I DON"T WANT another DAMNED card in order to "save money" at your store!

[Ferret_Herder]

@RTFirefly

Seems like you’re losing out on the carrying-stuff issue, having to carry a smartphone instead of a few thin pieces of plastic.

Like I’m not going to carry my phone anyway?

[Fear_Itself]

@Dewey_Finn

(BTW, I’ve linked to this previously, but here’s an article from the New York Times that describes how Target Stores used customer purchase data to identify which of its customers were pregnant, in some cases before the customer shared that info with anyone in her family.)

And to what nefarious purpose do they put that information? Send them diaper coupons?

[Dewey_Finn]

Actually, yes. The idea is to change the customer’s buying habits and get her to buy more stuff from Target.

@Dewey_Finn

The New York Times Magazine has a really interesting article this week on people’s buying habits and how retailers attempt to influence this. The article describes how most people habitually buy certain products at the same stores (e.g., milk and bread from regular visits to the supermarket, paper towels from a less frequent visit to Target or Walmart). Target of course wants people to buy more stuff at their stores, but these habits are hard to overcome. But they realize that when a woman is having a baby, her habits tend to change. But marketing to a new mother is too late, as she is bombarded by many companies, so they set about trying to determine which of their customers are early in their pregnancies. Surprisingly, they can tell with a good deal of certainty that a woman is pregnant based on innocuous sounding things she is purchasing (vitamin supplements, unscented soap and lotion, etc.). The article includes this story:

About a year after Pole created his pregnancy-prediction model, a man walked into a Target outside Minneapolis and demanded to see the manager. He was clutching coupons that had been sent to his daughter, and he was angry, according to an employee who participated in the conversation.

“My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”

The manager didn’t have any idea what the man was talking about. He looked at the mailer. Sure enough, it was addressed to the man’s daughter and contained advertisements for maternity clothing, nursery furniture and pictures of smiling infants. The manager apologized and then called a few days later to apologize again.

On the phone, though, the father was somewhat abashed. “I had a talk with my daughter,” he said. “It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August. I owe you an apology.”

Scary, but kind of awesome. And BTW, the article and the book on which it’s based goes more into detail on how one can influence one’s own habits.

[ladyfoxfyre]

I remember one story about a man who was suspected of arson, and was able to get a copy of his purchase record from a local store which showed him buying propane or lighter fluid or something similar. They apparently didn’t need a warrant, or the store just handed the records over to them easily. The police investigating the case ran with that until it was determined that he couldn’t have started the fire / it was electrical in origin. I can’t seem to find the article online at the moment, but I believe I read about it here.

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@Dewey_Finn

It’s true, but at the same time, the store learns stuff about you when it sees what you buy together, even if you pay cash, use a disguise and don’t have a rewards card.

But it can’t link your purchases over time, which is priceless data.

[Northern_Piper]

@hogarth

In the U.S., at any rate. I’m Canadian and whenever I visit the U.S. I get irritated by the stupid two-level pricing. In Canada, we have cards where you can earn bonus points of various kinds, but there’s no punitive pricing for not having one.

That’s how Safeway works. The ham I bought for Easter was regular $29, $14 with a Safeway client card.

[Princhester]

@Simplicio

That’s one thing they’re used for, but I have trouble believing that’s a big reason why such programs exist. There must be cheaper, less biased and more reliable ways of getting customer data then offering a constant stream of discounts on store items.

Nope. I read an article once about the first attempts at using loyalty cards to gather the data. IIRC it went like this: the CEO of the relevant chain was at first reluctant to allow the consultants to trial the use of the cards. He relented. They put the program in. They came back later to present their data. After their presentation, the CEO sat for a few seconds with a stunned look on his face and said, “Gentlemen, over the last twenty minutes you have told me more about my customers than I had learned about them in 30 years in retail”.

[Princhester]

Actually, having now found the quote, I didn’t get it quite right, though I got the flavour:

The first response from the board came from Tesco’s then-Chairman Lord MacLaurin, who said “What scares me about this is that you know more about my customers after three months than I know after 30 years.”

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@Smeghead

I also loathe these damned cards with a passion. I’ve pitted them in the past, and I’m always surprised by how many people chime in with how great they think they are.

I don’t care, really, if the store chain knows how much ground beef or wine or potatoes. My only beef has been that there are only so many cards I can cram into my wallet, but the smartcard apps solve that problem.

[kaylasdad99]

@cmosdes

I’m another one using the fake phone number gambit. I don’t really see a reason to carry around any cards. I’ve also never been to any store with rewards cards that didn’t take a phone number in lieu of a physical card.

867-5309

At Walgreens, I give them that number and they try to give me the product for free, because of all the rewards points “I’ve” “built up.”

I’d feel guilty about taking it, but it’s moot, because I don’t know the right ZIP code to go with that phone number.

Maybe I’ll try 90210, just to see if it works.

[hogarth]

@Northern_Piper

That’s how Safeway works. The ham I bought for Easter was regular $29, $14 with a Safeway client card.

…and so it begins. Ugh.

[zweisamkeit]

@Ferret_Herder

Like I’m not going to carry my phone anyway?

Wait, you mean you don’t need a smartphone that’s solely dedicated to keeping all your loyalty card barcodes? SHIT. Next you’ll tell me I don’t need a separate smartphone for each separate task I need to do. Boy, do I feel dumb.

furdmort and smiling bandit, I’m guessing you guys intended to come across as savvy and astute, but you basically showed more that you don’t really know how smartphone apps work. enalzi got it right on the nose.

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@Stooge

Seriously, I’d like to know why people care if a store tracks your purchases? It’s not like there is someone specifically pulling up your name to see what you’re buying. Your purchasing habits are just being compiled with thousand or millions of other people and nobody actually cares what YOU are buying.

If being tracked like a tagged bear, with your every (consuming) move recorded and ultimately used to find ways to sell you more crap, more effectively, by finding your weak spots and exploiting them, doesn’t bother you…happy shopping.

It’s not for your benefit. It’s not for the benefit of consumers or society in general. It’s not even for the individual benefit of the stores you use the card at, to whom you might feel some loyalty or debt. It’s for the benefit of a marketing industry that can’t stand the thought that we’re walking around with unclaimed dollars in our wallets.

I find it utterly bizarre that a country that will scream in outrage at any impingement on a real or imagined “right,” no matter how trivial or fringe, will blithely comply with this system to ever-more-effectively squeeze money from them for the benefit of those doing the squeezing. This process stomps all over your rights of privacy, choice and economic self-direction.

But it got you two bucks off a mega-pak of paper towels, so what’s the problem?

[digs]

@kaylasdad99

867-5309

Jenny?

I’ve been calling you every day, but some guy just growls something about calling the cops (I think I keep waking him up… does your dad work nights?).

So call me back: Beechwood 4-5789.

[RTFirefly]

@Ferret_Herder

Like I’m not going to carry my phone anyway?

I carry my 2006-state-of-the-art flip phone in the grocery, but it’s small and light, and fits comfortably in a pocket. If I had a smart phone, I doubt I would: they’re too big for pants pockets, too heavy for shirt pockets, and I’m damned sure not going to carry a phone around in my hand while I’m running errands, no matter how useful it is.

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@RTFirefly

…I’m damned sure not going to carry a phone around in my hand while I’m running errands, no matter how useful it is.

So what do you carry in place of all the things a smart(er) phone could do for you? Lists, for example? How about time and convenience?

We have a household whiteboard on which we write down things we need. I always hated it because it means you have to stop and write down a take-away list, which likely included only the things you thought you were going to go buy. Many was the time I found myself at, say, the hardware store, wishing I had the notes for household hardware that were on the board. But no, I was only going to the grocery store, so unless the HW store has carrots…

Now, I snap a shot of the board on my way out the door, using EverNote. I always have the complete household list with me for that 5 seconds of effort.

Maybe your life is simpler and you can remember everything all the time; I remember those days. And have found a pocket mega-organizer of priceless value in saving time, frustration and money not spent in buying the wrong product or having to make extra trips.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@hogarth

In the U.S., at any rate. I’m Canadian and whenever I visit the U.S. I get irritated by the stupid two-level pricing. In Canada, we have cards where you can earn bonus points of various kinds, but there’s no punitive pricing for not having one.

@Northern_Piper

That’s how Safeway works. The ham I bought for Easter was regular $29, $14 with a Safeway client card.

@hogarth

…and so it begins. Ugh.

“Begins”? Safeway has had two-tiered pricing for a long, long time now. Co-op has membership cards and two-tiered pricing. Costco has membership cards (although I don’t think you can even get in without one, so that’s kind of different). I’m curious about where you live, that you haven’t run into this yet.

@kaylasdad99

<snip>

Maybe I’ll try 90210, just to see if it works.

That’s my zip code every time I shop online and the website doesn’t recognize that there’s any world outside of the US.

[Skammer]

I don’t shop at places that ue those stupid cards. That’s why I switched from Kroger to Publix. I switched from Walgreens to Dollar General for whatever I could for the same reason. I’ll even, God help me, shop at Walmart if that’s the only place to buy something without a stupid discount card.

[Machine_Elf]

@NitroPress

This process stomps all over your rights of privacy, choice and economic self-direction.

If the government mandated it, yes, I could see how it might be problematic. But it’s voluntary. You are free to not shop at Kroger or anywhere else that tracks your purchases if you’re not happy with their privacy policy. You have a right to choose. You have the same right of economic self-direction that you did before purchase tracking became prevalent.

Want to maintain your privacy? Shop somewhere that doesn’t use a card, and pay cash. Those stores are out there, and if you vote with your wallet, there will be more of them.

[Fear_Itself]

@Skammer

I don’t shop at places that ue those stupid cards. That’s why I switched from Kroger to Publix. I switched from Walgreens to Dollar General for whatever I could for the same reason. I’ll even, God help me, shop at Walmart if that’s the only place to buy something without a stupid discount card.

You do realize using the cards is not mandatory, right?