Consumerist reader Eyebrows McGee (probably not her real name) suggests a clever and subversive technique for sticking it to the Loyalty Program Man: swap your loyalty cards with other shoppers. The cardexchange.org website is a one-stop destination for finding someone out there you can exchange with. But before you visit it, you should consider the consequences and risks.
For one thing, swapping cards doesn’t stop the data collection process, it just breaks it; for all you know, your local Rite-Aid will just now assume that you switched to another brand of soap, or that you seem to have a recurring case of jock itch, or that you suddenly developed diabetes. This is all very funny, yes, but since it will be linked to your name, it doesn’t actually give you true privacy, but rather replaces your real data profile with a false one. Another thing to keep in mind is that, in the case of cardexchange.org, you have to exchange physical addresses with a complete stranger–which sort of ruins the point of “protecting your privacy” in the first place.
Another risk, however unlikely, is that your shopping records can be subpoenaed, which means… well, you can imagine the various thriller scenarios where you’re framed for a horrible crime and, because of an unlucky coincidence in your totally fabricated shopping record, you seem to have a long history of purchasing rat poison. (We’re not sure this would ever hold up in court, but we have an abiding fear of prison.) The sad truth is that your shopping records can be subpoenaed whether they’re really yours or not, but at least if they’re actually yours, you can make sure they don’t contain incriminating information.
There was a flurry of online interest in subverting loyalty programs a few years back, but most of what remains of it today is displayed on web pages from 2002 or older. For those inclined to civil disobedience, your best bet if you want to muddy the data record yet still retain some trust is to follow Eyebrows McGee’s advice, and swap with friends (and/or family).
Resources: cardexchange.org
(Photo: Getty)
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You know, every week I get an email about the specials that are currently happening on the foods I’ve bought in the past. Then I go to the grocery store and I buy extra strawberries because I remember from the email, they’re buy one get one free!
I realize everybody thinks the loyalty cards are just raising prices for the average consumer who doesn’t use them but really, you think the grocery stores wouldn’t just raise the prices anyway?
Make sure when you’re signing up with fake information that it’s not a card with other benefits. I know of a specific card that if you don’t sign up with a phone number of some sort (and the computer would yell if you tried an obviously fake number) you really miss out on pretty much every big benefit the card offered.
@jeremyduffy: Ah, I remember that site now….thanks jeremyduffy
In addition to loyalty cards, many stores are now rudely asking for your Zip code when making purchases, even when you pay with cash. Radio Shack insisted on having my Zip code, well, of course they got 10048 as the answer.
I encourage everyone to peruse both nocards.org, and spychips.org.
The benefits of card programs are deceptive. The 2-for-1 strawberries (or coupons or sales, etc.)
(a) get you in the store, where you buy amply priced (non-loss-leader) stuff in addition to the strawberries, or…
(b) the 2-for-1 may not even be any kind of bargain; e.g., 2-for-1 strawberries at $3.99 may be more expensive, ounce for ounce, than strawberries at another store, such as Trader Joe’s, or at a farmers’ market.
Do the math. Card-based grocery store marketers are ruthless. The point of the cards is to increase the profit of the grocery stores, period. They know that strategically giving away a pint of strawberries to someone who tends to buy strawberries (which they know from the mountain of data about you that you have allowed them to have) will probably loosen your wallet in the process. Ultimately, they gain and you lose. And they gain through trickery, not through honest win-win transactions. If you go to the store and just get the 2-for-1 strawberries, and don’t get anything else, I bet you won’t be getting any more emails offering you 2-for-1 strawberries. You would become a “deadbeat” customer (cf. credit card companies call people who pay their balance every time “deadbeats” — such customers don’t earn the credit card companies any money). The 2-for-1 strawberries, or any coupons or sales, are not being provided out of the kindness of their charitable hearts. The intent, again, is to ultimately get more money out of you, and ideally not realize that it’s happened.
Believe me, these people have sucker-grooming down to a science, just about literally. They have mountains of data, and sophisticated statistical analyses at their disposal. Thanks to the cards, and the emails and coupons in the mail, they know who buys what, when, how often, and who responds to what, when, and how often. I think it’s a big mistake to look upon these things like, “Oh, that benevolent grocery corporation and their fabulous discount card program — they just want to give me free strawberries with no ulterior motive whatsoever. And those cards, boy do they save me money!!!” Again, do the math. Add up your grocery bills at card stores vs. non-card stores. Card systems COST MONEY (including labor, electronics, junk mail, etc.). And SOMEBODY has to be pay for them. (They also, by the way, slow down checkout, and, well, are simply a huge violation of privacy.)
Again, read nocards.org. It’s eye-opening.
To Jeremy Duffy — just looked at your site — cool, man.
I encourage folks to just say no to questions about your zip code. Taint their business, and it slows down checkout.