If your Ohio driver's license is about to expire, you are in for a whole new experience at the BMV.
Your new license will no longer be handed to you over the counter at the BMV. Instead, it will arrive in your mailbox.
There are some steps you can take to make sure your ID does not fall into the wrong hands.
All licenses are now manufactured in one location using sophisticated, high tech methods like laser engraving and optical variable ink.
Ohio BMV Registrar Don Petit said the new system will prevent fraud.
“Anything we can make in a desktop printer, so can a criminal,” said Petit.
Novecia Custis, who lives in Gahanna, said she is not so sure how she feels about her ID arriving in her mailbox.
“You're kind of nervous like you're going to send the most important ID document that I have in my life through the mail,” she said.
The Ohio BMV is taking security measures.
New licenses will show up in a plain, nondescript envelope.
Petit said there is no reason to believe the change will fuel a spike in mail theft.
“I mean you don't go into your bank and get issued a credit card over the counter. You apply for a credit card. You receive it in the mail,” Petit said.
In June, police in Worthington investigated several reports of mail and checks stolen from the post office drop box.
Dublin police reported similar crimes at the Shawan Falls Drive Post Office.
Nextdoor, an online neighborhood social network, said a recent survey nationwide revealed 62% of respondents have experienced a package theft.
Sixty-six percent decided against ordering an item because they were concerned it would be stolen.
More than half (51 percent) asked a neighbor to retrieve a package when they weren't home.
Custis eliminated the guesswork by signing up for the U.S. Postal Service's Informed Delivery which sends an email containing photos of all the important mail that will show up in her mailbox.
While the BMV will not accept a P.O. box as your residential address, it is acceptable as a mailing address.
This means your license is under lock and key until it is convenient for you to pick it up.