# Do you have a social security card? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943 "2019-08-20T16:07:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/61 "2019-08-21T10:19:21Z")
I got my number when I was 10 or 11 in the late 1970s. Still have the original card. Mom passed it on to me as a ‘by the way…’ in my mid-20s. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/62 "2019-08-21T10:29:36Z")
Yes, it’s in my junk drawer with the other important stuff like long-dead pens and a cookbook that’s older than me and has never once been used. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/63 "2019-08-21T11:06:01Z")
I know this is intended for Americans, but… Canada stopped printing them about five years ago. You can get a confirmation letter with the number, which is (of course) too large to put into a wallet. I still have my original card, which I keep in a safe. It’s very unlikely I’ll need to use it again, as I’ve memorized the number and I’m at a permanent job. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/64 "2019-08-21T11:27:46Z")
Still have my original one I got when I was 17 and got my first paying job. Still have the one from when I got married. Recently acquired a new one after I went to court to get my name issues with RealID straightened out and I decided to drop the hyphenated married part of my name while I was at it. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/65 "2019-08-21T12:21:21Z")
It’s in a fireproof safe. Last time I needed it was 1992. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/66 "2019-08-21T12:51:02Z")
Mine’s in the safe deposit box at the bank. Not that I’m sure who would accept it as proof of anything, because that piece of paper from the early 1960s would surely be a cinch to counterfeit. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/67 "2019-08-21T12:51:23Z")
Yes, I have the original that was issued when I was a child in the '60’s. It is in the place with all of the other things like that (I’M NOT TELLING WHERE! WHEN I CROAK YOU’RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO FIND IT! HA! …sorry, bit of fun there…that’s what I tell my kids…) I haven’t needed to produce it in physical form since I don’t know when. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/68 "2019-08-21T13:16:03Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Yes, it’s in my junk drawer with the other important stuff like long-dead pens and a cookbook that’s older than me and has never once been used. 😃 > [@](#): > > Still have my original one I got when I was 17 and got my first paying job. Yeah, I think that’s when I got mine as well. Also had to register w/ Selective Service (potential draft) around then. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/69 "2019-08-21T13:25:13Z")
Mine has been in my wallet since the day I got it in 1972. I was 14 at the time and the only reason I got it was that I went to a SS office with an older cousin and figured, Why not? I didn’t get a job that asked for my number until I was 17. I also laminated it that very day - there was a machine in the SS office that laminated your new card for a dime(?). If the SSA doesn’t like them laminated any more, well that’s on them. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/70 "2019-08-21T13:42:59Z")
No, it’s on you. Doesn’t matter what was OK 40 years ago - if you need for Official Purposes today and it’s laminated and the clerk you’re dealing with has been told “don’t accept laminated SS cards” you’re SOL until you get a non-laminated replacement. But clearly not everyone is asked for one even now, so don’t worry until you have to. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/71 "2019-08-21T13:50:13Z")
I think the DO NOT LAMINATE instruction was on my original SS card from like forty years ago, so I don’t think it’s a new requirement. ---
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/72 "2019-08-21T14:07:02Z")
My card from the 70’s does not say “Do not laminate” and I have not. My wife’s card says “Do not laminate” and she did. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/73 "2019-08-21T15:30:21Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I haven’t seen my Social Security card for at least 40 years. I am 65. I know where mine is, it’s at the bottom of a lake near San Angelo, TX, and has been for right about 40 years. Coincidentally, I just ordered a new one last week. I have to open up an account with the water department in a small east Texas town, and they require a copy of the card. I hear that they can’t do that, but they do, and I need water service. ---
**Author:** ![PlumBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@PlumBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlumBob)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/74 "2019-08-21T16:15:00Z")
Yep, I’ve had it since the mid 60’s. Mom told me to sign my name, so 7 year old me started writing my first name. “No use cursive, it’s your signature”. Oh, OK, First name printed, last name crappy handwriting. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/75 "2019-08-21T18:07:06Z")
I still have mine, signed in my childish handwriting of 50 years ago. I find it odd that the DMV wouldn’t let my teenagers get drivers licenses unless they submitted their own flimsy paper social security cards as part of the documents. This was just last year. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/76 "2019-08-21T18:13:04Z")
Mine fit neatly in the little envelope that held my original birth certificate. Haven’t seen any of 'em in nearly 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/77 "2019-08-21T18:20:04Z")
Got my card in '59 and still have it. Says right on it “not to be used for identification”. Sometimes if I go to a new Dr. and they ask for the number I show them the card and point that out. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/78 "2019-08-21T20:09:06Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > …when I got my original one I did what everyone else did back then; went to the “five and dime” and blew 50 cents getting the number stamped on a metal version that lived in my wallet all this time. The paper original was placed in the proverbial safe place and never seen again. Same here, only I got mine engraved at a flea market. I think I still have the (useless) metal one in my closet somewhere, but haven’t seen the paper version since…who knows when. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/79 "2019-08-21T22:22:55Z")
I still have the original one I got over 40 years ago, and carry it in my wallet. I do not understand how so many have said they don’t know where it is, or have never had to show it. I’ve had to show it for every job I’ve ever had. My birth certificate is a different matter (actually my Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America, but that takes too long to say). I must have needed it when I got my first driver’s license, but I never knew where it was until it showed up in a big envelope full of baby pictures my parents gave me about a year and a half ago. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943/80 "2019-08-21T22:30:06Z")
> [@PlumBob](#): > > Yep, I’ve had it since the mid 60’s. Mom told me to sign my name, so 7 year old me started writing my first name. “No use cursive, it’s your signature”. Oh, OK, First name printed, last name crappy handwriting. Mine is entirely in cursive, but I remember my mom having to explain to me that signing your name means writing your name in cursive. Come to think of it my Social Security card is quite likely the first official document I ever signed my name to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-social-security-card/838943.md?page=5)