I was walking by a Staples store which is near where I am based and saw a banner which was draped on the front of the building to the left of the logo of the store which announced that you can now sign up for TSA Pre✓ at this location as a matter of convenience instead of having to sign up for the trusted traveler program at an airport.
You Can Sign Up for TSA Pre✓ at Participating Staples Locations
This official press release from Staples from Thursday, April 19, 2018 announced a partnership with IDEMIA to bring its IdentoGO enrollment centers initially to 50 Staples stores in the greater metropolitan areas of Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle before scaling it out to additional locations nationwide.
This means that people who visit a participating Staples store may enroll in TSA Pre✓ via IdentoGO to allow “travelers to enjoy a fast and efficient screening experience” at greater than 200 airports throughout the United States.
Once you are in one of the greater than 450 TSA Pre✓ lanes, you will not need to remove your shoes, liquids, powdered items, snacks, belts, jackets, laptop computers and other electronics as you pass through the security checkpoint at the airport.
The cost of enrollment in the TSA Pre✓ trusted traveler program is $85.00 and is good for five years — meaning that the cost is $17.00 per year.
In addition to offering enrollment in TSA Pre✓ at participating Staples locations, IdentoGO centers also offer passport photography services and certified birth certificates.
IdentoGO by IDEMIA provides a wide range of identity-related services, with the secure capture and transmission of electronic fingerprints for employment, certification, licensing and other verification purposes as its primary service — in professional and convenient locations. IdentoGO is the exclusive provider of TSA Pre✓.
IDEMIA — which is a merger of Oberthur Technologies and Safran Identity & Security — calls itself the “the global leader in Augmented Identity for an increasingly digital world, with the ambition to empower citizens and consumers alike to interact, pay, connect, travel and vote in ways that are now possible in a connected environment.”
Staples is a provider of office supplies, products, services and solutions for business environments.
Summary
When I first saw that banner, I was initially surprised, as this was news to me — but then, I am not based in the aforementioned cities where enrollment of TSA Pre✓ was rolled out at participating Staples stores…
…so if you already knew about this, please consider it a reminder if you are interested but have not yet enrolled in TSA Pre✓.
As for me, I am still not interested in enrolling in TSA Pre✓. The reasons have been mentioned in past articles which I have written about TSA Pre✓, which include:
- Eliminating TSA Pre✓ Program Fee For Frequent Fliers Could Save Millions of Dollars: Study
- Random Searches in the TSA Pre✓ Line?
- Why You Should NOT Exchange 30,000 Hilton HHonors Points For TSA Pre✓
- Should the Fee For Joining the TSA Pre✓ Program Be Reduced? No. It Should Be Eliminated.
- A Proposal Regarding TSA Pre✓: Should There Be Four Types of Lanes?
- TSA Pre✓: A Brilliant Marketing Campaign?
All photographs ©2019 by Brian Cohen.
