Every item in the typical grocery store has a barcode on it, so the store managers know
exactly when every item is sold, and at what price, and they know what
other items are purchased by the same customer. This enables them to determine the
percentage of the customers who buy steaks and also buy charcoal, for example. The
only thing they can't determine without The Card is the identity of the person who
bought these items. Even that could be determined by matching check and credit card
numbers. But what difference does it make if a gallon of milk is purchased by a
young bachelor or by his grandmother, as long as it is sold?
The existence of the discount card means that the supermarket has established two
sets of prices: The normal price for first-class customers, and a higher price
for customers who shop anonymously. But why? Obviously the stores are
collecting data and selling it to the highest bidder, regardless of what they tell
the customers about the confidentiality of the information collected. It makes
no sense to believe that the stores set up this system with any motive other
than profit.
It is also obvious to those of us who use one or more grocery store discount cards
(under a fictitious name and address, of course) that the store does not gather information
for the benefit of the customer. If that were the case, the store could easily
offer prizes for those who purchase the most. For example, it might take me a few
years, but my favorite grocery store could express their thanks in some way when they
find that I have purchased a thousand gallons of Diet Coke, or a hundred pounds of my
favorite breakfast cereal.
Stores that promote the use of The Card aren't just trying to win your
loyalty. You are being used.
Supermarket
cards threat to privacy? Privacy advocates say a wealth of data is being
collected by supermarkets via electronic shopper cards and that the information could be
linked with other biometric technology to form in-depth personal databases without a
person's permission or knowledge.
Data
collection is lucrative for supermarkets. While some stores currently
allow participants to enroll with false identification, others don't. And the
experts agree that the trend is moving toward requirement of real information because
such data is lucrative. Failure to participate "voluntarily" could result
in higher grocery bills.
Excellent!
Privacy and Consumer Profiling: Profiling is
the recording and classification of behaviors. This occurs through aggregating information from online
and offline purchase data, supermarket savings cards, white pages, surveys, sweepstakes and contest entries,
financial records, property records, U.S. Census records, motor vehicle data, automatic number information,
credit card transactions, phone records (Customer Proprietary Network Information or "CPNI"), credit records,
product warranty cards, the sale of magazine and catalog subscriptions, and public records. Profiling has
sparked an entire industry euphemistically labeled "Customer Relations Management" (CRM) or "Personalization."
Grocery
Club Cards: Real Savings? John Vanderlippe says those little cards that
promise special savings for special customers are nothing more than an industry
scam. "I find it offensive that they make it appear you're saving money when in
fact, you're not," he says. He claims that card stores cut prices for their
card-holders on items already jacked up to make it look like a better deal.
Discount cards have pros and
cons. Many consumers see loyalty cards as a quick way to save money. More than
70 percent of shoppers participate in two or more such programs, according to the A.C. Nielsen Frequent
Shopping Survey. But others bristle at the thought of having to give retailers their name, address and
other personal information in exchange for a card that allows the store to track their every purchase.
'Loyalty cards' mean no privacy in store.
Cashiers at supermarkets, drug stores and other retailers that have rewards cards — or "loyalty cards"
as they're termed in the trade — always have a store card that they keep around for customers who
forgot their cards or who, like me, simply refuse to use them. "We can't do that anymore," she said.
"If you want, you can sign up for one right now." … "No," I said. "If I can't get the discounted
price, then I'm not buying." We were at a standstill. So I made good on my threat. I walked
out, leaving the groceries behind.
How Grocery Stores Are
Feeding Fears: Protesters in Seattle and growing ranks of disgruntled shoppers around the country
claim that the personal data and shopping information collected by supermarket companies from loyalty cards
purchases violates their privacy rights and doesn't even save them money.
The Price Of Loyalty:
Gary Hawkins is not only a grocery store owner, he's an industry consultant who praises the benefits of
"customer specific pricing." That's when a store prices items or gives rewards according to how much you
spend. … Customer specific pricing is so new, no one knows how many stores are doing it, but Hawkins says
it's a growing trend. "You would think that the discounts would be almost targeted for the people who
need them; instead what we're seeing is the exact opposite."
Supermarket "loyalty"
cards are designed to reward only the wealthy. Although expensive advertising
and in-store promotion convince shoppers that the cards are there to save them large
amounts of money, the stores see the cards as data collection devices designed to help them
keep track of who buys what. This information is then used strategically to raise
prices and increase profits.
Grocery Store Loyalty
Cards: The Bigger Picture. The usual rationale for loyalty cards is
that it makes stores more efficient at stocking their shelves with products you want, and
allows them to pass the savings on to you. If you think about this for a moment, it
doesn't make sense. If all the grocery stores want is to improve their efficiency,
they just need to know what items are being sold and what items are bought at the same
time. There's no reason for them to need loyalty cards for this. They can
record all of this information without knowing who was making the purchases.
Calling All Shoppers: On Grocery Store Loyalty
Cards. Besides increasing their bottom line — and you thought you were saving some
bucks — grocery store companies are also taking a privileged peek at your personal information.
Miles of Aisles — A Supermarket Pricing
Survey. Do supermarkets which have "shopper card" or "loyalty card" programs inflate their
"regular" prices? I have contended that they do, for several reasons — to make their
card-holder "specials" look better; to subtly coerce shoppers into signing up for the cards; to recoup the
costs of running their card programs and increase profits.
The Truth Behind Grocery Store Discount
Cards: Many advocacy groups across the country will warn you that these types of programs are an
invasion of privacy because the true purpose of them is to track an individuals spending. Do you really
want your grocery store to know what you drink or how often? What your preferred birth control method
might be? What kind of over the counter medicine you use. Do you trust that this information won't
be sold?
Ten Things Your Supermarket
Won't Tell You: For example, many manufacturers gladly pay "slotting" fees to score shelf space at
eye level, where the products are most likely to attract attention. And that bakery smells good, doesn't
it? There's a reason those ovens are always on full blast. "Studies show the smell of baking bread
drives people bonkers," says [marketing professor Arun K.] Jain. The scent drives up sales all
over the store.
What men want — in the
supermarket. Brian Galloway, a computer security manager in Dublin, Ohio, argues that the cards
are a "tremendous frustration" because they levy a "privacy tax" on customers. "I believe the whole
purpose of the savings card is to generate information the store can sell," says Mr. Galloway, who is single
and shops once or twice a week. "Some of these cards want you to give your e-mail address and phone
number." He pays with cash to preserve his anonymity.
Loyalty Cards: Reward or Threat?
Who cares if you buy one brand of tissues over another, or favor name-brand microwave pizzas over store brands?
Supermarket chains care. So does CVS. So much so that they use discount cards (referred to as
"membership" or "loyalty" cards) to offer you what seem like great bargains. They use the cards to keep
tabs on what you purchase, how often you shop, and what your buying preferences are.
Albertson's
dumping its discount card. The supermarket chain said Wednesday [9/24/2007] it's doing away with
its Preferred card program in Dallas-Fort Worth and instead will offer discounted items to all its shoppers.
… In 2001, Albertson's was the last major chain in D-FW to introduce a loyalty card, and now it's the
first to take it away. Tom Thumb has no plans to end its Reward Card program, and likewise Kroger is
standing by its Plus card, the companies said.
Note: Albertson's Preferred card was introduced November 7,
2001.*.
Griping over swiping: Some like
savings at grocers, others see 'Big Brother'. [Suppose for example] You are rejected for
health care coverage, your insurance company tells you, because you have a heart condition and your
grocery store records show that you have been filling your cart with potato chips and rich desserts.
The card up their sleeve:
It sounds good — loyalty cards entitle us to freebies or cash simply for shopping at our local
superstore. Of course, retailers get something in return: a heap of information about us we might
prefer them not to know. That's before they get started on the new tags that track you and what you
buy.
SOLD, to the highest bidder! If you
were wondering just what the data compiled by their "preferred" card might be worth this information from the
sale of prescription data from Winn-Dixie's bankruptcy filing might be of interest. As Winn-Dixie closed
some of their stores they sold of the pharmacy records. CVS paid $6.4 million for the records from
62 stores, Eckerd bought the records from 20 stores for $2.7 million, Kroger paid $1.47 million
for 12 stores' records, Target Corp. purchased nine store records for $1.15 million and Publix bought
11 store records for $1.9 million. The press release stated, almost as an afterthought, that
the purchaser also got the remaining inventory.
Grocery store robot scanner a royal
pain. Bagging groceries with a robot is left to the customer unless some store employee takes
pity. ... I surmise there is a certain acceptable level of loss of goods not paid for because the
machine cannot catch everything a customer might do.
Supermarket: Let your fingers do the paying.
A supermarket has given its customers the choice of paying by fingerprint at a store in the state of
Washington — and has found them surprisingly willing to use the biometric system.
How safe is your card
data? Programmer leaves secret "back door" into database.
Credit card data stolen from supermarket
chain. A computer hacker stole thousands of credit card numbers after breaching security at two U.S.
grocery store chains owned by Belgium-based Delhaize Group SA, the companies said on Monday [3/17/2008]. Nearly
2,000 cases of fraud have been linked to the breach….
How safe is your card data — part II —
Information sold on open market. After the 9/11 tragedy a supermarket voluntarily gave their
"loyalty" card data to federal authorities in the hope it might help find the perpetrators. Two recent
articles suggest the release of this data may be more routine than the supermarkets would lead us to believe.
Malware
cited in supermarket data breach. Unauthorized software that was secretly installed on servers
in Hannaford Bros supermarkets across the Northeast and in Florida enabled the massive data breach that
compromised up to 4.2 million credit and debit cards, the company said Friday [3/28/2008].
Free turkey soon to be
extinct. As you sit down to this years Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, there
is a good chance your main course cost more than it has in previous years. While
holiday turkey offers are still a staple of the supermarket industry, the amount of the
discount appears to be declining, at least in stores with card programs.
Tesco advertising SMS unsubscription requires
loyalty card membership: Tesco can add you to their advertising SMS list without a club
card, but they cannot remove you without a club card.
More robot scanner
phenomena: Twice in one week I've tried to use a robot scanner only to
find it is stuck at the FINISH AND PAY node of the transition
diagram. The bagging area has nothing in it. There is no customer around,
except me. Conclusion: shopper rang up the goods, bagged them and left.
Just say… NO CARDS! A free people does
not show identity papers to buy bread. If your supermarket is asking you to "sign up" for a "frequent
shopper card" — just say — NO.
Store Customer Cards a Source for
FBI? According to one privacy expert, at least one national grocery chain voluntarily handed over
to the government records from its customer loyalty card database in the wake of the September 11 terrorist
attacks. And others say customer databases — including those culled from travel, financial and
insurance industries — are routinely shared with the government for surveillance purposes.
You're Under
Surveillance. In the midst of all the hypocritical and self-righteous talk about the fact that
the National Security Agency actually listens to calls from known or suspected terrorists talking to someone
in the United States or vice versa, is the fact that every single American is under surveillance these
days. It begins with the Social Security number that is issued to newborn infants! There is
hardly a purchase you make that isn't monitored for the purpose of selling more of the same or
identifying you as a potential customer for something else.
ID Theft is a Symptom of our
Database Culture. The theft earlier this year of thousands of credit card records from the nation's
third-largest warehouse club illustrates the potential for massive-scale identity theft whenever so much
purchase-enabling information is stored in one place. It also illustrates how difficult the cleanup
can be.
Supermarket Cards track
consumer habits. Typically, stores charge cardholders less than the shelf price for many items,
making signing up for one hard to resist. But to critics, the cards are merely marketing gimmicks that
force people to exchange personal information for savings that may not even exist.
The Dark Side of Supermarket
"Savings Cards": Privacy advocates worry about the misuse of personal and purchase data.
Big
everything is watching you. The first time I went to the invaluable Internet
Movie Database, the home page said, "Hello, Jon Carroll! How do we know who you
are? Click here." I declined; I know too much about what I don't know
already. Oh, and the Safeway card handy for in-store specials? More
data. Suddenly buying diapers? Someone wants to know that. Increase
in Advil consumption? Watch for the Paxil brochure in the mail.
Are
Supermarket Cards a Threat to Privacy? Experts are
concerned about the use and abuse of personal information.
Practical and Legal
Protection of Computer Databases. Databases have long existed in manual or book
form. Contemporary examples of manual databases still abound, such as the phone book and
many reference books, including legal reporters. The computer database is essentially an
information compendium like a phone book which has been placed in a computer and thereby
automated. When information is computerized, however, there are many more ways for the
information to be accessed, manipulated and used; the value of the database to users is
thereby greatly enhanced.
Shoppers looking more closely at political stance of
companies. What's in your shopping cart? Increasingly, it's full of political statements.
Identity shopping, once the pursuit of only political radicals, is moving to the mainstream.
Somewhat related: Wal-Mart Hit By Gift Card
Scam. In Tami Kegley's case, her receipt shows the $150.00 card was activated
at 11:32 in the morning, then cashed out three hours later in a another state! "At a store
in California," Tami explained. "He (the Wal-Mart employee) wasn't sure how it was being
done, but he told me it had happened several times through that same store in
California." Wal-Mart acknowledges the scam, but for security reasons
will not discuss details.
Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering
Supermarket Cards FAQ page
10 Reasons Not to Use a Fake Card
Isn't participation in supermarket "loyalty" programs
voluntary? Stores can set non-member prices as ridiculously high as they want. In fact many
have done just that in an effort to squeeze the last holdouts into signing up. If your local supermarket
wants to, it can raise the price of a gallon of milk to $15 - but "reward" members with the "sale" price
of $2.98. Should you then be impressed when your receipt says, "Congratulations, you saved $12.02 by
using your club card"? Rather than feel grateful for the "opportunity" to pay normal prices, you should
feel angry that prices are manipulated like that in the first place. Why do they do it? Because
they want to monitor your shopping.
Is privacy a factor here?
The Nation's Best Grocery
Stores: Consumer Reports grocery store survey polled 24,000 readers to identify what they call
the country's best supermarkets.
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