I have to point out that at my store (despite the stupid e-mail thing) our procedure of asking for your last name and zip code did help the customer. We kept all information confidential, and trust me, we weren’t coming the local phonebook to figure out addresses and phone numbers from these two data.
What it did allow us to do is to look up prior purchases and give full refunds, even years (yes, I have done returns for full price for items bought years before) later. However, if someone didn’t want to give this info, it was no skin off my nose - I just had to enter null information to get past that screen on the register.
However, it did crack me up when the occasional person would flip out at the name/zip code request, make a big stink about privacy and accuse us of wanting to use that information to find out all about them, send them junk mail, and steal their identity.
And then they’d pay with a check, with their name, address, phone number, driver’s license, and bank account number all neatly printed on it.
My problem is that there’s really not a good short response to use. I used to say “No, thanks”, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense because they’re not offering me anything. I can’t just say “No” because it sounds rude. So I’ve settled on “No, it’s ok”. I don’t feel I need to explain my reasons, so I don’t go with something long like “I’d rather not give it out”, but I still want to be polite.
I can’t believe I put this much thought into such simple things…
If I’m in a pleasant mood I’ll just smile and say “That’s a state secret!”
If I’m in a ho-hum mood, I give the white-bread “no thanks”
Still bothers me that the store is calmly filling its database from those innocent folks who answer the innocuous question, for later spamming, while at the same time exposing their employees to the ire of many customers who get angry in these situations.
Where does knowing your customer’s zipcodes (or other very general info) become exploitative and evil? Outside of all your paranoid fantasies, I mean. How are they going to negatively impact your life in any way by use of zipcode information? I’m listening. I’m not quite sure what I’ll hear, but I’ll listen.
You don’t want to give enough personal information to be contacted, that’s perfectly fine, and I would never presume to expect you to. You think that giving your zipcode is tantamount to supporting an evil marketing machine, you’re kind of going off the deep end.
That ain’t the half of it. When offered a free sample, I stage an immediate sitdown protest and begin singing “Kumbaya.” Wanna come grocery shopping with me this Saturday?
Did it by chance start with “J” and end with “o-Ann” ? When I worked there we got a pathetic percentage of our goal on these. Thing was, we’re in a relatively low population area and everyone who was interested had already signed up.
Cheesesteak, I am not sure that you are doing it deliberately, but you are being plain insulting. My position on this matter is well thought out, and consistent with values that I hold and you presume to reduce it to “paranoid fantasies” and accusing me of going off the deep end. This does nothing but introduce rudeness into the discussion. Never the less, you have asked for clarification and I will attempt to provide it.
Take the most benign examples of a Big Box store just asking for my ZIP code. As I understand your position (and please correct me if I am wrong), the reason that they would have behind gathering this information is so that they can know who is buying what, where. Right? This in turn lets them decide where to open new Big Box stores, and what to stock them with? Do I have this right so far?
In my case, I have as a value not having Big Box stores in my neighborhood (though truth be told, there are quite a few already). I am happy to drive a bit out of my way to purchase the goods and services that I desire. With this in mind, giving marketers information that would lead to Big Box stores opening near me is in direct conflict with something that I have decided is important.
And it doesn’t end there. There are those of us that believe that the entire phenomenon of marketing is, in and of itself, bad. That it is an industry based on making people see things wrong with them that are not, parting people with money that they do not have, making them want things that they do not need and generally exploiting people. Folks that share this belief see any information that you give to help marketers as feeding the beast. We hold as a value not making their lives easier and, indeed, sabotaging them when we can.
You have made it quite clear that you do not share this perspective, and that is fine. I would ask that, when confronted with posts that are obviously lucid and come from a perspective into which considerable thought has been given that you show a bit more simple good manners than to dismissively decide that they are delusional paranoid fantasies. I am assuming that simple respect for a view point other than your own is too much to ask.
This is - or rather was - pretty much correct. I say “was”, because sometime in June or July of 2002, IIRC, RadioShack stopped their policky of asking for names and addresses, except for certain transactions, such as satellite dish and wireless phone sales, repairs and payments with personal check, where such information was required. Before that, it wasn’t quite the case that commissions were based on collections of names and addresses, but it was a part of your performance record. Generally, they expected sales associates to collect N&A at least 80% of the time. If your N&A percentage got too low, they’d be told keeping their job depended on getting N&A up and keeping it up. Especially in the last couple years before the new N&A policy, associates were definitely made to feel that collecting N&A information was a job requirement, or they’d be terminated. I don’t know if anyone was ever actually let go for that reason, but it wouldn’t surprised me.
Whenever my wife and I drive by the Container Store, my face goes slack with existential awe…may wife tells me I look stupid with the drool, and we go on our merry way.
Containers, in a store that in itself a Containe…drools and slacks jaw…
Another former Radio Shack employee here. You want to know what the incentive was to ask for addresses? Keeping our jobs. No cashier wants to ask you. They know a good percentage of people are going to have a fit instead of simply saying no.
We were told the info was used to direct marketing campaigns to various parts of the city. My address was in there as a customer. I received nothing from RS.
And I completely agree with your POV, cheesesteak.
That’s a fair cop. I see too many people (privacy advocates especially) who act like corporations and their officers are the devil incarnate, trying to watch your every move and turned some of that frustration around to you. Not that I’ll necessarily agree with your points…
You had my position on the benign Big Box store right.
NIMBYism, while a real concern of people isn’t exactly the most honorable of motives, even if we all feel it. I know I don’t want a garbage transfer plant in my neighborhood (a real possibility, apparently) but I don’t really feel good about wanting someone else to deal with the smell.
Bit of a broad brush you’re using there. While some marketing campaigns and strategies are as low as a worm’s belly, there are many that are positive and informative. Actually, I wonder how we would ever find out about new products or services if nobody selling them could spend money to advertise them. I would think that we could discriminate between efforts that are win-win and efforts that are not.
QED, they must have been a bit more laid back in my time, early '90s. We were more concerned about keeping customers happy than getting name and address, I don’t recall being judged on my N&A rate either…
That’s exactly why I like it. I think I got that from this forum, and I thought, “What a great response.” No, it doesn’t make sense at all, which is the beauty of it. They’re trying to put you in a position where you feel defensive and obligated to give them the information they are requesting. But if you say “No thanks”, you turn the tables on them, pretending as though they are offering you something that you aren’t interested in. It stops them dead in their tracks and doesn’t allow them to pursue the matter further. If you play their game, and say something like, “I’d rather not give that out”, they can come back with “Oh, but we aren’t going to use it for blah, blah…”, putting you in the ridiculous position of having to defend yourself against THEIR stupid business practices. But “No thanks” has a finality to it, and settles the matter without having to resort to passive-aggressive tricks like giving out a fake number. It’s the fastest, easiest thing to say, and if they still pursue it, you can just repeat it ad infinitum, and you’re not really being rude.
I like “No, it’s ok”, too, although I don’t see as how that makes any more sense than “No thanks.”
If I were paying cash, and a store refused to sell me an item without my phone number and/or address, I would immediately walk out.
Concerning NIMBYism, I will probably want to take at least a “in my case” exception to that (not that I went into the issue in great detail in the first place). First, I am one of those folks that does what he can to shop at the neighborhood stores vs. the chains of Big Box stores. In addition, and I admit that this is a subtle point, I am not taking the position that I want more Big Box stores to exist, just not near me. Rather, I am saying that we have a sufficiency of Big Box stores and, when I absolutely can not avoid patronizing one for something that I need, I would rather go a little out of my way than sacrifice the quality of life that I enjoy by encouraging more to be built. Subtle but, IMHO, important.
100% sincere question here: Can you give me an example of a Marketing campaign (outside of the PSAs to wear condoms or quit smoking and the like) that has been positive and informative? I am sure that some of the issue is that I am viewing marketing through my opinionated filter, but I have thought about this for a bit and can’t come up with one.
I guess that my general position is that if there is a product or service that I need that it is simplicity itself for me to find it. Especially with the information explosion that the Web has brought about. I am very suspicious of campaigns that make me stop and say “gee, I never knew that I needed that” as in all probability I did not, and am simply being manipulated into parting with my hard-earned cash.
FWIW, I am not one of those folks that think that all corporations are somehow evil by definition. Rather, I simply have no illusions that the only motive that they have is to make money and that they care not one whit for me.
Un-frickin’-believable. Twice I posted, only to get a browser error each time.
I’ll try to recover:
:smack: I meant ten-digit number. With the two initial groups or three, I saw it as similar to that puzzle where you try to find the 'F’s out of the sentence, I guess.
I paid with cash (a detail I neglected to mention), and I was still asked. I would expect this, perhaps, if a credit card or check was used.
I should also note that I reserve my ire from the poor schlubs who work there. To hold them entirely blameless, however, needs more justification, I feel, since nonetheless they act as representatives for Best Buy. And, what is wrong with the cashier asking of a customer thusly: “Would you liked to be added to our mailing list so that you may be notified of future offers?” It actually works with the customer as they profess to do, unlike asking them with—dare I say—“false authority”, which is certainly helping themselves and not necessarily the customer, who is often inadvertantly fooled into providing this information and opening themselves to possible scrutiny and hassling. Might any resultant calls from Best Buy-contracted telemarketers be counted as an ‘opt-in’ despite their target’s presence on any Do-Not-Call lists?
Positive and informative? I have a few personal examples, but won’t be back tonight to comment further…
Broadway Show advertising. You get snippets of the show, you learn about the shows existance, and don’t have to rely entirely on reviews. I’m not sure where you would find information about the show without marketing. I recently bought tickets to a Spamalot preview show, and would have NEVER gotten the chance to go this early in the run if it wasn’t for the marketing efforts of Playbill.com and Spamalot’s website. (Actually, without marketing I probably could have gotten much better seats, the wife knows some of the people working there, and the house would most likely be empty. You can’t announce that tickets are on sale without announcing that tickets are on sale, can you?)
Coupons. I recently received in one of those Val-Pak things a coupon for parking in my neighborhood. The garage was close enough for me to use, and had a very competitive price. Without this campaign, it would have been much more difficult to find an affordable garage.
Local advertising. My father owns a small auto body repair business. He advertises in the Yellow Pages, so that potential customers who might not drive by often can look him up. He gets a benefit, and I presume his customers do as well.
The collection of personal information by companies annoys me as well, but for a different reason. When I go into a store, it’s for a specific reason: I give you money, you give me item(s). Now, my personal information obviously holds some value for them, else they wouldn’t be asking for it. If they want something of value from me, that’s suddenly a new transaction, which should be totally separate from the previous one. So, fine. If you want my personal information, make me an offer. At the very least, give me some sort of justification or explanation as to why it would be in my favor to give it to you. The example given above about giving refunds years down the road is a persuasive argument to me, and I would consider it in that case. Of course, then I have to decide whether to trust that explanation, but that’s another topic altogether.
This is the same reason I drive past two stores that require those stupid loyalty cards to shop at one that doesn’t.
