Sent from my iPad On Jun 11, 2012, at 11:35 AM, "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com> wrote:
From someone who supplies an out-of-country drivers license, I'd request to see their passport. From someone who supplies an out-of-state drivers license, I'd probably accept it, but the risks there are somewhat reduced at least.
OK, someone shows you a Quebec driver's license. You ask for a passport, she says, I don't have one, and points at the blue word Plus after the words Permis de Conduire at the top of the license. Now what?
To the best of my knowledge, ICE stopped accepting DL for admission from Canada several years ago. So, I'd probably pass on the transaction unless she wanted to select another form of payment.
Although banks have different tradeoffs in risk management than you might like, they're not dumb. I expect they figured that the increased volume from not slowing down transactions and demanding more than makes up for whatever the increased fraud. This theory is reinforced by my observation that at my local supermarket, they don't even ask for the signature that they don't look at for purchases under $50.
Indeed, as I have said, for small purchases where the transaction rate can be high, swipe and go makes sense to me. I'm talking about larger purchases that involve a lengthier sales process anyway. Owen