Watching criminal interrogations, I always think if I ever get caught wrongfully, my data can be my alibi. Is this incorrect?
Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
81–90 of 243 posts
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Entertainingly I -used- to do this at Walgreens, except now they started asking to verify the zip code associated with the account. :-)
90210 of course. Although if you're customizing the area code based on current location, maybe do the same with the zip code.
You laugh about this, but - a story from my younger years that people call bullshit on all the time:
I worked for a (now out of business) retailer. They collected zip codes from folks who didn't have their version of a loyalty card. They used this data to inform automatic shipments of seasonal and/or regional merchandise. They were usually pretty good at hitting just in time sales for annual festivals, fairs, those sorts of things.
One year, we received surf boards, shorts, and skin-care products for sun exposure in January. In Iowa. In January. It turned out that our "privacy minded" (read: militia lite) area had stuffed that system so full of 90210 zip code that the automatic routing and warehouse system was sending us the merchandise for southern California.
It was amazing. And so, so stupid. (they're out of business for many reasons, executive level stupidity being the leading one)
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#83I’ve just always assumed that big stores were collecting and selling every iota of data they could. I recall reading about retailers using license plate scanning in their parking lots in the early aughts.
Anywhere that collects your phone number in exchange for coupons at the checkout (cough cough Old Navy) or your email to send you a digital receipt (looking at you Home Depot) is probably sharing or selling your data.
Not probably. They're certainly selling your data.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
The clerks get penalized if they dont try to sign you up. They also have no insight or say in the use of your data. You might as well rant at a cloud about it.
Yes. Don't hassle the poor clerks. They aren't in charge of any of this stuff and certainly don't have the power to change it. Just say "no" and move on.
Well that’s how nothing ever changes. Personally, I will hassle the clerk until he seriously considers working somewhere else. That’s how we get change!
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#85Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#86I had no shame giving them a false name, address, and phone number for mine. I'm also aware that there are clubs that pool and swap their discount card fobs to muddy the data.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#87Nothing really is done with this data, ultimately. It gets fed to 'analysts' who make models, and if those models don't agree with the decisions the executives are already making, it just gets ignored.
The data combined with other data in larger databases, though, and provided to all sorts of other businesses.
Honestly, if my data stayed with the store, just between them and me, I wouldn't be nearly as concerned. The problem is less the data collection and more the databases.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#88Always use Jenny's number 867-5309. They still link your transactions by your credit card info though.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#89Here's a trick if you don't have a card/account at a grocery store:
Just put in the number of (area code) 867-5309
The number will be registered.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#90At my local store, the checkout clerks keep pushing me to get a loyalty card. I tried to engage once and start a conversation about privacy, but ended up walking away from the conversation feeling a little like a conspiracy theorist. But thanks to working in tech, I know this data is being tracked, bought, and sold behind the cute "loyalty" branding. I wish I knew of a good way to convince ordinary people to value th…
If the loyalty account is based on a phone number, try entering your local area code plus 867-5309. I've found this works at every major supermarket and gas station. Sometimes you get slight discounts because other people also enter this number and the account accrues points. The other option is to sign up using a fake persona and a burner email. Typically rewards programs don't audit information or ever ask you to u…
Unless you only pay with cash, that fake profile gets tied to your real credit card, so I'm not seeing what that gets you.