I have no idea. Does anyone know this?
When you get to the register you are told “You have a late fee of $x.xx” There is no printed receipt or anything given.
So, it seems as if Blockbuster actually has noble reasons for asking for a phone number. It’s nice that they call to remind late renters. But, why? Why do they call to remind customers that a movie is late? Wouldn’t it be more profitable for them to just wait for the late fees to pile up? They have your credit card number, so they hold all the cards. If you try to not pay they will just bill your CC for it. I can’t believe that some vice president at the blockbuster corporate offices isn’t suggesting this to increase revenue.
Blockbuster never called me, even when the phone # on my account was current. It really never occured to me that they would use it for any purpose that I would approve of.
But, as far as radio shack goes, I couldn’t agree more. Try to buy a battery and you get 50 questions. Phone number being one of them. In addition to the privacy stuff, it is just a hassle.
I don’t mind, however, when companies ask for zip code. To me, it makes sense. It takes just a minute to give, is not personal information, and allows them to track their customers by region.
BTW, I manage marketing Consumer Databases for a living, so I am familiar with what happens to data once it enters “the system”.
It’s kind of like someone who works at a slaughterhouse refusing to eat hotdogs. 
They have your name and address, and probably your credit card number. And you think they need your phone number to harass you?
It’s just a way of keeping track of clients. There may be two Joe Smiths renting from that store. Would you rather they ask for SSN to differentiate?
Presumably, the two Joe Smiths have different membership numbers.
I’m surprised that nobody has said this yet, but don’t U.S. consumers have the legal right to determine how their personal information is used? So why can’t you give Blockbuster your phone #, with the specific stipulation that it not be used by any third parties, or by anyone at all except in the course of Blockbuster-related business? If their system isn’t set up to handle a request like that, then it certainly should be.
Don’t be so quick to think B buster the sucker. They will not hesitate to turn you in to a collection agency. I know of 2 other people, aside from myself that received one notice in the mail and just a couple of days later, a notice for collection for late fees. (We had assumed if we turned in the tapes, we could just pay late fees next time we came in–I know, kinda dumb in hindsight) They can get pretty aggressive.
About the tax–I didn’t get a reciept either but when he gave me my total it didn’t add up. One tape was really late and the fee was high so I asked him to break it down for me. When he mentioned the sales tax, he didnt’ have an answer for me when I asked–how can you charge SALES tax on something I haven’t bought!!! Another way to get $$ from us. I didnt’ make a big deal out of 4.5% but I still wonder if it is legit?
Blockbuster calls you because, believe it or not, it isn’t profitable to screw over your customers. We have customers that come in several times a week- those are the kind of customers they want. Happy, profitable customers.
They don’t automatically charge credit cards because that makes people really really really angry. They will charge the cards if the situation gets extreme (they’ve called and written multiple times and still no action is taken). It is never fun to get one of the “my credit card was charged and you guys are totally evil and I am going to report you to the better business bureau and this is ridiculous” calls. This is not a happy profitable customer.
If you ask, they can print out a receipt showing a breif rental history (it goes back several weeks) that will show what was rented when and what was due when.
Unless, of course, you don’t have your membership card with you, and they have to look you up in the system. I’m quite familiar with this, because my membership card was missing for a couple of months.
Even Sven put it best, but another item that has been missed upon is that your phone number and zip code are also used to (brace yourselves kiddies) track your lifestyle.
Not your life…
But your demographic. White trash to WASP.
Which is why Kroger has the Kroger card, so they can see what you are buying, what is selling and helping the sales in that store.( and , in turn, help you out.)
I watched an interesting story on PBS years ago about the marketing business and how if you lived in xxxxxx zip code ( a poorer neighborhood) you were more likely to read (as an example) Truck Pull Today, Mullet Styles and Double Wide Designs.
If you lived in a middle class income your magazine choices would be wider and higher IQ. Living in the hoity toity zip code it was the high brow magazines (of which most dopers here subscribe too, I’m sure.). At the time there was a web site ( this was about six years ago) and you could plug in your zip and get an idea of what ‘demographic’ you fell into. I did mine and …shit…I was dead on for yuppie/Wasp with a good dosage of truck pull stuff too. (My apologies for the generalizations.)
Soooo’s, it is not necessary Big Brother comin’ after you, per se, it is Big Brother coming after your wallet.
They call me to remind me that I put my own video in the box. That way I run up to the store
& return it while its still due day & it costs nothing extra.
But then I can’t give them my number cause they don’t know how to call a deaf person so I
just give them a friend’s number 
At the grocery store when I write a check I am often asked for a phone number. I always give the phone number for time. In my area it’s XXX-1212 but XXX-any4digits seems to connect to the automated time answering machine so I tell them XXX-1291 which most people don’t recognize. I did have one salesclerk ask me once “isn’t that the phone number for time?” Arnold (thinking “damn! busted!”) answers “Yes” and she asked “Do you work there?” It took all my self-control not to say “yeah, I’m the person telling you what time it is when you call.”
I second (third? fourth?) the idea that the store probably just wants the number to remind you to return videos. I’ve received a few such calls myself.
Funny thing, though… I have memberships at two different Hollywood Videos. One on my mom’s (shi-shi-poo-poo) side of town (from when I first moved here, and lived with her), and one on my (um… shall we say “less pretentious”?) side of town, which I opened after I moved into my own house (and got sick of travelling across town for movies).
Well. My mom’s Hollywood Video pretty much just handed me a membership card. I mean, I supplied the basic information, name and address and all that, but nothing out of the ordinary, in my experience.
The other Hollywood Video damn near demanded my first born child for a membership, and imposed a limit to the number of movies I could rent at once!
And as for the phone number thing… When I handed my application back to the guy at the “less pretentious” Hollywood, he asked me if there was anyone at my house at the moment. At first I was confused by this question, and then suspicious; but then I figured hell, I’ve got an alarm system and (at the time) two territorial dogs, so if he sends someone over to rob me while he knows I’m out, it won’t go over quietly (and I don’t have shit worth stealing anyway).
So I said, “No.”
Then he asked if I had an answering machine.
Again I said “No.” Still wondering where this is going.
Finally, he told me that before he could issue my card, he’d have to call the phone number I’d given him on the application.
“Is it in service?” he asked. “Will it ring?”
Dumbfounded, I answered yes.
Then it finally occurred to me that half the people applying for cards probably gave fake numbers! And if you’re making up the number, you won’t know if there’s someone there to pick up the phone, or if there’s a machine, or if it’s even in service! So that was, like, a little quiz to see if I was giving him a fake number.
Clever. Verrrrrrry clever.