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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

>To this day (some ~14 years later) the only thing I write in cursive is my name and even that's a stretch, I get the first letter, a distinct letter in the middle/end and call it a day.

It used to be that banks would compare signatures to approve/decline checks. What are checks you ask? Exactly!

It used to be that tellers would compare signatures from the back of your card to the signature you just scribbled on the receipt to ensure it was really your card. (when's the last time if ever someone asked to see the signature on your card or compared the card info to your gov't issued ID?) Now, the PoS units have digital pads for signatures. Has anyone anywhere ever had their digital signature look anything like their written signature? I've never signed a digital pad the same way twice.

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> It used to be that tellers would compare signatures from the back of your card to the signature you just scribbled on the receipt to ensure it was really your card.

I'm in my mid-20s.

From the time I signed my first debit card and ID card at around 16 to my driver's license at around 18 my signature already significantly changed, not to mention that I rarely if ever have to physically sign something on paper forms and the like so it's not uncommon for there to be months or even more than a year between signatures. How am I expected to replicate my "signature" almost exactly?

I personally cannot make the same signature twice, it seems it is always different, not just different slopes, but directions and even number of spirals and crosses.

Washington state compares signatures on ballots, and they contact you to verify the ballot if it isn't close enough to what they've got.

NB: WA has universal mail-in voting, so they can easily compare your on-file signature with your signed ballot envelope

Same with Oregon. I’ve wondered about this since my signature is the first letter of my name followed by a random assortment of peaks and valleys.

Illinois too, on the envelope.

If I write my signature twice in a row it's barely similar.

The last place that actually cared was a bank in India (surprise surprise) but the clerk helpfully turned her monitor around to show me how I had written it previously.

Yep, exact same situation here. Was visiting once and unsurprisingly my signature at 17 didn't match my signature at 10. After trying twice they just showed me what my signature had been and told me to copy it.

It's a good thing that at 10 or 17 you're not able to enter a legally binding contract where signatures would be a thing.

For sure, although the same happened with my Dad. In his case it was more surprising because his job was such that he had to sign paperwork several times every day and so he was very insistent on maintaining a fixed signature, yet his signature too had drifted over the years.

Yeah, I can’t remember ever seeing a teller compare my signature but I think I only have written like <10 checks in my life. And I haven’t signed the back of any card in at least a decade if not two.

When depositing checks I receive (rare) I just assume the signature they extract from my cell phone picture is saved but not used/compared. If they did compare my checks would get rejected, my signature is inconsistent.

As for POS systems, I just draw a line. In fact I find it hard to believe it’s worth much given how most people just scribble. I know in credit card disputes they will ask for it but the few disputes I’ve had (and been ruled against even though I’m positive the person paid for and used the services/product) didn’t feel like “if only I had a signature I’d be golden”, I didn’t even build in signature capturing to the in-person payment software, it wasn’t worth it. For 0.01% being lost to fraudulent chargebacks, it would be a huge waste to spent the time/effort/storage to implement signatures.

We've almost come full circle to "place your mark here"

> when's the last time if ever someone asked to see the signature on your card

Recently. One grocery store in Germany usually does that. It may be in part that signing receipts is not common there (vs. entering a PIN) and they're confused by my American debit card.

I'm not sure my scribble on the receipt closely matches the one on my card, but I've never had them object.

Same in the Netherlands. I was asked to compare my signature at IKEA last week.

> It used to be that banks would compare signatures to approve/decline checks. What are checks you ask? Exactly!

I don’t know, in the US checks are so common. Wanna pay a contractor? Checks. Have a HOA account? Checks. Pay the landlord? Checks.

Personally I usually draw a smiley face or boobs or something on the digital signature inputs. The cashiers look on and laugh because they know the signature is a meaningless anachronism, too.

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