Reader Molly needed a cellphone charger. She ran in to Radio Shack to grab one and paid with cash — but the cashier wouldn’t complete the transaction without her home address, phone number and email address. She’s wondering if this is normal.

Molly says:

I went to a radio shack yesterday to replace my cellphone charger. It came to 10 and change including tax and I paid cash.

So I could not think of a reason why the woman at the counter insisted on collecting my home address, phone number and email address. I tried to decline, but she insisted the transaction could not be completed without the data being inputted.

I would have asked to speak to a higher up, but I had a cab waiting and just wanted to book it. I really don’t like handing out information like that, is this blanket policy or was she just crazy? If it is normal, is there away around this?

Different states have different laws about what information you are allowed to collect at the register, so we’ll just throw this one out to the crowd.

Is this normal at Radio Shack? Any tips for getting around it?

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