OMG look what I found!!

[dreamshark]

It is my Social Security card!! I haven't seen it for 26 years. Which I know because it was tucked into a Franklin Planner from 1994 that I used when I worked for Network Systems. As you can see it is just a flimsy little piece of paper, hardly something you would expect to last a lifetime. I thought it had disintegrated decades ago.

Yes, I guess I should clean off that desk more often.

Comments

[quadong]

As of 2012, they are still flimsy pieces of paper. I think it's not too terribly hard to get a new one, though, and also you almost never need to present it. I don't remember the last time I needed mine. Maybe the first time I got a passport?

[arkuat]

I've only ever gotten mine out of the filing cabinet to present for I-9 paperwork at a new job, and since I'm not between passports anymore, I could always use the passport instead now. That, too, stays filed unless I need it for something.

[dreamshark]

I think they are extremely hard to replace. I've occasionally looked for a way to get a replacement card online and you can't do it. They just say, "Contact your Social Security Office" (most of which have been closed down since the last time I had to visit one).

On the other hand, I obviously haven't needed mine for getting jobs or passports, since I have done both of those things multiple times since 1994.

[ckd]

They were still flimsy paper as of 2019, when I got a replacement for mine so that I could get an Enhanced Driver's License. (WA requires a social security card, W-2 with complete SSN, SSA-1099 form with complete SSN or pay stub with complete SSN and "photocopies or online printouts are not accepted". Since my W-2 and pay stubs are all online and I don't have any SSA-1099 forms, that left getting a card.

Despite being in one of the states that the SSA lists as being able to get replacements online, since my last card issued was long before the database integration I still had to go in with my forms and ID (I used my passport) and have them mail me the replacement card.

I got it in 2019 because I had time, figuring that I'd hang on to it and use it to upgrade to the EDL when it was time to renew my license...except COVID-19, so I wound up renewing the regular "Federal Limits Apply" license online instead.

Since I have a passport card for ID for air travel (when I did that), proving age for alcohol so I can enter bars (ditto), or filling out I-9 forms (haven't done that in years) it's not really an issue to not have the EDL as well; I just liked having yet another ID valid for multiple uses.

[carbonel]

I applied for the EDL when I renewed my driver's license last month. My Social Security card is long long gone, and I haven't needed to present it anywhere I can recall since it was issued to me in 1972 or so.

For the EDL, I used my passport for government ID and a pay stub for SSN confirmation, and sailed through without difficulty. However, the system is a couple of months behind, said the agent, and I probably won't receive the actual object until January.

[pameladean]

That's pretty much what mine looks like, though mine has less blue bleeding around the signature. There's some.

P.

[davidwilford]

When I lost my wallet in a river while canoeing back in 1983, I had my Social Security card replaced with one that was also made of cheap paper, but with a bit more color and an official looking seal across the front. I now keep my SS card in a plastic sleeve in a binder instead of my wallet, and it's in fairly good shape.