I lost my SS card probably about ten years ago (I say lost...it was at my parents old house and never could find it after the move) and haven't needed it since. Passport + photo ID pretty much covers everything that a SS card would be needed for, at least for things that I have come across.
I use mine so rarely that I leave it in a safety deposit box... figure it's the only place I can leave it for a decade without losing it.
1) Waste of paper 2) The amount of information on the card I haven't looked at my SS card in a very long time, but I'm pretty sure all it says is some variant of "United States Social Security" and then your number. Seems a bit wasteful if two things are on such a large piece of paper.
I burned by SS card with my draft card in 1971, haven't had one since. (Why you ask?) but I know the number since that was our college ID number back then and middle class white men can get a job without proof.
I always had it on me when I was younger. Working in construction and being Mexican it just made sense to me carry it on me. I didn't feel like getting tackled when la migra showed up. They once almost came to our site. They had a SUV circling the job site and one of the workers noticed, so everyone packed up except for me as I was the only one with papers. Now when OSHA showed up I hid. I was 15 and they don't take kindly to underage workers.
I don't even know what the recourse would be to me losing it. Would it really be that hard to get another one? Besides, my middle name is misspelled on there. It doesn't match my birth certificate or drivers license.
I was burning my draft card as a protest against the Vietnam war and the law that said you had to have one. I guess at the time I associated my SS card with the government so I burned it too. I've gone 43 years without having one, but like I said, I know the number and have filled in a thousand times over the years. At some jobs I've had they've said "you going to need to get one and bring it in" though they have always let it pass. I had to report for a physical at the draft board without a draft card, but they didn't have me arrested either. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft-card_burning) I guess I'll have to get a card in a couple of years so I can start collecting.
When I moved back to Texas in '11, pretty much needed everything to get a license, birth certificate, SSN card, even asked for bills to verify street address. Probably similar to other big states, but a bit of a nightmare compared to Nebraska where you just hand off the old one and have a copy of your insurance.
I used to keep it in my wallet for a very long time until I learned the tough way not to. It was my first Mardi Gras and I had just made some money at the Black Jack table at Harrah's. My buddies and I walked down an insanely crowded Bourbon Street. I was holding a hand grenade on one hand and trying to weave past the crowd. We had enough and I went to the side street to grab another drink only to realize my wallet was gone.
