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But they already have this information, whether it's a cash purchase, whether you personally give any info or not. That's all I'm trying to point out.
They analyze every little scrap of info and could tell you on any given day at any given time in any given location who their typical customer shopping at that precise time will be. The music in our store changes depending on the day and time, because of the research indicating the demographic shopping in the store at those times, info provided by analyzing what goes through the registers.
Withholding or giving incorrect info might make you guys feel better, but it's too little too late, they already analyze everything else about your purchase anyway. Zip code only gives them one small piece of additional info to work with and it doesn't identify you personally any more than the fact that you always buy Doritos with your beer.
Well, the store has to exist on our physical plane... so it must have it's own ZIP code...
And I highly doubt that the average person is going to drive 3 states over just to buy toilet paper... so it's not unreasonable to assume that the majority of purchases made at a store are made by people who live in the surrounding area...
If you know the stores location and the store's sales data, you can carpet bomb the local area with whatever targeted advertising they want without needing to annoy your customers with another invasive, irritating and ultimately useless question.
And if I'm making a cash purchase without a club card without divulging any information at all, they only marketing data they have is what things I bought and how much I spent... not who I am, what my gender is, how old I am, where I live, what kind of work I do, what my median income is, whether I rent or own, whether I have 1.75 children or a black dog and 3 cats.
Well excuse me. but i been there fighting over balloons, staring, steping on shoe, etc
its not worth it, to get mad cause someone is doing their job and asking you for " a zip code "
let be seroius. that is crazy. i never had a fight that was worth it. that all am saying
This interaction would have have been right up there with "thing never to do " 1- argue about trival data
2- defend my position to someone who just does not getting it.
Our goal here is to make a better world ..................STOP THE STUPID FIGHTING AND BICKERING and move on
we dont have a problem with people asking for the zip code, but they should cop an attitude when we tell them no, and they sure as heck should be making accusations against any customer because of it.
I am a vendor who accepts credit cards for payment. If the customer is present then the card gets swiped, for phone orders we key in the CC info. Keyed transactions are considered safer and the merchant processor cuts its fee by half a percent if I enter the customer's zip code. This is also why gas pumps request a zip code if you pay by debit or credit card, to help prevent stolen cards from being used.
Obviously for a cash transaction no zip code should be needed.
Went to Academy Sports to pick up a new all purpose knife. When I went to check out, the cashier said 'Enter your ZIP code'. I told her 'no'. She got very upset. She said it was only for statistical purposes, no one could identify me from the ZIP code. I still told her 'no'; that it was a privacy issue for me. She then very huffily told me that they could get more information from my credit card than the ZIP code. I told her that was why I pay cash.
As I was walking away, she made a comment to a coworker that I must be paranoid since I was buying a 'big ol' knife' and wouldn't give my ZIP code. I went back and told her I was stocking up on assault knives before the government banned them or required a background check before purchasing.
This is not the first time I had to tell a business to mind their own business. I think I will start giving them the ZIP code for the FBI, or the U.S. Mint!
I'm getting too old for this nonsense.
Just tell her its '90210'.
They are seriously behind the times if they honestly think people will give out real info to a clerk.
Kohls used to do this.
I stopped going there after they hounded us to open a credit card acct three times in one visit to the store.
I find it amusing that the cashier equated a knife + no ZIP code with paranoia. What if you bought a pair of hiking boots? Or socks? Or a water bottle?
The reality is, giving your ZIP code for a cash transaction like this is voluntary, so you don't need to provide any reason not to volunteer the information. Your reason may be far fetched or realistic or nonexistent. Even assuming that the question is asked for the most innocent of purposes, the intent of the question does not somehow obligate you to answer it factually--if you choose to answer it at all.
Seriously, though, nobody cares. There's so much more in life that you can spend your stress on - just give them a bogus zip and be on your way. They'll be none the wiser and you'll live longer.
That's the zip code for General Electric in Schenectady, right?
Apparently GE gets inundated with Christmas letters to Santa every year because children feel it is only logical that Santa has that zip code
Oh, and I used to work retail. The computerized register REQUIRED that we enter a zip code. The computer would not continue to the next screen until I put in a number.
Most of the time I didn't even bother to ask, I just typed in a nearby zip code.
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