Why are our SS cards are still issued on plain paper? They should know that people sweat and it become rather nasty after a few years soaking on my rear end. Have they ever considered using currency cloth or even modern plastic? Why not complete the job and put our pics on them? Oh - the last one would scare society too much i suppose!
Why not? It’s cheaper, and it’s been working that way for years. How would it benefit the Social Security Administration to spend more money on producing fancier SS cards?
Most people pay attention to the instructions which say NOT to carry this card with you. It is better kept in a safe place, since you almost never have to show it to anyone. And many of those who do carry it with them are smart enough to buy one of those little plastic holders for it (or even just go into the kitchen and get some plastic food wrap).
People actually carry social security cards? Other than demonstrating proof of eligibility to work in the United States, what are they good for?
Cheaper isn’t always better. Modernizing these MIGHT cut down on fraud. By your reasoning, credit cards should be made of paper. What safer place could there be than on my person? Wanna take mine? come on and try! If it was modernized, even if you did whoop up on me and take it - you don’t look like me.
SS number are issued on paper because it’s easier to swallow.
When your SSN is issued to you, you are supposed to read it and memorize it. Then to prevent identity theft you’re supposed to swallow the card.
Using plastic requires ketchup. With paper you don’t need condiments.
Didn’t you get the memo?
I don’t know why, but in the state of Illinois they won’t accept a SS card that has been laminated as proof of identity.
To get my IL driver’s license I had to so to the SS department and get reissued a paper card because sometime in my murky past my card had been laminated (which hadn’t bothered anyone in any of the 10 states I’d lived in before coming to IL).
We have been specifically told, as copy store employees, that it is illegal to laminate a social security card. The reason stated on this order is, and I quote, “The Social Security office cannot verify the authenticity of any card that has been laminated.”
What this means, I do not know.
I could be mistaken, but I’m fairly sure that my grandfather’s SS card (relatively recently issued) is plactic.
You don’t understand – from the viewpoint of the Social Security Administration, cheaper is better. Credit cards are negotiable instruments – they can be used to purchase goods, and credit card companies have to eat charges on fraud or stolen cards. If someone steals your SS card and uses it to credit their earnings to your retirement account, how does it hurt the SSA? Or even you?
I would bet that lost billfolds, pickpocketings, & muggings happen more often than someone breaking into my office and rummaging thru my file cabinet!
By your reasoning, you should also be carrying the deed to your house, title to your cars, your marriage license, etc. all on your person. Not very likely.
And again, why would someone try to whoop on you to steal your SS card? What benefit would they get from that? (Unless you’re someone that people just enjoy whoop’n on? 