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Comment by hirundo | Hacker News Reader

90% of my phone calls are from the same outfit informing me that this is my last chance to renew the extended warranty on my car. Based on my call history that recording is officially my best friend. And a very forgiving one given that it has been my last chance hundreds of times over the past several years. I hope this regulation won't interfere with our relationship.

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> the same outfit informing me that this is my last chance to renew the extended warranty on my car

I get this too. Which is great, my being a New Yorker who hasn’t had a driver’s license for close to a decade.

What do you use for an ID? Passport card? State issued ID?

> State issued ID?

This.

A non-driver's state ID works for everything you'd use a driver's license for except operating a motor vehicle. Even though people typically say, "Driver's license" when they really mean either kind of state-issued ID card.

Isn't a driver's license nearly as easy to renew as a non-driving state ID? I don't see the point, even if you only need to rent a car on rare instances.

There are people who choose not to drive. If you have never had a license, there is nothing to renew. Then there are people who do not qualify for a driver's license (e.g. medical reasons).

Heck, I've lived most of my (middle-aged) life without ID and probably haven't used it in the past three years.

Driver’s Ed isn’t a rite of passage for New York City kids like it is in suburbia. Lots of people just never learned.

Usually the state ID is cheaper, but not so much that if you already have a driver's license you'd "downgrade", most likely. YMMV, though.

It's generally a bad idea to carry your passport around just because it has your SSN printed on it

> passport...has your SSN printed on it

My U.S. passport certainly doesn’t.

(Agree that it’s a poor form of primary identification. It is bulky. It is difficult to replace. And it contains more information than you need for identification.)

Does it really? I can’t find anything to agree with that.

US passports do not have SSNs printed on them.

No, it's generally a bad idea to carry it around in a foreign country when you don't need it that day, as having it pickpocketed would suck.

Having it pickpocketed in the US would be far less of a headache, minus lacking an ID for a few weeks.

This is bad advice. You will need it in almost any country when getting stopped by the police. That can happen any time. This will be more of a problem in some countries than others. If you really can't find a way to carry it without getting pick pocketed then a least carry a xeroxed copy with you.

this is not true. but if you need to carry around proof of passport there is a passport card you can get for North American travel only.

The passport card is no longer valid for international flights, only entry by land or sea.

It was never valid for international flights. It is, however, valid as ID for domestic flights (and I have used it as such).

Entertainingly, it is even valid in lieu of a REAL ID if you don't get around to getting a new ID before Oct 2021.

Being carded for buying liquor. 2ndary auth for CC charge (rare now). Proof of status (veteran/senior). Voting (where required).

I let the call go through once just to see what kind of extended warranty they were willing to give me on a '93 Ranger with 250,000 miles.

I even hit them with "But YOU called ME with this extremely urgent notification! It's my last chance, you gotta help me!", but sadly I couldn't get her to give me a quote.

100% of the spam calls on my work phone in the last six months have been trying to sell me Marriott time shares.

I don't know if it's actually Marriott or not. I suspect it's just one of those "affiliate marketing" scumbags, but it still makes the brand look bad.

I get these on a semi weekly basis!

It's not Marriott. I feel a little bad for the big hotel chains whose names are used by telemarketing scammers because their reputations get tarnished.

Mine are mostly offers for a pre-approved $250,000 loan, available in less than 48 hours, for my non-existent small business. Curious what stolen mailing list I'm on that makes scammers think I'm a small business owner. Flattering really, that they'd think I have the potential to become one.

Try registering a domain name without privacy.

I don't even own a car, and I get them all the time. I make sure to very loudly laugh whenever I get one of those calls, even when I'm completely alone (which has been a little over two weeks solid now...).

Well we really wouldn't want you to miss out on this opportunity to get that warranty. Were here when we call you.

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