It’s similar to a UPC scanner at a grocery store, only this machine won’t tell you the price of your groceries.

It will tell you and the bouncer standing nearby if you are an underage student who has altered your date of birth to gain admittance to Welch Ave. Station, 207 Welch Ave.

The $300 scanner, a Viage Verifier, by Cardcom Technologies, is a new addition to Welch Ave. Station this semester. It arrived during the first week of classes and was put into action that weekend.

“The scanner reads your birthdate and whether or not the ID is expired,” said Mike Adams, manager of Welch Ave. Station. “Some people think it may read other information off the ID, but it doesn’t.”

Welch Ave. Station is the first establishment in Ames to receive the scanner.

Sgt. Randy Kessel, public information officer for the Ames Police Department, said the scanner is an after-market machine made specifically for bar owners that is not put out by the state.

“It’s a private manufacturer that makes [the scanner],” Kessel said. “It will be a useful tool to check validity and a good tool at catching fraudulent IDs.”

Adams said the machine is great at catching fraudulent driver’s licenses.

“If they try to make it look like they’re 21, but they’re only 20, it will say they are 20, and you know that something has been tampered with on the ID,” he said. “Some people try to completely fabricate the ID, and then it won’t be able to read anything.”

Kessel said the bar owners cannot rely solely on the scanner.

“You’re always going to have to have someone there to verify information and the photograph,” he said. “Just because you have a machine telling you that you have an actual ID, it could still belong to someone else.”

Adams said he does not rely solely on the machine. If the ID goes through the machine without reading anything, he said it is checked more closely by the doorman for authenticity.

“If it doesn’t pass the test of the machine, you scrutinize the ID a little further,” he said. “You don’t rely completely on the machine; you have to make sure it is the same person.”

Adams said he has not seen anyone try to pass a fake ID since the machine arrived.

“I don’t think they want to take a chance,” he said. “We ran some fakes that we had, and it detected those.”

Adams said he would encourage other bar owners to purchase the scanner because it makes it easier for the doorman.

“It makes it a lot easier with [the scanner] if they really want to cut down on minors coming into the bar,” he said.

Ryan Spooner, manager of The Keg Shop, 218 Welch Ave., said he plans to purchase an ID scanner in the near future.

“It’s more of a clarification; it makes it definite,” he said. “I think it would deter a lot of underage [students] from coming in here in the first place.”

And although many businesses seem ready to jump aboard the Cardcom bandwagon, not all are so enthusiastic.

Tim Wilcoxson, assistant manager at People’s Bar and Grill, 2428 Lincoln Way, said his establishment is not planning to purchase the scanner any time in the near future.

“If it would work on all 50 states’ licenses, we’d have one already,” he said. “Otherwise, we probably won’t get one.”