Do Signatures Still Matter?
And other questions I’ll have to see some I.D. to answer
I don’t know about you, but I’m still signing stuff. I do it seldom enough now to feel a shock when it happens, and, if I’m honest, irritation.
Then comes regret, nostalgia, fear, and an obscure self loathing. (I think I feel that all the time, but I might as well throw it in. )
What could cause this cascade of emotions? Nothing but the persistence of custom and dying tradition in the face of relentless forgetting. That’s what signatures are now: a reminder of everything we are leaving behind, for better and for worse.
When Signatures Once Ruled
As Steve Moretti recounts in his glorious meditation on the signature, we’ve been sharing some version of a stamp, chop, or mark on documents for as long as we had alphabets. The modern thing we call a signature arose with the perfection of written script with lower and uppercase letters, called “italic” by the early Renaissance Europeans (because guess who perfected it?) Eventually, laws were passed to require signatures on all important documents. And thus was born the tedious paper ritual for homebuyers and the ludicrous performance of running your index finger across a little pad at the pharmacy.
Yeah. About that.
What We Have Lost
I love handwriting. I love the feel of it when I do it, I love the look of it when others do. I have learned through loss that the two most poignant reminders of a loved one are their voice and their handwriting. The latter is easier to preserve. The left-behind grocery lists, hastily scrawled morning notes, and official documents can last centuries, no special app needed. Their jottings matter to me, ciphers showing what they liked to eat and where their errands took them. Their official signatures bring me a glimpse of who they were in their fancy clothes.
As for me, I have had to sign so many documents now in my day that it should be old hat, but it often isn’t. Now there’s never a daily need for my signature at stores or banks (press a few buttons on Black Friday, anyone?). The signatures that still accompany the weightiest moments of our lives — big purchases, lifetime milestones like weddings and divorces and transfers of property and deaths — send a chill down my spine, while the pesky hangers-on — dumb HR requirements, inexplicable notary visits to the UPS store — yank my chain and make me wonder why we are still doing it this way.
Why indeed. Change is hard, change that makes sense still harder. Did signatures ever make real sense, did they work? And what exactly does it say that a technology developed to prove our individuality is now bypassed for most transactions? What’s taking its place and is it any better?
What We Do Now
The traditional handwritten signature, in ink, is also known by the slightly ooey nickname of “wet signature.” This is the one that’s become increasingly uncommon, although it persists, especially for legal and financial documents that must be notarized or bear a “signature medallion.”
By contrast, there are three kinds of electronic approaches: the electronic signature, digital signature, and the “clickwrap.”
The electronic signature is a catchall category for any kind of signature using electronics. The messy scrawl you leave on the pad at the grocery store is a classic example.
A digital signature is more secure, translating a unique identifier (a “hash”) created by a mathematical algorithm when the signer “signs” the document electronically. The identifier makes it possible to trace a document to its origin, making the signature and document unique.
The most common signature used online is called the “clickwrap.” You might simply type your legal name and then press a button to agree to a statement that says you are who you are.
Despite your doubts, go ahead and click “I Agree.” It’s not an existential query.
News You Can Use
Did you know that you do not have to sign your actual name to legal documents? All your signature has to show is your unique identity and intent as an individual. It can be initials, a uniquely discernible scribble, or the traditional X for people who don’t read or write. Some documents allow someone to sign on your behalf if signing presents a hardship.
You could also literally cartoon your way through your signature, but you’ll have to commit.
Most of us have missed the boat on this opportunity to reinvent our mark. But there’s still time, especially at the drugstore, where unnervingly it’s hard to know who’s paying attention.
The Traumatized Budget offers perspectives on finance and frugality. I am not a qualified or licensed financial advisor, just a flippant human with opinions.
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Keep going — and don’t lose your nerve!
