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I opt out of reward cards, as I am concerned that having them would result in a barrage of mail, telephone, and Email spam. Any savings would be more than offset by the aggravation.
Sign up with a fake (or temporary) email.
Sign up with a fake phone number.
Sign up with a fake address.
Sign up with a fake (or temporary) email.
Sign up with a fake phone number.
Sign up with a fake address.
Prosper.
Sigh.
Rewards cards have not been entirely about identifying Joe Q. Consumer as an individual for quite some time. Using the incredibly clever, secret and sneaky trick of using false info on the app gains... almost nothing. You are still Shopper #10213512312312-U, and that's more significant than knowing your name and address. Besides, Shopper #etc. can be connected to an individual and thus all their associated data in most cases.
Making this suggestion reinforces the idea that you have no idea what it's all about or how it works. (And you should... it stopped being tinfoil hat info several years ago.)
(And no, using multiple fake cards doesn't accomplish much, either.)
Actually, they do. I remember reading about some guy that got busted for arson because they were able to go back to his store card and prove he bought kerosene with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quietude
Well, we're in the wrong era to be smugly boasting about consumer protections.
I can see pressure from the retailing industry to allow "more informative" shelf pricing methods that conform to the letter of this requirement and resolution while allowing mass retailers to use digital tags that make the protection meaningless. That is, you pick up a can of beans at $1.25, the afternoon-lull sale price, but dawdling over the candy aisle means it's $1.79 by the time you get to checkout. All of the pricing protections you outline become pretty meaningless.
It's worse than you think. LOL
I went shopping yesterday and picked up a couple pounds of hamburger. The packages were all 85/15. The ones at the top said their price was $3.28 per pound and the packages underneath were $3.78 per pound.
I pointed it out to two employees. The first one didn't do anything but shrug and the second told me - completely serious - the the packages underneath were more expensive because "they have more meat in them". I said that shouldn't make the least amount of difference since the price was per pound, but she just looked at me blankly.
I don't know what's worse, the fact that she didn't understand what I was telling her or the fact that she actually thought I'd believe her explanation.
Rewards cards have not been entirely about identifying Joe Q. Consumer as an individual for quite some time. Using the incredibly clever, secret and sneaky trick of using false info on the app gains... almost nothing. You are still Shopper #10213512312312-U, and that's more significant than knowing your name and address. Besides, Shopper #etc. can be connected to an individual and thus all their associated data in most cases.
Making this suggestion reinforces the idea that you have no idea what it's all about or how it works. (And you should... it stopped being tinfoil hat info several years ago.)
(And no, using multiple fake cards doesn't accomplish much, either.)
What on earth are you going on about. I was responding specifically to someone who's complaint about the rewards cards was a fear of receiving more spam email, telemarketing calls, and junk mail. Giving them false information for all this would accomplish exactly what they wanted. Even if they pay by credit card they are just putting the card into the reader and waiting for it to receive a response code to the transaction attempt, the issuing bank isn't going to be sending a report to the merchant with the mailing address and phone number of everyone who made a credit card transaction.
The issuing bank might mine or sell your data so using a credit card to buy lots of hardware might result in flyers from the nearest Lowes or Home Depot coming in the mail, but that would happen regardless of whether you're signed up for a rewards program.
Retailers can play their games all they want. The only items I have to go to a physical store for are groceries. Outside of that, I buy a majority of things online because retail stores focus on selling high profit cheap china made junk which I do not buy anyway.
Mine would have the analysis cross eyed! I let my family and friends use certain reward cards just so I can get higher perks. We all benefit. Sometimes in different geographic areas...or sometimes products targeting a specific consumer..
I dread though getting these 'coupons' after a purchase which are geared to my 'supposed' shopping history. I really have no use of ten bottles of baby food!
The takeaway here is that quite a few companies with a behaviorist on tap have managed to sell the idea that they have the one true key to sorting a company's customers. As with so many such approaches, it's a few scoops of validated lab science thinned to serving consistency with BS, voodou and fairy dust.
There are other things to be far more fearful of, or get angry about.
Depending on the quant it can be quite a bit more than that, but yes I agree it has no impact on you, it's more so these companies can decide who to best target.
The amount of data some of these retailers have about people is pretty astounding, especially if you use traceable tender (i.e. debit and/or credit cards). They work with companies like Experian and can identify entire households and all cards tied to that household. They know how often you shop, exactly what you buy, etc. Online retailers like Amazon obviously have the most data because not only do they know what you buy, where your house is, your estimated income (via Experian algos), etc. they know your exact shopping behavior as you navigate through their pages.
Some of the additional data I know they have (because I've seen it).
If you have a pool, if you like sports, if you have kids, if you have pets, what type of pets you have. Your demographics, your education level, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quietude
Sigh.
Rewards cards have not been entirely about identifying Joe Q. Consumer as an individual for quite some time. Using the incredibly clever, secret and sneaky trick of using false info on the app gains... almost nothing. You are still Shopper #10213512312312-U, and that's more significant than knowing your name and address. Besides, Shopper #etc. can be connected to an individual and thus all their associated data in most cases.
Making this suggestion reinforces the idea that you have no idea what it's all about or how it works. (And you should... it stopped being tinfoil hat info several years ago.)
(And no, using multiple fake cards doesn't accomplish much, either.)
Like I said above they don't need rewards cards. As long as you use traceable tender they know who you are and your shopping habits already.
On most of these rewards stores, you can punch in a phone number instead of using a card. So whenever we travel to visit family, we punch in their phone numbers. They get the points to use on gas discounts or whatever and we get the lower price.
And after reading the article, I have to admit that we have our own low tech customer score at our business. It is a list of about ten customers that we won't do business with again. That's not too bad considering we've been in business 28 years.
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