Age Verification Technology Coming of Age

In this episode we talk to Stephanie Sikorski, the CEO of TruAge which is a free, privacy-first digital age-verification tool that allows consumers to securely show proof of age when purchasing age-restricted products. With fake IDs from China easily attainable for minors, this encryption-based technology is welcome news both for parents and for retailers who find themselves on the front lines everyday when it comes to protecting minors.

The American Modcast with Joe Kefauver is sponsored by Americans for a Modern Economy. We ensure policies reflect the 21st-century technologies reshaping our businesses and communities. Our episodes focus on the emerging issues of tomorrow rather than just today’s news.

We explore the changing workforce, technological impacts, and evolving commerce trends. These shifts will inevitably alter both consumer behavior and voter attitudes. Expect meaty topics, expert guests, and a touch of cynical humor along the way.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome everyone to the American Podcast brought to you by Americans for a Modern Economy. We're an organization committed to ensuring the state, local, and federal policies reflect changing technologies that are reshaping the way consumers, businesses, and communities operate in the 21st century. I'm Joe Kefauver, Senior Advisor to Americans for a Modern Economy and a contributing editor of Think American News. On today's edition of the podcast, we're going to interview Stephanie Sikorsky, the CEO of TrueAge, which is a new free privacy-first digital age verification tool that allows consumers to securely show proof of age when purchasing age-restricted products. With fake IDs from China and other places easily attainable for miners, this encryption-based technology is welcome news for both parents and for retailers who find themselves on the front lines every day when it comes to protecting miners. Let's get to that interview.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Yes, sir. Everybody in Washington gets all wee wee done. I want to make money.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

So as I said at the outset, uh this podcast spends a lot of time talking about the collusion, the interfacing of technology advancement in the marketplace, consumer-facing brands, consumer-facing products, and we have seen, obviously, in the last five to ten years, just an explosion in the artificial intelligence space, social media space, and how policymakers manage all that continues to be a very difficult proposition. We talk about privacy, the data privacy, the list goes on. One area that's become particularly interesting where technology is really becoming a key, key benefit, is in that age of the space of age verification. We talk about age verification a lot with regard to online content and social media. Another developing technology is how do we leverage new technologies with regard to age verification for consumer products, maybe alcohol, maybe tobacco, maybe other products. So there's a great company out there. Three, two, one. So I wanted to bring on the podcast Stephanie Sikorsky. She is the CEO of one of the most innovative age verification platforms that we have in the marketplace right now. It's called TrueAge. And TrueAge is a compendium of organizations and companies that have come together to see what we can do. What are the very best practices and technologies that we can level leverage in the age verification space? So, Stephanie, welcome to the American Modcast. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Thank you so much. Excited to spend the next little bit with you here.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

All right. Well, so Stephanie, tell me kind of let's let's start from the beginning. In the beginning. We have age verification uh processes in place right now. We have check boxes and age verifications on social media. We have real ID at the store at retail level and so forth. Tell me about TrueAge and why was this platform developed? How did it come about? What was the environment that we said, hey, here's an opportunity to go to the next level? Can you walk us through that?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

This is a great place that I like to start. And it really began about six years ago with NAX, which is National Association of Convenience Stores. We represent convenience and fuel retailers around the globe. And at that time, we saw a few things happening. Youth vaping rates were rising. Uh, we had FTA scrutiny that was intensifying. And quite honestly, the social license for convenience retailers to sell age-restricted products was at risk. And you could say, okay, there's a lot of things in the headlines for that. But when I tell you that convenience stores sell roughly 32% of all age-restricted products in the US, about 40% of every single in-store transaction includes one. And then when I also tell you that we see about 54 million age-restricted transactions a day, that's about 20 billion a year, we had a lot to make sure that we were doing properly. And for us, it was less of making sure that we could age verify, period, because you listed off a few things that certainly work in terms of birthday math or technology, but they're not privacy preserving. And given that we do more age-restricted checks than TSA, because you also talked about that, we wanted to really rewrite the headlines and make sure that convenience was viewed as the most responsible channel, just given the number of products and customers that we see every single day.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

So, so I know there's a bunch of different entities that have come together, uh, different industries and so forth. Can you talk about some of the participants that have come to the table to kind of create and support this true age effort?

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Yeah, and you're exactly right. It is a group that has come together in terms of doing this. We were developed not only by NAX, but it was in partnership with Connexus, which is one of the third-party standard setting bodies. Uh, we also like to say that we were developed for the industry, by the industry. And by that I mean our board of directors includes leading retailers like Casey's and Chevron Extra Mile, Circle K, Sheets, Yesway. Um, and we also balance that with some of the major age-restrictive manufacturers to make sure that we're developing a product and a solution that is fit for our industry, works at retail, helps to keep the community safe or on both sides of the counter, as I like to say, but it also expands beyond just convenience. So while we're starting here, uh we want to make sure that it can be used in other places. You and I are consumers, right? There's nothing worse than having an app or a solution that you can only use in a few areas. So we partnered with other groups like State's California Department of Motor Vehicles. We were selected as their digital age verification platform and began about two years ago doing a test with them for mobile driver's license integration. So those are just some of the examples of not only showing what age verification can look like today with your regular license, but also what we know is quickly, quickly coming with digital IDs and mobile wallets.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Digital IDs and mobile, I mean, that's so far over my pay grade. Stephanie, can you can you kind of explain in as basic terms as you as you can how the technology works, both from kind of the point of sale and the the back office system? Can you just give a brief overview of the premise of the technology?

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Yeah, if I had to summarize it, I mean, simply put, it's better, faster age verification. Um, and it as simply as that stated, that's really what it feels like from both the customer and the retailer experience. It was intended to keep those lines moving without the fines associated. So for you and I, it means walking into a retail environment. We don't have to change our behavior as consumers. When you get to the checkout, an age-restricted item is scanned. Your point of sale system will prompt the cashier to check for age verification. Um, if you're using your regular driver's license, it's simply a scan of the back of that ID. If you're using a digital ID, such as a mobile driver's license, you can also present it through your wallet or that approved credential. And the real secret is really how securely we verify age. And it's not about taking your height and your weight and the 33 plus pieces of information that are encrypted in that barcode on the back or in the QR code of the mobile. It's really about making sure a few simple things. Is the person of legal age to make that legal age restricted purchase? Is the ID valid, meaning it's not expired? Is the ID real, meaning it's not fake? And then the other key piece that we wanted to make sure was included, and this is uh a big check mark in terms of helping with social selling and curbing that and ultimately youth access prevention is about making sure that that person is open to buy. And what I mean by that is there's certain restrictions, whether it's um at the FDA level for um federal, or if it is at the retailer environment, you may only be able to purchase a limited quantity within a period of time. And so what our technology does is while it doesn't recognize that it's you the person, you're merely an encrypted token, it does recognize that um it's throwing strikes basically against to say, okay, you or I purchased X number in the period of time, and the next time that you go to purchase that one extra, uh, it won't allow the purchase to go through. And as I mentioned for us, it it was going beyond just the birthday math and making it easier to perform the sale and making sure that someone was of age to making sure that as sophisticated as the technology can be, that we're also sophisticated in how responsible we are as the technologies continue to evolve.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Stephanie, you you mentioned uh partnership with California, Department of Motor Vehicles. Obviously, we're in conversations with other states. Uh Texas comes to mind, a couple of other states. What what what type of partnerships are you are you looking for from states as we leverage each other's databases to ensure that you know the right people are buying the right products, right? And whether it's age of quantity sensitive products, maybe it's pseudo-infeder and you know, there's all kinds of ramifications of this technology. What are the partnerships that you're looking for from states? What would you like, what's a what's an ideal partnership look like with a state?

SPEAKER_00 10:48

I think ideal partnership is a collaborative one, right? We built ourselves as a nonprofit for that reason. We're entirely mission-driven. So this is not a data play. It's not a customer play. Um, for me, this is one of the few jobs that I've held where I come into work every single day trying to work myself out of a job. Uh, I wish that there was an opportunity where we could say that, you know, all youth is protective. We don't have these issues with compliance. And so, you know, we can check this one off the list because uh goodness knows there's enough on the list. But we're really interested in collaborating with policymakers who are interested in modernizing compliance, those that are interested in helping to protect youth access and keep our communities safe. Um, and those that are also interested, uh we know that each of us, and including the the business community, there's enough fees already. So we didn't want to unintentionally create something that was a fee-based main mandate. And by that I mean having an imposed age verification swipe fee for every single time that you've got an age-restricted purchase. Um, and that really is something that not only would burden the retailers, but it also burdens consumers. And so for us, it was about creating something that was simple, easy to use, and responsible at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Stephanie, any, you know, anytime you're you're, you know, what you we're basically doing is sharing data, like you were trying to work with the states to make sure a given person is, you know, okay to buy a given product and so forth. What are some of the obstacles that we've had so far that that kind of raise that we got to get get past? What are some of the the stumbling blocks that are in the way of just wholesale adoption of this new technology?

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah, I mean, this is a whole other podcast, I feel like could have written a book over the last few years and trying to get here. So, as with any industry-wide technology shift, there's absolutely challenges. And some of those were technology challenges, some of them are change management challenges. Um, for us, given the space, we are an industry that is highly fragmented. Um, we have 152,000 convenience stores in our channel, and so integration timelines with the various point of sale system providers, um, when retailers could adopt certain software, um, it really looked like a battleground where we were trying to figure out who was ready and when. Um, but we also knew that going direct into a point of sale system ultimately was going to be the smoothest way for folks to have the technology long-term. It means that if I'm a retailer and I decide to switch to a different point of sale provider, I don't have to go through that effort every single time. I don't have to pay additional fees for hardware or software reporting. So that was part of the equal challenge and the relief for them. The second piece, and this is really where we are right now, is about digital ID adoption. And as we started exploring beyond what it looks like for just even scanning a regular driver's license today, the adoption varies by state. Um, the language and the codes vary by state. And so as we think about this whole ecosystem of what's coming and making sure that we're ready, we recognize real quick that the readiness differed depending on where you went. And the third piece I would say is there's always going to be hesitation. Some folks are early adopters, sign me up, I'll test it, can't wait. And then there's other folks that anytime you're introducing something new at checkout, retailers want to make sure that how is that going to be for the customer experience, which is first and foremost. And then we're in the business of convenience, which really means it's about it's about protecting speed. And so we needed to make sure that as we develop the technology, that it was checking both of those boxes, customer experience and speed.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

So, Stephanie, if I'm a policymaker, if I'm a an elected official at the state, federal level, I'm from Florida, I'm from Maryland, I'm from Iowa. Like what's in this is an area I care about. Like, what's the best way to get in the game? Like, how do I how do I help? How do you put me in, coach?

SPEAKER_00 15:38

So that's a a great question in terms of how folks get involved. I would say that for state lawmakers, it's really about making sure that we've got the current technology and next generation of technology adopted. And it's coming really quick. So for lawmakers, it's primarily three different ways that they can get involved. One, they can help us with encouraging open standards. So that simply means that digital credentials, like we're talking about today, whether it's integrated with mobile IDs, digital wallets, that they can seamlessly integrate into retail environments regardless of which channel we're talking about. The other thing is to help us to make sure that we're avoiding fee-based mandates. So those per transaction charges and the ones that unintentionally can burden small businesses. And then a big piece of what we see in the headlines right now is privacy, right? So supporting a privacy-first model, which means that you can verify age without transmitting that unnecessary personal data is super important. And when we think about ways to get involved beyond that, in whether it's having us come speak at state levels, whether it's uh coordinating with us to make sure that information is given out to smaller businesses, to where we can help onboard and support. It's free, as we mentioned, for convenience retailers. And uh in our in our attempt to do this, it was about making access to the reporting, what's happening with fake ID declines, what's happening with age verification, um, how many checks are going through. So it really empowers at the retailer level for them to take control of not only the business, um, not only the youth access prevention, but really training opportunities for their team too, so where they're able to see that.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

What I like about the true age, not just this product, but this space in general, is you know, there was no glaring problem. We, you know, that we do a pretty good job in this country of age verification. I know it's getting harder on this kind of a social media TikTok kind of world. But, you know, in in terms of consumers and buying products, we've always, you know, had a fairly, I I would say, you know, more than a fairly a very good system that that that you know doesn't fail very often, and yet there wasn't there isn't a problem. There isn't a crisis we're trying to address, and yet these players came to the table and said, hey, we can do even better. Hey, the new technology is allowing us to even do better and make sure uh that that there's faith in our age verification system. So hat tip to you guys for you know, no one asked you to do this. There's no there was no attorney general saying you had better do better. There was no settle, you know what I mean? Like you guys just you guys just did it because it was there. And um, so hat tip to you all at TrueAge for um kind of you know proactively.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

No, thank you for that. I mean, it feels good to do good. It doesn't mean that it's always the easiest path to do that, but um, as I said, it was an opportunity for us to either continue to play defense as as one channel and um and run the risk of of not having opportunities in the future because there's a whole host of new age-restricted products and solutions that are coming down the pike. And instead of being one of a few that could be in the headlines for the wrong reason, we really took it upon ourselves as an industry and certainly as a company here to say, well, what if we had the opportunity to lean into this and do the responsible thing and drive this forward and drive it in a way that's authentic, that it's not about picking a winner and loser from a certain channel or a certain retail member or a certain part of the country and quite honestly a certain part of the globe. And that's really what we built for ourselves was a global standard for digital age verification that can be used not only across retail, but um as you think about what it means to attend a concert or a festival or a sporting event, what it means for a 21 plus event access, um, what it means for delivery, digital couponing, you touched on social media. So the growing number of things that are becoming increasingly digital, and the more sophisticated that things like fake IDs and other technologies, even outside of those that are intended to be harmful, but we wanted to have a solution that would be compatible across all of these things and the keyword that I like to use a mouthful, but interoperable. And that means that we can be injected anywhere while still knowing that we're doing the right thing across these different platforms.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

That's fantastic. I, you know, sitting there just thinking that you know, I'm such a policy nerd. Nothing, nothing excites me like a public policy, uh, public private partnership. Uh and so I love it when when industry steps up and and says, hey, we got a solution. Let's let's let's work together. So, Stephanie, uh CEO, chief executive officer, TrueH, thank you for what you're doing. Uh, keep on keeping on, and thanks for coming on the podcast and letting us know what's new in this space. Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

No, appreciate the opportunity to drive that awareness. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

All right, folks, it's time to take five, right? Highlight five emerging news stories of note from around the country and sometimes even the world that should be on radar screens for policymakers and opinion leaders. Number one, Walmart digital shelf labels are coming to every store shelf in the U.S. by the end of 2026. That's the CNBC talking about how the nation's largest retailer says the digital price tags help associates do their jobs better and stressed the prices on items will be exactly. The same for every consumer in every store. Folks that don't like Walmart, namely grocery unions, are trying to confuse two issues: one around digital shelf labels and one around surveillance pricing. They are two very separate issues. Walmart has no interest in surveillance pricing, as do most retailers do not. That's a terrible sticky wicket, but they do have a tremendous interest in leveraging technologies. We have digital gas station meters, and no one's accusing the gas companies of doing surveillance pricing. It's just embracing technology and taking costs out of the system and putting efficiency in the system. Digital shelf labeling, surveillance prices, two conven two completely different uh issues. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Issue two, Yahoo! Seattle's minimum wage laws backfired on Uber and Lyft. Now the union wants to limit drivers. Recently, the city of Seattle put a minute a minimum wage level for Uber and Lyft and other delivery drivers. And what's happened? It's kind of backfired. All these drivers flooded the zone because of this new high wage. Now individual drivers are getting hardly any trips. The result has been a mess. And so the unions are trying to wait for it, limit drivers into the system. They're trying to limit the amount of people. At the same time, they're trying to organize the drivers, limit the drivers. Again, for every action, there's an opposite and equal reaction. Seattle tried to monkey around with mandated wages in the private marketplace. And believe it or not, it has backfired. And then unions want a do over. No surprise there.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

I am shocked. Shocked.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Well, not that shocked. So on that note, we will sign off. And until next time, again, Joe Keefhover, American for Modern Economy. Stay safe, stay informed. We'll talk to you soon.