rally
My passport got a mallet taken to it the day it arrived, and i can tell you that the chip inside doesnt work(no visable damage) because most customs personel mutter under there breath that the chip doesnt work and how much of a pain it is to do there job manually.
I have had to deal with two ID theft attempts on me(thank goodness for wacky bruteforeproof passwords or i would have lost alot of money), and one full attack on my mother, needless to say it was a pain in the butt to deal with so im going to limit my exposure as much as possible to having anyone getting another wack at my identity, if CBP has a problem with it then they can replace my passport at there expense.