ID scanners are incredibly important for keeping the United States safe and functioning. From scanning passports at the border to drivers licenses at the convenience store checkout line, having a form of identification is essential for travel, certain purchases, and keeping law abiding citizens safe. Here’s why OEM scanners and ID scanners are so essential to modern life:

1. National Security
   Having an identification card issued by the U.S. helps keep our skies, rails, roads, and borders safe. If someone doesn’t hold the appropriate credentials that can be checked by an ID scanner, they will not be allowed to enter the country in the first place.
2. Making Purchases
   Tobacco, alcohol, and firearms all have legal restrictions on the age someone must be to make a purchase. This is to keep children safe. Likewise, similar scanners that use ‘chip’ technology are called RFID card readers and are used to process credit card transactions.
3. Going Out For A Drink
   Many bars have taken up liquor store practices by using a license scanner to check that patrons are of legal age. This ideally prevents underage individuals from drinking.
4. Driving
   In order to operate a motor vehicle, you must pass your driving test. As of 2015, 218 million Americans had drivers licenses. If you get pulled over with a fake license, the officer can bring your ID to their car and run it through ID readers. This makes the roads much safer for licensed drivers.
5. Missing Persons
   Having a description and picture for citizens, the police will be better equipped to track down criminals and recover missing persons.
6. Attending College
   If you go to school, you get a student ID. This affords you certain on-campus privileges, a meal plan, and often off-campus discounts.
7. Club Cards
   If you belong to a gym, a grocery store, or even a top secret spy club, you can have key cards that give you access to the facility in question. This keeps your personal group exclusive and allows control over who can participate.

From a simple credit card RFID reader to high tech ID scanners, identification cards keep America both safe and running like clockwork. Without this technology, life would be much riskier and inconvenient. Passports protect the sky, drivers licenses protect the road, ID scanners in bars protect the children, credit cards let us buy things, and many other cards have functions that help the nation run as smoothly as possible.