Following IT breaches, Jewel scanning driver's licenses irk customers
When Alex Oksengendler and his wife, Olga, of Buffalo Grove picked up some alcohol at their local Jewel-Osco store, they were asked for their driver's licenses.
While both are 54 years old, they still complied. But what happened next shocked them. The cashier scanned their licenses into their electronic system.
“The cashier said it was a new policy,” Oksengendler said. “But why don't they just look at the license? Why do they have to scan it, especially since they are getting our data from us and it goes into a system where Jewel already had security problems?”
Itasca-based Jewel-Osco, which has admitted to two data breaches this year that involved consumer data, started a new policy in late fall where the driver's licenses of all customers will be scanned into their system if they purchase alcohol or tobacco products. For such customers, the cashier will pick up a hand-held scanner, request the driver's license, and then scan the bar code on the license, Jewel-Osco spokeswoman Jennifer Mifflin said.
“Customers driver's licenses are still scanned, even if they're over 21,” said Mifflin.
And Jewel is not alone. In fact, the grocer follows other retailers who have begun using similar technology, including Target, Walgreens and others.
The Walgreens technology can scan a state ID, passport or U.S. military ID, if the customer doesn't have a driver's license, said Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso.
“We use it only to verify age and it processes the sale much faster,” he said.
The scanner helps retailers verify that the document is authentic and the consumer is old enough to legally purchase age-restricted products like alcohol and certain medications. The bar code provides only the driver's license number, the person's date of birth and the license expiration, Mifflin said.
For customers like Oksengendler, though, the new practice is an unwelcome intrusion.
“Collecting information by scanning a driver's license is a violation of individual rights,” he wrote in an email to the company and the Daily Herald.
Companies using the technology acknowledge some customers may be wary, but emphasize they are doing it to help ensure that all laws are followed in the sales of restricted products.
“If customers refuse to provide the driver's license, they could not purchase the restricted item,” said Jewel-Osco spokeswoman Melissa Hill.
The new policy at Jewel-Osco follows its admission this year that its IT systems had been breached twice regarding customers' private information. But the company was unsure if payment card data was stolen. It immediately took action to correct the problems in its system and to work with authorities on the breaches, the company said at the time.