I just learned today that in order to ship a package via UPS, a "valid government issued photo ID" needs to be produced. Was this UPS's idea or another one of DHS's brilliant ideas?
Since when? They no longer accept mass drop-offs? Someone used my identity to ship a bunch of items this spring!
Same with the post office, more or less. They require something to connect to the person, usually it's the credit card used for payment. As KrazyKat points out, identify theft casts a bit of a cloud over that. The exception is preprinted postage, since the payment method will trace back to the individual. Again, there's the issue of identify theft, although with internet transactuions you often have IP addresses that can point back to the individual as well.
