What Do You Buy At The Grocery ... Punk?

fifths writes: "I'm not sure how many of you saw this story from the Scripps Howard Washington bureau -- as reported in the 'Washington Calling' column in the 10-07-2001 edition of the Knoxville(TN) News-Sentinel: 'Federal agents are tracking suspects tied to the Sept. 11 strikes through supermarket club cards that may give a hint of ethnic tastes. "Time was, this data was so disorganized nobody could make sense of it, but not anymore. They're looking for people based on their supermarket tastes," says consultant Larry Ponemon, head of the Privacy Council business consortium.' Anyone else bothered by this? Burn your supermarket cards." Better yet, trade your supermarket cards, frequently. (Perhaps with friends or relatives in the furthest city with the same chain?) Maybe Larry Ellison would like to have a few.

Comments

Re:Find a local grocery that *doesn't* use cards

[Technician]

I found there is a cost to the database, which is of course passed along to consumers. (Serious now, who do you think pays for it?) I have found out long ago that most stores that do not have the program have lower average prices all the time. It just isn't worth the trip to the high priced store just to see what the K-mart style special item is this week. I save lots more elsewhere without the cost of the database program added to the cost of the products. I quit shopping Safeway because the noticable differance in the bottom line. A 3.50 item with a savings of .75 is still more than the same item at 2.50 elsewhere.

Changing names

[Snowfox]

I don't like the idea of being tracked, so I use different names on all my cards, and I change cards periodically. These cards are always first to go if I need to get through a door, prop up a bit of furniture or scrape some dried goo off one thing or another.

As long as you're not signing up for use as a check card, they don't need an ID or social security number. You can get as many as you like. Needless to say - you should always pay cash with these, or it defeats the whole point.

At Jewel, I was "Jesus DeNazareth" for a while. At Dominicks, I'm "Anon Imus" and at Whole Foods, I'm something which I really can't print here, and I'm shocked as hell that I got away with it.

p.s. - To hell with those who say you're not holding up your end of the bargain by thwarting tracking. It's a fact that prices have gone up disproportionately in the last decade if you don't use the card. That's like me doubling the price of gas at the pump for anyone who won't let me see them and their wife/girlfriend topless. It's an invasion of privacy, subsidized by you, pure and simple.

Re:Forgetting your card

[daoine]

The trick is to find the ethical route that also lets them know how you feel.

Tell the cashiers. I do.

Every time I purchase something in CVS, the conversation goes like this:

Them: Do you have a CVS Extra Care Card?
Me: No.
Them: Would you like one? It'll just take a minute.
Me: No thank you, I don't agree with having my drug store purchases tracked by anyone.

9 times out of 10, the cashier will then pull out their card and scan it for me. If the manager happens to be working a register, I shoot for their register so that they can hear it too. It's a method that generally gets me the proper price for items, as well as letting appropriate people know that I'm not happy with the system.

Here's a novel idea...

[stungod]

Jeez, people! I have these cards, but that doesn't mean that they have my personal info. All they know is that some guy named Ben Dover buys a lot of beer and that he lives at the governor's mansion.

And yes, I have a couple of cards that I rotate. It keeps the "special" discounts coming more frequently.

I mean, is it really that much of a stretch for this crowd to use a fake name? The discount's the same either way.

What does the EULA say?

[GTRacer]

I've only signed up for 2 of these my whole life. One was a Sam's card my parents actually pay for and use. My wife uses it occasionally too, but Sam's sucks donkey with their Discover or check only crap.

The other was at a Kroker in Tennessee, which was only used once, ever.

In neither case did I read the paperwork. What does it say regarding misuse or deception? Do you agree by accepting the card to not share it or otherwise fudge the data?

GTRacer
- Still doesn't really care...

Why can't I find this anywhere else?

[allism]

I can't seem to find any other stories regarding this...I wanted to find out which grocers were participating in the ethnic profiling so I could scream and holler at them, but I can't find anything but a reference on CNN, MSNBC, and privacydigest.com (the wording in the articles was strikingly similar) stating that a supermarket chain (not chains) was consulting with Larry Ponemon to discuss how to disclose that they had given their shoppers' info to the government voluntarily. If anyone here knows which grocery chain this is, I'm sure we'd all like to know... I'm not saying the info in the KnoxNews story isn't true, but it sounds like a souped-up, tabloid version of the articles mentioned above (and if someone knows differently, PLEASE let us know!)