this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024
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United States | News & Politics
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So weird to imagine being carded when you're clearly over 25 years old. I haven't been carded in all my 3 years in the UK. Don't even carry ID unless I'm traveling.
If I'm not mistaken, a lot of retailers are required to scan ID for every sale. Their registers won't let them complete the transaction if they don't scan a valid ID.
That might also be some bullshit the checkout employee made up for the lady in front of me at the grocery store who got all bent out of shape when she had to go digging through her purse for her ID.
They don't need to card people who look old at bars and restaurants, though.
In Pennsylvania, I believe liquor stores do have to scan ID for most purchases.
Bars don’t HAVE to scan. The age threshold is fairly arbitrary. That said, there are companies who do contract stings/spot checks at bars (contracted by the owner of the chain, usually) to make sure they’re carding everyone.
One of my friends lost a job because of said sting by an 35 year old employee (who definitely looked over 30) and a zero tolerance policy for failing said checks.
So it makes sense to me that the bar wouldn’t provide alcohol to anyone without ID. That’s how they were trained.
I worked wirh someone that got fired by a secret shopper they didn't card. They got their job back after appeal because the secret shopper that was 30ish looked like she was 50. The secret shopper was let go because they had an abnormally high audit failure due to how old she looked.
Every sale? Wild what people will put up with.
Every sale with an age restricted item. You won't get carded for buying an orange.
Thanks for the clarity. Never been there, wasn't sure
To be more specific only some places do this and it's a software feature of the POS system. Lots of places only ask for id if you look young.
In Minnesota (and the rest of the US AFAIK) you have to look over 40.
Remember Pennsylvania is a really weird about alcohol, the only store that used to sell had to be government run which requires scanning of id's and other than that you could buy beer and wine at restaurants so in that state they are hard wired to need ID. The rest of the country probably wouldn't care, I know my state just either doesn't ask or just asks you to tell them your birthday.
I experienced this a few times as a foreigner in Philly. Getting denied entry to a beer garden because I didn't have my passport (I'm mid 30s so clearly not under their alcohol age), or my colleague being randomly carded at a baseball game to buy a beer, none of us got carded and he did and his only id was his EU drivers licence, and he was mid 40s. It's so bizarre.