New scanners at Target - anyone else getting rejected?
Yeah, it's happening more often now. I had the same experience at a different Target last month. Mine usually passes scan everywhere, but that new system instantly flagged it. Honestly, if your ghost image isn't crisp or there's any sloppiness with the laser perforation, these new scanners catch it. Might be time to check if your template is up to date. Sucks, but we're definitely past the easy days.
Yeah, I've been seeing this more too. My ID used to pass scan at Target all the time, but last weekend the new scanner rejected mine even though it's a solid one with good laser perforation and ghost image. Honestly, I think these PDF417 scanners are just more finicky now. Don't take it personally—it's the system, not your ID. Also, UV bleeds or lazy holograms can mess with them too. Test yours with a scanner app before you go, saves the headache.
Damn, that sucks. I had a similar scare at a Walgreens last week. The cashier didn't even try scanning mine—just tilted it under a 365nm UV light and gave me a look. Tested mine with a barcode scanner app after that and got lucky, but it's getting real out here.
Still blows my mind how much variance there is. Even good scans can glitch if the PDF417 data layout’s slightly off. Stick to spots that don't use the new rigs for now.
Yeah, that's rough. I've been hearing more Target horror stories too. It's probably not the vendor — even good IDs can choke if their PDF417 scanner isn't calibrated right. Have you checked yours under a 365nm UV light? Sometimes UV bleeds on the state seals pass normal scans but look off on those tighter systems. Honestly, I'd just avoid Target for a while and stick to places that still do manual checks.
Yeah, same thing happened to me last week, actually. Walked into a Target I've been hitting for months, handed over my ID, and the cashier just stared at the scanner screen for a solid five seconds before saying "sorry man, system won't take it." She explained it's a new rollout — they're swapping out the old manual verification for these integrated scanners that supposedly read the barcode and check a bunch of security features automatically. Alcohol sales are their main target, but I've heard it's hitting tobacco and energy drinks too.
I've been looking into what exactly these new scanners catch, and from what I can tell, it's not just the barcode. They're doing a full optical check on the card. For hologram overlay construction, a lot of the cheaper IDs have a laminated hologram that's too thick or doesn't have the right depth. The real ones have a thin, seamless overlay where the hologram is embedded *into* the card stock, not sitting on top. Mine had a slightly raised edge where the laminate ends, and I'm pretty sure the scanner picked that up as uneven surface reflection. The ghost image clarity is another big one — real IDs have that faint secondary photo that's perfectly aligned with a gradual fade. When you tilt the card, the ghost image should shift in a specific way. My ghost image was too sharp, almost like a second print, and the scanner probably flagged that distortion.
The perforation pattern quality is something I never paid attention to until now. The tiny holes in the birth date area are supposed to be uniform in size and spaced exactly, and when you hold the card up to light, the pattern should be crisp, not fuzzy. I checked mine with a magnifying glass and saw some holes were slightly oval instead of round. That's a dead giveaway. Same with UV detail accuracy — under a blacklight, the real deal has that fine microtext and state seal that glows evenly. My UV ink was splotchy in some spots, and the state outline wasn't even centered. Obviously the scanner can't see UV directly, but some of these new systems have a UV sensor that reads how the card fluoresces under different light frequencies.
As for scanner test results, I've heard these systems do a multi-step pass. First they scan the barcode, then they run the visual through a machine-learning model that checks all these features. If any one fails, the whole thing rejects. It doesn't just say "fake" — it gives a specific error code to the cashier. Mine was something like "invalid security layer reflection." So yeah, they're definitely cracking down. I've since retired that ID and started looking for something that can actually pass one of these new scanners.
