> I got declined recently buying alcohol, because my license had expired
Were they under the impression you might get younger when you renew your license or was this some kind of automated machine that auto-denies without any recourse?
The reason they don't allow expired licenses for alcohol purchases is because an older, similar-looking person (sibling, etc.) could just give their expired license to someone who's underage.
They could do the same with current licenses, either temporarily or permanently. When I was in my 20's I had a stack of old but unexpired drivers licenses because having your current address on your license makes makes some things easier.
That’s why a lot of places now scan the ID. Presumably the vast majority of times whoever lost/gave up/sold the ID got a new one from the local BMV and the old one will be flagged.
I don't think (really, "I hope") that these scans aren't hitting the government database, allowing the government to easily build a dataset of every time you buy alcohol/tobacco/pornography/whatever -- that is uncomfortable even to me and I'm not really a libertarian.
The 2d barcodes and magstripes on these cards do have all the info that's printed, though, so I would bet that a "gifted" ID that hasn't expired but which you've replaced or claimed as lost would still work at a retailer who scans IDs.
And the reason they insist on checking the ID of a 40 year old man with gray in his beard and photoaged skin is because... 1) A teenager might be a special effects makeup artist.. or 2) because the law compels them to be bureaucratic twats who follow the rules even when the rules make no sense.
The correct answer is number 2, and that's the real reason they won't accept expired IDs either.
Incidentally, the TSA does accept expired IDs. I flew with one and TSA didn't say anything to me; they scanned it into their computer then waved me through like normal. Then the bartender at the airport pointed it out and refused to serve me.
YMMV, re: TSA. My wife's license was due to expire a week after flying, and they gave her a bunch of shit about how lucky she was that she wasn't trying to leave the following week.
Probably more because they wanted to give her shit (notably pretty, or notably mean to them?) than anything else.
Personally, when in a stirring shit mood, it can be fun to ask them what section of the law/code they think says that. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a straight answer from TSA, and very rarely a straight answer from a police officer.
When I’ve been travelling with things that have specific actual laws that apply to them, I’ve taken to printing out the actual applicable laws (and their policies). It’s rare they actually follow them at first (and multiple times I’ve had them instruct me to do something that would violate them, or had they themselves violate them), but showing them politely usually helps.
I even had TSA once (many years ago), bring me my checked luggage with a gun in it (legally) to the gate in the terminal, and ask me to unlock it right there and demonstrate it was unloaded. A case with ammunition in it too (also legally). To do that demonstration, I’d have to pick it up and manipulate it.
I politely declined, not wanting to get shot or arrested, and showed them their policy instead which is that needed to be done before security, outside of the ‘sterile area’ - and I in fact had done so. They insisted a couple more times, I insisted I wasn’t going to violate the law or their policies, they got a supervisor which got angry at them, and they eventually left. And it was transported to my destination, unmolested, as was I.
Still a hassle, and quite concerning - they either legitimately thought it might be loaded and transported it anyway, or were so confused they did that song and dance for awhile until they could figure it out - and thought the answer was to have the passenger handle a potentially loaded gun in the secure area of the airport to demonstrate everything was actually fine? Or wanted to jam me up by creating an actual crime in progress?
No actual feel good answers to be found there, unfortunately.
> Personally, when in a stirring shit mood, it can be fun to ask them what section of the law/code they think says that. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a straight answer from TSA, and very rarely a straight answer from a police officer.
In the US, the reality we live in is that knowledge of the law is explicitly not a requirement for these jobs. A police officer is not required to know what law you are breaking, and can legally arrest you if they genuinely believe you are breaking a law they only imagine exists.
Whether this ought be the case is a separate discussion. But this is the landscape in which a series of court decisions have left us.
Were they under the impression you might get younger when you renew your license or was this some kind of automated machine that auto-denies without any recourse?