Most of the bars I knew of had their own collections of fake ID’s. The good ones would use them for training purposes and the bad ones would find ways to sell them on the black market.
Holding onto them for training purposes may be illegal but generally we had very good relationships with the police, it wasn’t something that would have ever been enforced.
To dispel the notion that this was some “bootlicker” bar that got special treatment from police, it was the actually the most popular bar in a college town very much like Berkeley or Austin or Cambridge. When Obama won the election the bar was standing room only but the manager had the staff give a free shot to everyone in the bar.
Several of my friends are college bartenders who check these IDs regularly. Most fakes are easy to spot but its generally more of a hassle to actually bounce someone then let them get by. If a bar gets any heat, like a higher percentage of incidents outside in a given month, they'll step up their rejections. Attractive people, and specifically attractive women, are let in much more often.
Pretty much any bar in a downtown area of a major metro on the weekends has a bouncer at the door. There’s no planet on which the bartenders could keep up if they had to check everyone’s ID. I suppose you may find the one off who doesn’t but their liquor license won’t last long.
You still need to ask for ID if you are serving alchohol to strangers, since it’s still in Nevada. People often have an ID on them or a photocopy on their mug to show to people giving out drinks. Many people run a lot of exquisite bars as gifts to the community and the law doesn’t care if you are charging for alchohol.
The man on the stool was asking for ID’s as a prank. People assumed he was legit and you needed an ID.
> How long will it be before company behind it are lobbying cities to make it a license requirement for every bar to use their system?
According to the article, it's zero minutes, because it specifically says they are already doing that lobbying.
This won't be just for bars, it'll be for restaurants that serve beer, liquor stores, gas stations, and supermarkets. Any place selling alcohol, cigarettes, spray paint, knives, guns, etc., anything that requires id.
At pycon last week or so in Salt Lake City, I saw the bars are religious about scanning your id before you walk in. Every place that has a bar does it.
There's also restricted drink pours, and you must finish one drink before getting another. So like you can't order a double whiskey, nor can you order a regular martini -- although small ones are okay.
> if a privately owned bar refused to allow (...) based on their appearance
You've described how bars operate on a regular basis. Some establishments even employ staff dedicated to control who gets in based on their appearance.
There’s also weird things about liquor licenses for “bars” in Utah. If you ever go back, ask any bar for their food menu and they’ll almost certainly bring one out. I’ve been told by a number of bartenders that only “restaurants” can get a liquor license (I’m sure that’s simplified). Then the culture of many such “restaurants” is indistinguishable from the culture of a bar.
The ID scanning is because of a local law, pretty blatantly intended to target ~bar~ “restaurant” hoppers, which was naturally only controversial with members of drinking culture. Sometimes I go to lunch at a local “bar” which has to scan my ID as soon as I walk in the door regardless of what I plan to order.
There are bars like this in my city, in some particularly rowdy college-bar areas. They've been open for 20+ years, most of them. So it must work out from a business POV. But never visted one to report.
However, guess it's only news because it's New York. =)
What bars won't let you walk in without showing an ID? Maybe a college town, but it is rare elsewhere.
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