Shame on UPS for becoming politically correct. They are now seeking photo ID from anyone/everyone who ships anything with them.
But what purpose does this solve? Unless there’s something we’re not being told, they don’t check our ID against any sort of terrorist database. As far as I’m aware, there are no ‘forbidden shipper’ lists – and if there were, how easy would it be to get a friend or colleague to ship something on your behalf – ‘Hey, Mohammed, would you mind stopping by the UPS store on your way home and sending this parcel off for me….’.
Why does UPS require us to show our IDs when they do not then cross-reference them with ‘forbidden shipper’ lists? Oh – all terrorists to date have had valid ID, too. This solves nothing, and merely intrudes further into our privacy.
So our need to carry ID with us has just ratcheted up another notch. Not only do we need ID to fly anywhere, but middle aged people such as myself ridiculously have to show ID to prove we are over 21 in a bar (‘We ID everyone under 40’ – sometimes even ‘We ID everyone, no exceptions’), and not only do retailers sometimes ask for photo ID when we try to use our credit card (‘it is for your protection’ – a phrase that should be preserved as one of the most ridiculous lies of all time, because it does not protect us, it possibly protects the retailer and definitely protects the credit card company), and almost always when we present a check, but now we must have ID for posting a package too.
Does this make us safer? No. Is it another tiny baby step away from liberty and freedom, and towards totalitarianism? Yes. And, you know, all these baby steps start to add up.
Details here.
Oh – the ID illustrating this article? Fake, of course – used by a Nigerian ‘419’ scammer seeking to trick westerners into sending money to him.
Hi David
The beauty of this is you don’t even need to have a friend take it to UPS just put it into one of their bins or into the office stack of things going out!! I asked our shipping folks and they don’t use UPS much these days but they don’t have to show any ID for packets sent out….and if they did so what since it isn’t them sending the packets.
Gosh don’t we feel safer now.
Happy holidays!
Pat S.
But don’t ask for a valid ID to vote. Fraud is just to easy in our system. Between motor voter and absentee voting I have to wonder how many of the votes counted are fraudulent.