Continuing adventures in Big Brother

[dwenius]

Last week, the clerk at Long's, apparently refusing to believe my repeated "No, thank you" was sincere, grabbed one of their store discount cards, swiped it on her laser reader, and said "See wasn't that easy? You can fill it out with your phone number later."

No, actually, we can't, because what Long's-- or Safeway or any other store-discount program-- is telling you right there is, "We will make more money tracking your purchases and selling the data to a marketing firm than the 3-5% discount that the card gives you." And why would you want to feed that beast? It only encourages them...

Comments

[rwx.livejournal.com]

i've given up and now type 123-456-7890 into every machine when asked for my number.

[stori-lundi.livejournal.com]

The only one I use with any regularity is CVS and according to their little "you saved" tally, I save a few hundred bucks a year and get back approx. $20 in Extra Bucks. That's a pretty hefty chunk of change, big brother or not. And unless you can live totally off the grid, use cash only, and don't use a bank, you are being tracked somehow, somewhere, by someone - your bank, credit card companies, retailers, DHS, etc.

3-5% savings on a $500/month grocery bill is $180-$300 per year. I'd rather not throw that kind of money away.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Longs is CVS now. BORG BORG BORG

[wisn.livejournal.com]

I have a variety of store discount cards, but dammit, I can never remember my address exactly when I'm filling out the form for those things. Or even my name. Nerves, you know.

[morrisa.livejournal.com]

I can usually get a laugh from the cashier when I respond to their bright "Mrs. Sherman, you've saved 42 dollars today!" with "No, I spent 207 dollars. I was careful about how I did it, but I've saved nothing. I'm very clear about what I've done."