I've kept mine in a tight card slot in a leather wallet for longer than some of these commentators have been alive and it honestly still looks great.

Get married and change your last name! You'll get a brand new one. Works for men too, trust me!

SSA will give you a free replacement card. I think TRUMP wanted to charge money for it, but not sure if that plan went through.

I never knew you couldn’t laminate them? Why would they do something like that?

There was a fad a long while ago where people would get their number stamped onto a metal card. Only ever got to see one of them after years working at a casino where we collected SSNs for jackpot payouts.

like, you can get a new one though to be fair, I just got a brand new one, granted it was after legally changing my name but I'm certain you can just have one reprinted without a name change, I don't even think it costs anything.

I also don't understand carrying it around, my partner does, but I just have my number memorized, and the card itself is kept safe, for the few times in my life I will need the actual physical card.