Screw Those Customer Loyalty Cards
I tend to do all my grocery shopping at this one particular chain because of the following: they have excellent health report ratings, their produce is very fresh, and a sale price is a sale price. You know the drill: you go to a grocery store or drug store and the first question the cashier asks is “do you have your blahblah card?” where blahblah = store name. I always answer “no” because I have always refused to sign up for one of those cards. I actually had a cashier at a Stop & Shop supermarket ask me if I was crazy when I answered in the negative to both card possession and desire to sign up for one. My response was that I didn’t think it was anyone’s business what items I purchased. Apparently that just confirmed that I was crazy.
So maybe I’m a bit paranoid. Maybe I think it’s a bit creepy that large chain stores are so interested in tracking my purchases. Most people I’ve talked to about this tend to think I’m overreacting and that the marketing data just isn’t that big a deal. I don’t understand how people can be so blase about this invasion of privacy. It’s not good enough that we do our shopping at your store, you need to gather our personal shopping habits into a database so you can track our purchases and target advertising at us? That’s just invasive. A monthly circular is more mail than I want to get from a grocery store, so why would I voluntarily let them data mine my shopping habits in order to target more junk mail at my mailbox?
Their little trick is to offer all sorts of great sale prices that are only available to card holders. Remember when there were just sale prices? Then there were sale prices with specials for card holders. Now you can only get sale prices if you’re willing to give up your privacy to this store. Hey Stop & Shop! I don’t think I want you to know whether I purchase your bread or someone else’s brand. Nor do I want you to know my preference for deoderants or shampoos. Nor do I think it’s any of your business if I choose free-range chicken over factory-raised. You don’t need to know what I, personally, am buying to track trends. You can do that with sales numbers. You’re just looking for ways to sell me more crap and turn my data over to third parties for external marketing efforts. Take your loyalty card and shove it up your ass, because you just lost my loyalty.
So am I paranoid? Is it scary to think that there are databases containing every purchase that you make? Do you think I’m making this stuff up and reading too much Orwell? Well mayhaps you’d like to read about CVS’ recent blunders with their own list of customer purchases. Here are some excerpts (for when Boston.com removes the link):
PROVIDENCE, R.I. –A security hole that allows easy access to the purchase information of millions of CVS Corp.’s loyalty card customers forced the company to pull Internet access to the data Tuesday until it can fix the problem.
First off, why the hell is this data available over the Internet? This is the shopping habits of millions of customers, yet they allow this information to be accessed via the Internet? One would think this would only be available on a secured Intranet. This is why I don’t trust companies with my personal information, because I know how few of them actually secure that data.
Katherine Albrecht, founder and director of the grassroots group [CASPIAN - Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering -Ed], said a test she conducted showed a list of possibly embarrassing purchases, including condoms and a home pregnancy test kit, the date they were purchased and how much they cost.
She said it could be easily obtained by anyone with access to an ExtraCare card, including a family member or even a car mechanic, who could gain access because some cards fit on a key chain.
This is important to think about. How many people really worry about where they leave those cards that attach to keyrings? Anyone with a little social engineering savvy could very easily gather up your account number and name and go to town on insecure sites like CVS’.
CVS said the company had no knowledge of anyone gaining access to customer information improperly. Andrews said customers’ Social Security and credit card numbers were not posted and the information that was available could not lead to any identity theft.
While this is good to know, it still doesn’t excuse them from leaving such sensitive data available online for anyone with access to a card to view. I assume it was some sort of service for the customer, but why should that data be tracked in the first place? Why should anyone give up their privacy to get a better price on a product that used to be marked “on sale” just as a way to attract shoppers, not to track them?
I just don’t understand why people aren’t bothered by this attempt to force one to give up one’s privacy in order to get the best deal. I for one don’t plan on giving in to Big Brother that easily, and I will support any store that doesn’t require me to have my purchases tracked.
