Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
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Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#2I’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.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#3And that's why I pay cash and use Jenny's Number with the local area code for the store discount program.
I know Target also tracks your cellphone through the store too, I haven't bothered putting in airplane mode when I shop, so hopefully they aren't correlating that with the purchases.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#4Nothing 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.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#5And that's why I pay cash and use Jenny's Number with the local area code for the store discount program. I know Target also tracks your cellphone through the store too, I haven't bothered putting in airplane mode when I shop, so hopefully they aren't correlating that with the purchases.
Where can we buy this data?
Let’s say someone shops for baby clothes locally, and my family runs a day care center in that same location. How can we actually market to them? Does the store use their credit card purchases and tie them to a way to actually contact this person, like an email?
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#6And that's why I pay cash and use Jenny's Number with the local area code for the store discount program. I know Target also tracks your cellphone through the store too, I haven't bothered putting in airplane mode when I shop, so hopefully they aren't correlating that with the purchases.
You should be alright if Bluetooth and WiFi are off. Unless you think they're spoofing a cell tower.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#7And that's why I pay cash and use Jenny's Number with the local area code for the store discount program. I know Target also tracks your cellphone through the store too, I haven't bothered putting in airplane mode when I shop, so hopefully they aren't correlating that with the purchases.
This is fine, but it's not really about tracking you, it's about tracking the habits of shoppers in aggregate, of which you are a participant. (Yes, having your real address to mail flyers is a bonus but not the end goal.)
The only viable solution that comes to mind is to shop at places that don't perform this sort of tracking/loyalty card/etc. and continue to pay in cash. The only stores around me that fit this bill are convenience stores and a chain ran by an Amish conglomerate.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#8Honestly… if we could figure out how to separate agriculture and groceries from the rest of the economy, we’d be a happier species. It’s so fucked up that the ability to feed yourself is tied to a dick measuring contest between a handful of ultra wealthy.
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#9A genuine question: why does this matter for customers? Is there any foreseeable bad outcome for customers?
Re: Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
#10And that's why I pay cash and use Jenny's Number with the local area code for the store discount program. I know Target also tracks your cellphone through the store too, I haven't bothered putting in airplane mode when I shop, so hopefully they aren't correlating that with the purchases.
I googled "Jenny's Number" thinking it was a SaaS platform