PSA: Local Kroger store requiring customers to scan the back of their driver's licenses to buy alcohol and other age-limited products

[Resilient]

I'm not sure if it is just in Washington State or if it is a national corporate policy, but dh was informed today that all who buy alcohol (and presumably cigarettes and lottery tickets) will have to scan the back of their driver's license. The store will keep the data to prove they "carded" everyone.

DH found out (research man) that the code on the back contains all the information on the front of the card, AND your social security number.

What could go wrong? 

DH registered his dissatisfaction with the store manager; the manager said it is State law (which is not true; law says you have to verify age, not that you have to collect personal information).  DH told him so and told the manager that this was Kroger corporate policy and a very stupid policy at that.

We won't be buying alcohol at Kroger anymore. All I need is one more company data leak...with my SSN in the database. And my address.  AND a personal description of me.  I'm not a Luddite - not by any stretch of the definition - but I am sick of corporations that collect data they have no right to and often have data leaks that put my identity at risk.  Enough already.

 

[itsheresomewhere]

I have been trying to get something done about this for years.  I can’t tell you have many I have written in my state to get this changed.  There is no need to all this to be available for all especially with the lack of information security most companies have.  

[Arcadia]

From Kroger’s webpage https://www.kroger.com/i/privacy-policy/how-we-collect-information

“There is also some personal information that you voluntarily share with us. This includes information used to register for our Loyalty program, to create an account on our websites, or where required by law. For example:

• Name, address, phone and email
• Payment information
• Communication and shopping preferences
• An encrypted version of your password
• Driver’s license number for certain types of sales and for ID verification”

[ScoutTN]

Will continue to buy my wine at Trader Joe’s and beer at Walmart, where they just look at one’s DL and type in the birthdate! 

[Resilient]

5 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

From Kroger’s webpage https://www.kroger.com/i/privacy-policy/how-we-collect-information

“There is also some personal information that you voluntarily share with us. This includes information used to register for our Loyalty program, to create an account on our websites, or where required by law. For example:

• Name, address, phone and email
• Payment information
• Communication and shopping preferences
• An encrypted version of your password
• Driver’s license number for certain types of sales and for ID verification”

This is the existing policy as far as I know. Starting end of this month or next, the Kroger stores around here will require you to scan the back of your driver’s license which has a code on it that contains your SSN, your driver’s license number, both of which are useful in identity theft, and how much you weigh, how tall you are,  etc.  a shopper’s discount card is a different matter both in benefit to customers and in the nature and sensitivity of the data collected.  

[Arcadia]

Georgia is having similar issues https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/retailers-scanning-drivers-licenses-raises-privacy-issues.amp

”VILLA RICA - If you buy cigarettes, beer, and some over-the-counter drugs, retailers are charged with making sure you are of age to do so. They ask for your driver's license to verify your age then hand it back to you. Well, you are most likely going to see retailers take it a step further now — scanning your ID and possibly storing the information.

… She tells the FOX 5 I-Team she was at this Villa Rica Dollar General, but it’s a practice being used more often by many retailers. And it bothers her. 

The FOX 5 I-Team reached out to Dollar General’s corporate headquarters.

"Dollar General is committed to meeting or exceeding state regulation and industry expectations when selling age-restricted products in our stores. To ensure we sell products including alcohol and tobacco in a safe and responsible manner, our stores are now verifying customers’ age by scanning drivers licenses. Our system uses the barcode solely to validate a customer’s date of birth.  No other personal information is obtained [or stored]." 

Some states have what are called swiping laws.

"That really clearly laid out how many days retailers could store that information. They had to store if for X number of days then they had to delete it," Mr. Denish noted. 

Georgia has a law, but it does not go that deep. It only requires that the customer be told the ID will be swiped, and the information is to be used for legitimate purposes only.

… This is interesting to note: The airport, one of the places most interested in security, does verify identity by looking at your driver's license. But, they don’t scan in the information. They look at the ID, look at you, then hand it back.

Lastly, according to the Georgia Consumer Protection Division, a retailer must ask you before it swipes. You must grant permission.”

[HSmomof2]

I’m not in favor of scanning driver’s licenses, but I don’t see that the barcode on WA driver’s licenses include a SSN. 
 

https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/docs/barcodeCalibration-EDLEID-2017.pdf

[Resilient]

21 minutes ago, HSmomof2 said:

I’m not in favor of scanning driver’s licenses, but I don’t see that the barcode on WA driver’s licenses include a SSN. 
 

https://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/docs/barcodeCalibration-EDLEID-2017.pdf

I’ll have to find out where dh got his info.  Thank you for posting. 
 

and I still don’t like it.  😏 I don’t want Kroger storing data unrelated to anything I don’t get benefit from, like a discount card.  Scan the birthdate.  Be done with it.  Another annoying part is that I am clearly past the age of 18.  Or 21.  Or 50.  Use some common sense.  🙄
 

[TechWife]

CVS has been scanning licenses for C2 prescription pickup for years. It’s how they track quantity purchased within a given timeframe across multiple stores, chains and independents. They also scan them for purchase of many cold medicines. 

[easypeasy]

Some states have a digital ID for your phone that has an "age only" barcode that can be scanned! I think it only works for the REAL ID, maybe?

I'm so tired of so many businesses having access to so much of my personal information (that they don't even NEED). 😕 But I couldn't find anywhere, for any state that I looked up, that said my social security # is attached to that barcode, so hopefully there's a sliver of a silver lining?

[Teaching3bears]

What about people who don’t drive/ don’t have drivers’ licences? 

[J-rap]

18 minutes ago, Teaching3bears said:

What about people who don’t drive/ don’t have drivers’ licences? 

You have to show some form of ID to buy alcohol (to prove your age), so I imagine that leaves driver’s license, state ID card, or a passport? State ID cards here scan just like a license. They probably have a way to use passports as a backup.

[Heartstrings]

I would worked at Harp’s a few years ago and that was store policy then.  If you scanned alcohol the computer literally couldn’t go further without the ID being scanned.  It’s because the fines for selling to a minor are so high and they don’t trust the employees to check ID every time.  
 

We were able to call and get a managers override if the customer was adamant about not giving the ID.  That just takes time and hassle. 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Heartstrings

[Arcadia]

7 hours ago, Teaching3bears said:

What about people who don’t drive/ don’t have drivers’ licences? 

I have a RealID non-drivers version. Before that I had a state ID. When I was here on a business trips decades ago before relocating here, the store owner would look at my passport. 
There are plenty of self service vending machines for California lottery here so no one needs to check your age. My teens could buy a Powerball or MegaMillion and no one would care. 

[Terabith]

This is especially weird, given that at our Kroger, I have not been asked for my license in well over a decade.  I've waved it at the checkout person (who comes over to the self check out to type in numbers), but they've always been very clear that they don't want to see it, because it would slow them down.  They just type in a made up date.  Now, we moved back here when I was 31 and am now 46, so maybe I just looked sufficiently old by then that it didn't matter?

I have been asked for license by pharmacy when I was buying real sudafed.  

[Tanaqui]

7 hours ago, J-rap said:

You have to show some form of ID to buy alcohol (to prove your age), so I imagine that leaves driver’s license, state ID card, or a passport? State ID cards here scan just like a license. They probably have a way to use passports as a backup.

They do, but in my experience using a passport card as my sole ID, cashiers sometimes don't know how to handle that. Luckily I finally got clued into the CVS workaround so if I get a novice cashier I can tell them what to do rather than having to have them wait to be instructed!

[marbel]

The grocery stores here in PA (at least all the ones I have bought beer or wine in) have to scan the barcode on the ID when selling alcohol. Even selling the stuff in the grocery is fairly new here. The scanned information doesn't include SSN. 

Otherwise, beer is sold at beer distributors, and wine/spirits are sold in, well, state wine and spirit stores. I have never had to show ID in either of those stores. Well, oddly, once, when my daughter was with me and I was buying some fruity girly drink (she was over 21 at the time). She wasn't even touching the bottles nor was she making the purchase, and they didn't ask for hers. Maybe we looked like secret liquor control board inspectors or something and the clerk didn't want to take any chances. 

Yes, yes I did ramble off topic a bit!  The restrictions on buying liquor here in the cradle of liberty have always annoyed me. 

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by marbel

[Lady Florida.]

14 hours ago, TechWife said:

CVS has been scanning licenses for C2 prescription pickup for years. It’s how they track quantity purchased within a given timeframe across multiple stores, chains and independents. They also scan them for purchase of many cold medicines. 

I thought all pharmacies did that and I thought it was federal law. I could be wrong and it could be a state thing. Ds has ADHD and they always scan his license when he picks up his prescription When he was still a minor and I picked up his meds I had to show my ID. I recently had oral surgery and was given percocet. They scanned my license for that. They also scan when I buy sudafed - the kind that actually works and is kept behind the counter. That last one is definitely federal and was added to the Patriot Act way back in the early 2000s. People were using it to make meth so the amount you can buy per household is restricted.

I just looked it up. Aside from pseudoephedrine which comes under federal law, the others are regulated by states. Florida requires ID for Schedule II and above. Pain meds and ADHD meds are Schedule II.