Jennifer,
I am part-owner of a college bar in PA. I do not use an ID checking machine
at this time for a few reasons. The ones that I have seen are either too cost
prohibitive to purchase or they are not very useful even if they are
affordable. The hand held ones that I have seen still require the
operator(bouncer) to make sure the person giving you the ID is the person on
the ID. All that these machines do is tell you if the person on the ID is 21
or older or in some cases if the ID is expired. I feel that your best defense
agsainst minors frequenting your esablishment is a well-trained well-trusted
doorman. I know that it is not always easy to find a doorman who you can 100%
trust to not let in his buddies, good looking girls, etc. but I really believe
that a quality doorman will catch more fake ID's than a machine can. I can
attest that with the proper training your bouncers will be able to pick out
even the most high tech fakes due to the fact that even the best fakes have
certain giveaways. I have an enormous stack of fakes that I have accumulated
over the years. Internet IDs are very popular with college students these
days and I've caught plenty of them. The key to catching these IDs is that
they generally all have the same type hologram. Every state's real ID has a
differnt hologram, but since the fakes are done en mass they just put the same
ones on different states. This is the 1st thing I tell my bouncers when they
are looking for fakes. Hope this helps a little. I dont think an ID machine
is the cure-all solution to your IDing dilemma. If I can help you further
please don't hesitate to email me @ hargman[at]beer.com.
Hargman