Becasue underage clerks are more likely to sell to underage drinkers. At least that is how it worked when I was in college. Everyone knew a buddy at a store who would just glance at a fake ID and sell you beer or wine.
This sounds like the “don’t let me gamble!” program is a much more legally concrete and therefore likely reason for the “ID everyone” protocol than abstract concerns about patron age.
I think you’re close. It’s more like to keep out all of the undesirables which are people on the problem gamblers list but also known “troublemakers” and cheats.
I used to work at a casino as security (or “Guest Services”) and we were told to at first use our best judgement on who to card. This got hairy when mistakes were made based on how someone looked vs. their age and a minor got on the floor and again when some knucklehead pulled a fats one with his near-identical twin just for “fun.” Eventually we were given scanners and just carded everyone and were told to call supervisors for weird situations with the usual “we have the right to refuse service.” If you were a kid and snuck in, you and your parents didn’t get penalized but we did, which didn’t seem fair to us.
Sometimes people used their military ID to get in, which seemed to work. There was only one restaurant you could visit without crossing the floor, which really pissed off people who made reservations at another place and had kids with them. No idea if they got a refund or what.
My stepmother got carded in a food service in the Boise Airport when she was 90 years old. My dad (85) ordered a beer (and was also carded), and the rule was if there was someone with a person who ordered an alcoholic drink who did not order any drink, they must be carded. The server was extremely apologetic but said that was the rule regardless of appearance to avoid any hassles over age discrimination.
I suppose having everyone’s age verified at the door simplifies bar service on the floor, since the servers do not have to ask for and judge the quality of ID every time they serve a customer. Plus, it verifies the age for gambling, eliminating that task from the dealers or floor watchers.
The machine is simply capable of verifying ID’s without the risk of a cheap imitation ID being passed. Who knows what every state’s license looks like? The computer knows… I assume it’s capable of assessing details like holographic overlays too.
I believe it is the law that the grocery stores license must card which is BS because there is no requirement to be carded at any other place I may want to purchase alcohol, including the state owned fine wine & good spirits ‘State Store’. No one in the store knows what they’re reading; are they just looking up the date locally? Are they interacting with state databases? Are they looking at anything other than the date? How easily is the date separated from the rest of the license info? How secure is their systems? If I were a hacker, I’d be going after these systems. A potential treasure trove of ID theft data & quite possibly no standards (or not as secure as card txns are). Are they saving any data in their own database; do they know how frequently one is getting booze there?
After Bryan Kohberger (the alleged U of ID quadruple murderer) was arrested one of the stories that came out is that he went to some bar/brewpub near his parents house; they scan everyone’s ID & have the ability to keep notes on you. They had notes on him that he was creeping out the barmaids/waitresses by his staring at them. That was an eye-opener for me; not that he was creepy but that they are scanning & retaining data on you. Surely they’re keeping more than just name as there are a lot of Bob Smiths & Jane Doe’s in the world. Are they retaining just the name & DL #, everything on the DL; what’s their budget for security & how often & timely are they patching?
Ours just went “Beedly-boop” and told us how old you were and if the ID seemed legit. No idea if it was storing info, but these were handheld gizmos so I kinda doubt it it. YMMV of course.
I’m guessing everything wasn’t contained in the handheld scanner but they were instead wireless devices connected to somewhere, whether that was a server in the manager’s office or cellularly to some service that know how to read & interpret the data of all 50 state’s license info.
As long as they’re connected they’re vulnerable to be hacked
We also had a small office of State Police on-site which could be fun. Maybe it was connected to their database to check for out-of -state crimes.
I recall a brouhaha in the news when bars around Toronto started scanning (i.e. photographing) ID’s of patrons at the door. The upshot I believe is they either do not do so any more, or they delete the data a day or two later. I.e. keep it long enough for defending themselves if the police come looking the next day about underage drinking.
Of course, tech is far better a decede or two later now, text recognition systems are smarter, and it is possible to log more than just random photos of assorted ID - all the more reason for better privacy laws.
Privacy laws? Hah, it is to laugh. Oh, yeah, sorry. I forgot that you live in a civilized country. Unlike so many of us.
I don’t know that we do have privacy laws, but more it was the threat that the noise raised by those who objected might have resulted in restrictions. Almost like the system worked, in a small way.
Well, they might be on double-secret probation from the State Alcohol board.
You forgot pissed off customers. There’s data on my DL that I dont want bouncing around in targets database, which could be hacked in a half minute.
Right. I worked for Ontario’s Beer Stores for some years back in the 1990s, and there was training on how to spot underage would-be purchasers. I won’t let on our “trade secrets,” but we did get training on them.
Just for the record, Ontario’s Beer Stores are not government, by any means. The Brewers’ Warehousing Corporation, which runs the Beer Stores, is a private corporation. It took advantage of the loophole in the 1927 law allowing alcohol sales in Ontario, that said “breweries may open their own retail outlets.” That law did not anticipate all the brewers teaming up, and using an economy of scale, establish a chain of retail outlets to sell beer. Which they did.
Yes, my training there included our company history, in addition to being able to spot the underage attempting to buy.
in indiana it used to be or still might be no one under 21 could enter stores that sold hard liquor I live in so cal here the only difference between bobs liquor and the 7-11 is bobs has the good stuff on shelves behind the registers(although the 7-11 near me has every flavor of MD 20/20 for sale) …
Now I haven’t lived in Indiana since I was 11 and was 16 when I went for a visit it was morning so I tromped over to get my morning supplies … hostess orange cupcakes bottle of mt dew and a newspaper and the biggest bag of m&Ms they sold apparently the cashier was pretty new because when the manager seen me checking out a fit was thrown and the pd was almost called
Luckily I had my CA ID and he looked me over and said well that explains it and reminded me of the rules I took my stuff and apologized not paying attention and left …i think the riot act was going to be recited for the poor employee …
So people who don’t drive aren’t allowed to buy alcohol in Pennsylvania? Or is there some provision for showing a different form of ID, like a passport?
They’ll accept state issued ID (looks like a driver’s license but not for driving). I don’t think a passport would scan.
I was at a music festival in Johnstown where they sell beer and in order to drink you had to have your driver’s license scanned and a wristband placed on your wrist. You could be 90; without a driver’s license you couldn’t buy beer.
On the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board website they say driver’s license, photo ID card, military ID, or passport are accepted but I don’t know how the scanner works with a passport.
I’m confused -are you saying that in Indiana you have to be over 21 to enter a 7-11?
I think they’re saying that 7-11s don’t sell hard liquor. I’m not a drinker so I’m kind of unaware of such things but I don’t think that they do in California
I guess - I’m not used to liquor stores selling cupcakes and newspapers and candy (except for those liquor filled chocolates). I’m 99% sure that wine and liquor stores in NY can’t sell anything except wine and liquor.