Kroger apologizes after veteran’s Puerto Rican driver’s license denied...

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Kroger issued an apology after a casher at a Georgia location denied a veteran’s ID when he tried to use his Puerto Rican driver’s license.

“I bought basically $160 worth of groceries, just regular stuff. Between the items though, there was one bottle of wine and one beer,” Ricardo Florit told WJCL News 22 in Savannah.


The alcohol purchase is why a cashier at a Kroger in Savannah asked Florit to show his ID. He pulled out his Puerto Rico driver’s license.

“Here’s the thing, as soon as I whip it out, he seems to recognize it. ‘I can’t accept that, I need to see your passport,’” Florit said. “I said, ‘Listen, it’s a valid driver’s license legal in 50 states. And he says, ‘Oh, I know. We used to accept them, but we changed our policy.’”

Florit assured the cashier and manager that not only is he a U.S. citizen but he is also a veteran who served for 18 years.

The manager approved the sale after some back and forth, but Florit told WJCL that he felt frustrated. Kroger issued the following response to WJCL:

“While we’re pleased that our store teams were able to correct the situation, it did not meet our friendly customer experience expectation. Kroger allows the purchase of alcohol or other age-restricted items with a valid U.S. state-issued driver’s license, valid U.S. state-issued identity card, valid U.S. Passport, valid U.S. Visa, valid identification documents from Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories as well as an Admissions stamp with a foreign passport.

We apologize for this misunderstanding and are working to ensure all of our associates are aware of company policies related to the use of approved IDs from U.S. territories and other countries.”

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