Americans: WE DON’T WANT ID! IT GIVES THE GOVERNMENT TOO MUCH POWER!!
Also Americans:
Don't get it twisted, we don't want to have to use the stupid social security card as ID, either. As a matter of fact, if you have one that's old enough it says "For Social Security and Tax Purposes -- Not For Identification" right on it.
...But every organization in the country, including the government, now uses your SSN and SSN card as a form of identification anyway, and will randomly demand to see the card itself as "proof."
Canada went the opposite direction - it is now impossible to get an SIN (SSN equivalent), and if you forget it, you have to go to a government office for them to print out a sheet on standard letter sized paper that clearly states to memorise and destroy it.
I mean this system makes so much more sense imho.
A random string of 9 numbers is hardly ID.
Logic doesn’t matter here. The guy you’re responding to just wants to grab at low hanging fruit as a “zing” to Americans.
Come on you can do better.
Yeah but a lot of those americans who don't want a simple national ID system are idiots. Some of them are delusional "it's a sign of the beast!!!" people who should be put in a camp.
...And possibly appropriately, those types of people will take your national ID system precisely as the overture to putting them in said camp in the first place.
For the record I'm not against a universal ID, but given that your de facto ID is your driver's license and that's explicitly handled by the states anyhow, I find any actual implementation unlikely.
Furthermore, you can also get a US passport card which acts as a government backed nationwide ID already.
My mom laminated both mine and my sister‘s card back in the 80s and we’ve never had any issues with it at all. I opened my first bank account after high school the bank teller lady looked at it and said “wow that is clever!”
My old card was laminated, that and a birth certificate. Dmv refused to take either because of the lamination.
Yes, actually, you should lock it up in a safe deposit box or a fire safe.
Learn from my mistake: fire safes can become humid mold machines. Air them out occasionally and use dessicants. I lost a passport that way. It made my throat close up to just handle it.
Well, I don't tend to keep my paperwork moist.
Maybe don't put tacos in there next time
It doesn't matter if it feels moist, it can have residual humidity in it. Maybe you live in a drier area and haven't had that problem.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, which I lovingly describe as constantly moist. This is not a dry area.
If your humidity is high enough for mold to start growing spontaneously, paper is going to feel damp. Maybe you should try living indoors, or do away with the pools of stagnant water you leave around. You should be able to notice the difference in how paper feels.
And it can be protected by a card sleeve like people use for trading/sports cards, this way it's not a permanent protection.
Just put it in a baseball/pokemon card case. Easy enough to get out.
I've had mine stored safely in an old wallet in a random drawer somewhere in my house for... My entire life at this point.
My understanding is that it's printed on such flimsy paper as a sort of identity loss protection. If you lose it somewhere it'll degrade quickly to the point it's unusable, hopefully before someone else tries to use it. The downside is, of course, that if you don't protect it with supreme care, it will also degrade to the point it's unusable.
Social security numbers should be PGP public keys. The government can host a key server, and that way anyone can generate, upload, or change keys easily.
Plus, it would mean everyone has to learn how to use pgp crypto, which would mean we might actually be able to make the web of trust a reality. 🙂
and then the next carrington event happens and everyone is FUCKED
When that happens, our social security cards are going to be the least of our concerns.
You can get a replacement card pretty easily. You just can't get a replacement too many times (I think its 4 or 5) before they become annoying about it.
I looked it up, recently; supposedly only 3 replacement requests in a year and only allowed 10 in your entire lifetime.
There you go, that was it! My brain landed somewhere in the middle.
Just replaced mine not that long ago (it had basically fallen apart in the folder it was in).
I think my Dad has mine filed in a drawer somewhere. I've literally never once used the actual card.
You ever had a job? Every job I've had wanted to photocopy the original card along with my ID
I've never had to present my SS card or a photocopy of it for any job. They of course ask for my SSN as they legitimately need it, but that's it.
It took me 45 mins at the social security office to get a new one. It ain't that serious
Do it without an id or address. You can't get an id without an address and you can't get the card without your id or birth certificate which you also need an id and address. You can't get a job without an ss number. So if you don't at least know your number, then you're fucked.
Hardmode: you don't know where you were born
Impossibe: you don't know your legal name.
I've had the same leather wallet for like 14 years and the card fits so perfectly in the little card holder without any bending or tearing. I don't recommend it for people who drink or ride motorcycles, but for my purposes it might as well outlive me.
I also had the same wallet (also holding my social security card) for approximately fifteen years. It was a replica of a classic NES controller; I paid $15 for it at a GameStop probably seventeen years ago. I had it for so long and got so many comments and compliments about it that it became sentimental for me.
I replaced it with a slim, RFID blocking wallet once the old one started to physically degrade (I was impressed it lasted so long), but it still resides on a wallet display stand on my mantle. I didn't even know wallet display stands were a thing until I decided to preserve this one.
Your SS card is a joke. You can flush it down the toilet. If you need a new one it’s like a 5 minute visit.
Uh... Americans have a lifetime maximum number of reprints.
What are you doing that requires you to replace your card more than 10 times?
Homelessness, house fires, theft, things that are only going to be more common over time?
If all those things happen to you to the effect that you need to replace your card TEN fucking times then you have much bigger issues than your need for a useless card.
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