Originally Posted by ESpen36

The reason why you have to show ID is to protect the consumer from fraud and the retailer or other company from liability. The credit card could have slipped out of your pocket, and somebody could have picked it up and run to the nearest shopping center to charge a bunch of stuff before you became aware and canceled the card. You might not care (beyond the inconvenience of waiting for a new card and dealing with removing the unauthorized charges), but the merchants are still out the merchandise. With the upcoming transition in the USA to chip-and-PIN technology, the merchants will assume ALL liability for fraudulent trasactions....they are not looking forward to it!


Showing ID to get through airport security is different. TSA is trying to prevent dangerous people, not just dangerous goods, from getting into secure areas of airports. So, the airline computers connect to various federal databases and "clear" you before the boarding pass is issued. The TDC is responsible for making sure that you are the same person who is named on the boarding pass that was "cleared" by the databases. In fact, I'm surprised that boarding passes don't have more identifying data on them....birthdates or something similar. (especially since many people have the same first and last name....there could be multiple guys named Joe Smith traveling on the same flight, but one of them requires SSSS treatment and the others are clear....what could happen if they swap boarding passes?)


If you think you have to show ID a lot in the USA, just try living somewhere in South America! In many countries there, you need to show ID in order to PAY CASH at most retailers! (or at least recite your national identity number so that it can be typed into the register)

It shocked me when a pharmacy in Buenos Aires wanted to see my ID when I was paying cash for a bottle of water there, but the locals seemed to be doing it without a second thought.