Why is my expired driver license not considered valid identification? Despite the fact that my right to drive has expired, it still identifies me, so when presented as a tool for simple identification (unrelated to driving), the fact that it’s expired should make no difference.
If I want to buy alcohol or cigarettes, I must present a ‘valid photo ID’ indicating I am over 21. A driver license is an obvious choice as it has a photo for physical identification as well as my full date of birth to verify legal age. Once it’s expired though, I’m told that it cannot be accepted as a valid means of identifying that I’m legally allowed to purchase alcohol or cigarettes. Despite the fact that my picture is still there, my date of birth hasn’t changed, and it still identifies me.
My social security card has no such expiration as a form of identification and is required to verify my identity to get the driver license to begin with. I can understand the reasons why a driver license should have an expiration related to licensing driving privileges. I can also understand that a person’s physical appearance changes, sometimes before the DL expires and at least at some point after (long after) it does.
What I don’t understand is why it is still not valid as a means of identification even one day after the expiration. Why can’t the time of identification only validity be extended beyond the licensure validity?
At what chronological age are you legally considered an adult? At what chronological age can you legally drink alcohol? At what chronological age do you have to pay a higher price for a movie ticket?
Every question posed above has a single distinct answer, based upon a defined standard. One day you are a juvenile under the law and the next day an adult. This doesn’t take into account your physical maturity or your emotional growth. (Yes, I known about exceptions but that’s not the point.)
The points is where do you draw the line? Everyone thinks they are entitled to something above and beyond everyone else. Who gets to decide? Should we leave it as arbitrary and let it slide based on the moment and the interaction? What are the consequences? If the interaction involves the sale of alcohol, underage and a later accident, who is at fault here? Was the sale transacted because one was cute or was their potential intimidation involved?
Your license was valid yesterday. But it expired last night. Today you cannot use it to legally prove who you are. Yeah, it makes no sense. But that’s the way it works. Any other comments would get me into trouble because this isn’t the pit.
Well, as irritated as I’ve been about it, I’m not dumb enough to pit it. I know very well the solution is to renew the license or present some other form of ‘acceptable’ identification.
That’s not the point of this thread, obviously. But you hit the nail on the head with your reference to the arbitrary manner in which we treat chronological age vs. privilege to do certain things. In any case, I’m damn near 40 years old. The fact that I even have to present an ID to buy alcohol or cigarettes is irritating enough. But then to have my age-confirming identification rejected based on the fact that I’m not legally allowed to drive is…well…especially irritating.
Because it would be a “real” ID able to be used by someone younger than you to gain access to more “adult” services, if you were able to get a new DL and hand off your expired one. Your (fictional for purposes of an example) younger sister would be able to run around with her very own ID, impersonating you, without the bother of having to borrow it from you and the hassle over who gets to go out drinking tonight.
Alternately, maybe it could be used by someone to take on a new identity (to evade the law or for whatever reason) and again, has the advantage of being “real”.
Not a factual answer, but some places just like to draw a line in the sand so that they don’t get sued if it turns out your “expired” ID is a fake. I think the liability is different if you present what appears to be “active” ID and it turns out to be fake.
Sometimes its just irrationality on the part of the bouncer. I had a college roommate who was older than me (slightly) and very slender of frame (he looked really young). We’re both born in 1959. We were trying to get in a bar but the bouncer wouldn’t let him in.
He challenges the bouncer as to the reason. Bouncer claims the license looks tampered with, that the year 1957 was changed to 1959 by closing the loop on the 7. I’m standing there and I say to the bouncer “So you’re saying he fudged the license to make himself 2 years younger. What sense does that make?”
Bouncer vapor locks, then says, “Neither of you can come in”. This little bit of lunacy happened 30 years ago and it still bothers me.
It’s best to just have ID that is current. It’s not worth arguing with pinheads.
… Damn. I was going to say something about “well maybe lost/stolen old IDs get flagged in databases as being invalid for that reason and expired just do because they’re expired” but very few places actually scan the strip on the ID.
I imagine it relies heavily on the slippery slope argument.
What if a license has been expired for 25 years? It’s probably not even the same style as the current ones and barely recognizable as an official identification. (“It’s an older code, but it checks out” /SW) You might say that 25 years expired is too much, but there should be a grace period of, say, 5 years. But then, really, isn’t the real expiration date really just 5 years later? Why not just make that the official expiration date?
I suspect, along those lines, that it has a lot to do with the primary goal of American business - not causing offense.
If a 50-year-old woman tries to buy a six-pack and hands you her drivers’ license from the year she was Miss Idaho, do you really want to be the one telling her she doesn’t look like that anymore?
Ferret Herder, your explanation is the one given to us in a server’s training session that I recently attended.
Really Not All That Bright, it’s true that someone could thwart the system as you describe, but only for the life of the ID. An older sibling might be willing to hand over an expired ID, but it’s a lot more trouble (and potential consequences) to pretend to have lost your sole valid ID, especially when the owner of the ID doesn’t stand to benefit.
Every time you get a new state-issued ID, it costs you money and generates revenue for the state. If an expired ID were a valid form of identification, a certain segment of the population would have no incentive to spend the money to get a new one and the state would lose out on that revenue. It’s the same reason why license plate tags expire every year.
Consider that you’re legally bound to keep a driver’s license up to date with your new address, and an expired one doesn’t require by law any current information. The address is often what they want to verify.
You know plenty of kids who gave their valid license to their siblings? Or who gave an expired license to their siblings?
I told you the party line we were given. For what it’s worth, I understand the reasoning. Most licensed drivers have at least one expired license; that’s a huge pool of potential fake IDs. Removing them from use makes vendors’ lives a lot easier. It doesn’t make things easier for people who don’t drive. I’m not shocked that vendors care more about their own convenience than someone else’s.
I’ve had periods since I had my license where I didn’t drive, but I kept the license. Why? Because I needed a valid ID and the state mandated that my expired ID was not valid. I could have gotten a state ID but those cost money and expire too.
Which says nothing about why businesses insist upon a “valid” driver’s license to confirm identity for a variety of things, since those have nothing to do with state laws. :dubious:
Because people aren’t as careful as they should be with expired licenses, and often keep them in the back of a sock drawer of the pocket of an old purse and don’t even remember that they’re there. If your valid license goes missing you usually notice it right away.
And there would be somewhat of a market for expired licenses, to be used or illicit purposes. Many people could be tempted to sell or give away their expired license, while hardly anyone would sell their valid license.
So the issue is not that your expired license fails to prove who you are. It’s just that by not accepting them as valid ID our government is throwing up a roadblock to teen alcohol abuse and making sure the terrorists don’t win.
Yes. That’s how high school kids get beer, for the most part. Well, the ones I went to school with, anyway.
I’m not saying it isn’t sound reasoning. I just don’t think it’s the actual reasoning. Most states require that you turn in your old license when you get a new one, anyway. In Florida and Connecticut (among others) if you renew your license after expires you must return the old one, or you have to retake the test.