Automate A Wide Range Of Identification Verification Tasks With Driver’s License Barcodes

Stellamartino
Nerd For Tech
Published in
4 min readAug 27, 2023
Driving License ID Verification

Manual identity verification processes are generally slow and time-consuming, whether at a check-in counter, a bank, or a retail point of sale. Not only does it take a lot of time, but it’s also prone to manual errors.

For example, a customer is at a store that requires age verification for the services. The employees would need to verify their identity. What is the result if they do so manually? Higher processing times with chances of errors.

But fret not because there’s a solution — a driver’s license barcode scanner. Businesses worldwide scan licenses to capture identification details like name and address.

Businesses can verify the information on driving licenses in a few seconds using a barcode scanner. All you need to do is scan the license, and you can verify the identity.

Let’s explore how different industries can tap into the power of driver’s license barcodes:

Retail Sector

With the technological innovations in recent years in the retail sector, businesses are competing to provide their customers with a streamlined and personalized experience. Here are some ways they can leverage barcode scanners and offer better services:

  1. Age Verification: By scanning the IDs, retail store employees can quickly and automatically verify the customer’s age. Doing so is helpful for retail store owners to sell age-restricted products like alcohol or tobacco. It also reduces waiting time at the point of sale and nullifies the risk of manual calculation.
    Moreover, while someone can tamper with the birth date on the driver’s license, it’s impossible to tamper with the barcode data of the driver’s license. Thus, it enables stores to identify tampered licenses and ensure legal compliance easily.
  2. Customer Loyalty Programs: Retail stores can link driver’s license barcodes to customer loyalty programs, which allows shoppers to easily avail of loyalty points and discounts at the point of sale.
    As some customers are reluctant to fill out long, tedious forms at the cash counter, scanning the barcode expedites the process. It allows customers to sign up for loyalty points or store credits in a matter of seconds.
    Store employees just have to scan the barcode on the ID, and they can retrieve customer details which can be automatically populated into the customer database.
  3. Expedited Returns and Exchanges: Scanning the barcode allows retailers to facilitate fast and digital returns and exchanges of goods. For instance, when a customer comes in for a return or exchange, retailers can simply scan the barcode to quickly retrieve the customer’s purchase history. Doing so saves time for both the customer and the retailer, ultimately leading to a positive customer experience and optimal operational efficiency.
    Retail store owners can spot recurring purchasing patterns and use them to their advantage by automatically feeding customer information into the database with every return or exchange.
    Additionally, requesting a customer to furnish ID proof deters con artists from making fraudulent returns.

Hospitality Sector

The basic tenet of the hospitality industry is to deliver exceptional customer experience. Here are some of the ways the utilization of driver’s license barcodes can help streamline operations and boost customer satisfaction:

  1. Hotel Check-In: Hotels streamline check-in by scanning the guest’s driving license. Doing so automatically populates the guest registration form with all the details. This significantly cuts down on the wait time and minimizes any risk of errors that usually plague manual data entry.
    Moreover, it serves as a plus during peak times, allowing guests to enjoy their holiday and freeing employees’ time to give the best service to clients.
  2. Age Verification for Services: For age-restricted establishments such as clubs, bars, and casinos, barcodes on IDs can verify a guest’s age before allowing them entry.
    This way, owners can ensure compliance with government regulations while providing a top-notch experience to guests.
  3. Shared Economies: Availing services like car renting can be cumbersome because of the hefty, lengthy registration and verification process.
    But by scanning the barcode on driving licenses, organizations can quickly screen the customer’s identity and deliver prompt services.
  4. Fraud Prevention: Scanning a customer’s driver’s license barcode helps you verify the details they give.
    Doing so allows organizations to identify signs of tampering and thus prevent forger, impersonation, and other fraudulent activities.

State and Local Governments

Government agencies and departments, state or local, can also avail the benefits of driver’s license barcodes. Here are some of the ways:

  1. Traffic Violation Processing: Law enforcement can use these identification documents to ease the processing of traffic violations. Officers can access the driver’s information and vehicle history by scanning the barcode on the driver’s license. This facilitates accurate record-keeping and ensures efficient handling of violations.
  2. Public Benefits and Service Delivery: Driver’s license barcodes serve as a quick and reliable means of identity verification in various government services.
    For individuals seeking public benefits or government services, scanning PDF417 helps simplify and fasten the verification process, ultimately processing the application faster.
  3. Insurance Claims Verification: Insurance companies can verify the information provided by policyholders through scanners. By doing so, they can evaluate any chances of risk. For example, they can refuse to pay claims for accidents of a driver with an expired license.
  4. Record Maintenance: Barcode scanners can vastly reduce the volume of paper records in government departments. Government employees can scan the person’s license to verify a citizen’s identity or view past records. Doing so helps process payments quickly, minimizes the paper trail, and increases the department’s operational efficiency.

Conclusion

Driver’s license barcode scanners offer immense, untapped potential that businesses can use to enhance their operations. From age verification to seamless check-ins and personalized services, using PDF417 barcodes brings numerous benefits, including accuracy, lesser processing time, and enhanced customer experience.

As organizations worldwide continue to embrace technology, PDF417 readers are emerging as a valuable tool to optimize operations, increase efficiency, and deliver exceptional services across several industries.

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