Comments on: It’s Pronounced Dow

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:41:54 +0000

Why not either 1. stop using a savings card altogether, or 2. buy stuff from somewhere that doesn’t have a lame scheme

By: Vek

Vek — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:35:17 +0000

You’re not really gaining anything by this, to be honest. Maybe if you only ever use cash. But the moment you use an actual ATM or credit card, they’ll just scoop the address info from there. (and phone #). Its much more reliable than what people fill in.

When I got my card for the local market, I actually tossed the application away and just randomly used the card (they gave me a card right on the spot without asking). Sure enough, I soon started getting targetted spam in my RL snailmail box even without having filled in any details.

By: Fabian Rodriguez

Fabian Rodriguez — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:24:13 +0000

I couldn’t help but laugh when reading your post.

Whenever I am asked for a fax number I use a California phone number (valide, free fax service by Jfax at the time) . Being in Montreal, many people stop me when hearing the area code is not 514…”Isn’ t that long distance ?” “Sure, if you can’t fax me LD, just send me an email” .

Guess what I get instead of faxes…

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:03:09 +0000

I did the same a few years ago. I still get a kick after all this time when they say, “Thank you Mr. Gandalf”

By: Wolfger

Wolfger — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:30:11 +0000

“pronounced Dow”… Ha! That’s great. A nice little touch of believability.

By: xabbott

xabbott — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:56:57 +0000

There is one good reason to put at least a phone number on those key cards. Getting your keys back if you lose them.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:00:52 +0000

I always tell them I forgot my card and didn’t register a phone number on it. Then they just scan some extra card that is attached to the register, and I get the “savings” off the jacked-up prices. I’ve always wondered how it affects their data to scan a card that is tied to the register and not an individual.

By: Hans

Hans — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:38:40 +0000

Your Albertsons is still doing that? The ones in my town stopped it. They even put up signs about how cool it is that you don’t have to use a card to get the savings now. As if they were the only ones doing that. But hey, I’m not complaining.

I wonder if this is some kind of pilot, or has to do with state law, or if each albertson can choose independently to abandon it. Might be worth talking to the manager of your local store.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:56:39 +0000

@Janne- You’re only partially correct. The aggregate date is of no use to them, if they can’t target advertising, either by mail or phone, to the one holding the data. Also, as mentioned in the post, I’ll just keep getting a new card every time I run into the store. There certainly will be nothing interesting about 1 purchase on each card.

@Mike- Exactly.

@jldugger- I won’t shop at Walmart. I don’t agree with their business practices or ethics. We’ll just leave it at that. Besides, I can get savings just about everywhere I go.

@Tom Mann, @Rob J. Caskey- Thanks to the show, that zip code will be forever famous.

By: Rob J. Caskey

Rob J. Caskey — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:39:24 +0000

I’ve at times wondered if Beverly Hills had a large number of Johns…

By: Tom Mann

Tom Mann — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:31:58 +0000

“Beverly Hills 90210″

I’ve used that on so many web forms in my lifetime…

By: phoenyx

phoenyx — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:50:17 +0000

When I was in college, we filled out one form with fake information and got a card and two of those mini-keychain cards and we just split them between us. When someone would move out, he’d just pass his card to the new guy moving in. They’re probably still being used.

By: jldugger

jldugger — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:10:57 +0000

Why would you go out of your way to do unestablish an identity? Arguably, asking for personal information is a loss of privacy, but building an anonymous yet consistent identity for their correlative statistics doesn’t seem to hurt you. But hey. Just shop at Walmart, since you know, they don’t have those computers at HQ working out the transactions to track you without a shopper’s card or anything.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:25:56 +0000

In any case, false information is better than no information. The proliferation of false information about everyone is probably one of our best bets for privacy at this point. Although I’m not sure there’s much hope to be had.

By: jim

jim — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:17:54 +0000

I just get the card and never fill out the form. Maybe Alberson’s makes you fill it out, Safeway expects you to take it home and fill it out. I never do and the card always works - until I lose it.