I kinda think so sorta maybe kinda maybe not... but I have a few theories on why people do not get them. Hear me out pls:

1) They are too big for today's practical needs. In the old days, passports were big "paperz please" type official looking booklets with stamps and insignias all over them. Most European countries many Americans go to now don't even stamp anything! Passports are kinda Euro in style to this day, seeing as how many countries in Western Europe, at least, still have the big folding paper driver's license and stuff like that. We have the cards.

2) if you lose it it is a pain to deal with. More so than most other documents. So people never carry it, and thusly, they think it is just one more thing they do not need because they cannot go everywhere anyway.

3) I think it takes long to get one using normal protocol, and it's lots more paperwork for less return for many people. For many people, travel is still a WANT rather than a NEED. The driver's license, on the other hand, is a NEED for most people. In the USA, the only people I can really think of who don't have a car or even need to drive are people who live IN Manhattan.

4) many people still claim they just don't want to have MORE stuff to carry around/think about. Especially those who rarely travel outside their own locale for whatever reason.


OK, so all of these reasons could be easily shot to pieces by most FT users, because for us, travel is KEY TO LIFE for one reason or another. But then again, that's US. We are not the only sector of people out there!

I think if the passport was ID card sized (after all, the resident Alien Visa finally went that route) then more people would be inclined to get one.

I think if it were a bit easier to get one, more people would do so.

I mean, it's not like it's that =hard, it's just a cumbersome process than not. For example, our baby got one and the USPS made us do the forms and both of us had to be there to sign it. Not necessarily at the same time, but they DID want us both to come down AND one of us had to bring the baby. This is necessary, perhaps, but it takes some extra work if both you and your wife work and the baby has a varied sleep schedule, etc. And hey, if you don't have a lifestyle where travel is really all that important (for example, you work in the trades in your local community and you have 3 kids and 2 jobs, and your wife works as a teacher and a coach and you both also own a local bar AND maybe have time to drive to Maine on some weekends in the summer) then why go through all of THAT? Plus, if they were easier to get, then they could make them expire in less years. How is it that they scrutinize MY picture and my passport's validity every time I travel just because it has some creases in it because it is too big to fit into things I have or wear, and yet, my baby's picture will be considered VALID til she is like 5 years old and looks nothing like her from 6 months of age?

Ignorant?
Nah... maybe just different than what WE know and do. It would be IGNORANT to assume everyone is just like us.