a 3d scan image.

---

My Colorado one just has the magnetic stripe.

To the best of my knowledge my state is pretty behind. I'm hoping that come 21 I will still be able to get a non-RFID license.

Here is Washington state, there is a law that requires we submit ID and that the information from the ID is recorded. However, these medications are not available on store shelves, either. Have you checked local laws to see how this is being handled?

"Under the law, business owners must lock up over-the-counter products that contain ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine. The law also limits the number of boxes people can buy in a 24-hour period. It requires customers to show photo identification and sign a logbook.

Those records are available for police to inspect."

The last time I bought a drug containing pseudoephedrine I had to go to the pharmacy counter to get it, show my ID, and I had to sign their log. I know why they're doing this, although I don't think it's as effective at slowing the meth epidemic as people had hoped it would be.

Stupid war on drugs!

Now I can only buy decongestant at certain hours, have to go to an actual pharmacy and show ID to get it.

It's absurd! Have meth labs completely shutdown? Is there no more meth available in this country? No.

So quit inconveniencing and punishing the rest of us.

Quote
AlphaDog
Here is Washington state, there is a law that requires we submit ID and that the information from the ID is recorded. However, these medications are not available on store shelves, either. Have you checked local laws to see how this is being handled?

"Under the law, business owners must lock up over-the-counter products that contain ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine. The law also limits the number of boxes people can buy in a 24-hour period. It requires customers to show photo identification and sign a logbook.

Those records are available for police to inspect."

Regular cough and cold medicine and cough drops. No pseudoephedrine. Over the counter. Not locked up. Not subject to any law requiring that it be locked up.

I don't see that these new rules have done much to decrease the supply of meth. Other than inconveniencing the general public & increased reports of old women getting busted for buying it for their grandkids and/or neighborhood chemists, it would seem it's still business as usual.

---

I don't give any info to anyone, when they ask for phone number I say NO, when the doctor asks for SSN I say NO, they have an ID on my insurance card, they don't need SSN. In fact Cigna change the cards a few years ago and they replaced the old ID (SSN) with a new ID which is not related to the SSN. well, there may be a link in the CIGNA database, but the doctor or dentist has no business with my SSN.

When the doctor's office asks for your social security number it is in case they have to send you to a collection agency. Same for all the contact information they want.

I don't think they need an emergency contact besides my wife. That's in case I move so someone can call and say, "hey, i'm trying to get ahold of beerman but he moved, can you help me?"

What if the magnetic stripe on your license doesn't, um, work?

Quote
CJsNvrUrly
What if the magnetic stripe on your license doesn't, um, work?

All those magnetic stripes can be wiped clean with a magnet in a flash of a second.

Never stick a powerful horshoe magnet in the same pocket as your wallet.



Do not test this theory with your favorite credit card.

Think the clerk will notice??

---

Quote
Doc
Regular cough and cold medicine and cough drops. No pseudoephedrine. Over the counter. Not locked up. Not subject to any law requiring that it be locked up.

In that case, I'm with you and see no reason why they should be asking for the information. I never buy drugs of any kind at Target, so I don't know if they do that locally or not.

One of the last times I purchased something at Sears I wanted to pay cash.
The girl didn't know how to do it.
Held up the line waiting for a manager.
Field training.
Thank the idiot manager.

Every now and then when a purchase comes to , say $7.01, I like to give the cashier (associates now because cash is rare) a ten, two ones and a penny. It's amazing what I get for change back. It's not often a fin.

my old license is a mag strip, my new one is the same barcode thingies (2) like UPS uses.



Federal law limits the purchase of three items per transaction.
State laws vary.
In my state they have to be able to account for every package with pseudoephedrine in it, and your name goes into a file.
All the pseudoephedrine products are kept behind the counter
If your name is purchasing all over town you may get a visit.
There may now be states that have gone to prescriptions for it.

Store policy is store policy.
Target's may be disallowing cashiers from fascilitationg movement of stock out the door.

The last time my driver's license was scanned was in Las Vegas. When you sign up for the various players clubs at the casinos, they get your info that way.

I find it odd that all psuedoephedrine-containing OTC meds are locked up. According to a patient of mine, who is a DEA officer, the ONLY type of sudafed you can use to make crystal meth is the 30mg tablets (the red ones). The combo cold meds and the long-acting versions cannot be distilled (or whatever they do to them) to use in this way. It's government gone seriously overboard.

Quote
billb
Every now and then when a purchase comes to , say $7.01, I like to give the cashier (associates now because cash is rare) a ten, two ones and a penny. It's amazing what I get for change back. It's not often a fin.

Same here. Cashiers these days are baffled when you give them enough to get a solid bill back.

---

[www.papanicholas.com]

Quote
Doc
You don't need to let them scan your drivers license.

I held up the line at Target today because I was buying cold medicine and the clerk asked for my drivers license and while I was willing to show it to her, I wouldn't let her scan it.

I've done this before, but previously the clerks would accept my refusal, tap a few keys and get past the screen where the register requested an ID.

In this case, the clerk was utterly baffled by my refusal.

I suggested that if she didn't know what to do then she should call the manager to approve the sale. She flipped the switch to make the light blink to call a manager.

No manager came.

For the next several minutes, she repeatedly asked to scan the back of my drivers license while we waited for the manager.

I told her that she had no valid reason to scan my drivers license. She could verify my age from the date of birth noted on the front of the license. The DMV info on my license is between me and the state government and is none of her business.

She insisted once again that she needed to scan the back.

That's when I noticed something on the screen at the register. There was a big picture of a drivers license with a diagram showing how to scan the back. It also had a little tiny text-field in the upper-left corner of the screen for manually entering a DOB.

I suggested that she enter my DOB in that field. Again, she was baffled. Apparently nobody ever told her she could do that.

I convinced her to try it.

It worked.

So, if you would like to join me in preventing the people at Target from collecting and selling even more of your personal data, remember that little text-field the next time they ask for ID. Then you won't have to hold up the line like I did.

Thanks for standing your ground. I had my license scanned at a bar for the first time a few weeks ago and I'm still irritated by it.
I'm not even sure what to say to anyone who can't imagine a reason to be concerned about this besides potential junk mail.

---

[www.papanicholas.com]

Quote
Panopticon
Think the clerk will notice??

The state of Georgia gives the option, during renewal, of a license good for 10 years. You save a few bucks that way. I thought it was so weird of course I just had to go for it. In 10 years, even I might look like Osama Bin Ladin. Awful photo of myself I now carry for 10 years, but by then I'll probably look at it and think, gee, wish I still looked like that.

I've made one purchase that required my ID, at a Wal-Mart to buy something that contained psuedoephedrine. It went well, but I haven't tried to sell the meth I made with it yet. For those of you who work for the DEA, the last sentence was a joke. I gave the dude my license but didn't notice if he scanned it or what was captured. I guess he did.

The grocery store has a second monitor, or angled monitor, that instantly shows you what's being rung up. Maybe one day we'll demand the same transparency from places that collect our personal data too.

Quote
DavidS
It's government gone seriously overboard.

There's a surprise. Our government seems to very proficient in doing this.

C'mon, this is the Deal forum- let 'em scan away; in 2 wks you'll get a $1 off coupon in the mail for all the pseudoephedrine you can drink!

The party line on psuedoephedrine is that it is a key ingredient in Meth. Only 4 plants in the world make it. And if you control it, you control Meth production.

Of course a huge semi load was hijacked in Mexico last month coming from one of those plants.

According to the FDA webiste the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 (part of the Patriot Bill of 2006) requires:

Quote

The Act requires that each regulated seller ensure that:

* Customers do not have direct access to the product before the sale is made.
* A written or electronic “logbook” listing sales is kept that identifies the products by name, quantity sold, names and addresses of purchasers, and the dates and times of the sales.
* There is a limit on the amount that can be purchased in a single day and in a month.

Oh and the log entries have to remain available for a minimum of 2 years.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2009 11:04PM by ADent.

i work at target, and the cashier cannot type in the birth date on the the top left corner, only supervisor can do that, even if we try it needs a supervisore code, its the store policy, the reason we scan i.d. is to keep track of how many a guest buys a week, a lot of people use cold medicine for drugs.