August 5, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Loyalty Cards
August 6, 2009 at 6:44 am
It is a double edged sword. Two of our grocery chains in my area (Cops and County Market) each had their own branded customer cards. You had to apply for them seperately as they were two different competing orgs. interestingly enough... the cards worked at either, yet each had a different copy of the information. Maybe we should put some focus back on a diners club or a AAA membership style and be done with it... technology has gone back in a circle. Each social networking app tries to be the best... then devices and other apps merge them all back together for us for one central point of user interaction.
There would be benefits to a federal ID program that is a public use type of deal. But as Fox News recently pointed out with the CARS web site (granted they are all paranoid frightened people) data security can be a huge question.
I prefer just to pay what things are worth as it prevents me from getting 12 peices of junk mail and 30 junk emails each day. Not to mention telemarketers. Poor fella that owns 867-5309 in each area code!
August 6, 2009 at 7:15 am
These loyalty cards are quite often used as an inroad into tracking your purchasing behavior. This in turn becomes data fed into a business intelligence system that businesses use for advantages in their marketplace. It isn’t necessarily a bright manager that does things like puts some packages of shortcakes next to the strawberries in your supermarket. It’s just as likely to be the result of a data mining process that shows that these two products are typically together.
August 6, 2009 at 7:20 am
I used to work for a bookstore that had a loyalty card program.
When I was working there, to get the card all you had to do was pay $10 for it, and it was good for 10% off everything for a year. Later, they changed it so that you had to give a valid e-mail address, confirm the e-mail, a valid phone number (they'd test and cancel if it didn't work), and a valid address (they used electronic confirmation similar to the post office CASS system), plus they increased the cost to $50/year. For some odd reason, their memberships dropped to about 1% of what they had been with the prior program...hmmmmm....
I don't know what level of security they had on the database electronically, but any employee could pull up lists of these. Even if you couldn't print them, you could still write them down, or take a picture of the screen, or whatever. This automatically included purchase history, with the intention that the employee at the cash register could ask, "How'd you like _book_name_ that you bought on _date_?" (If you deliver that one way, it's creepy. If you deliver it another way, it's friendly. All depends on the presentation.)
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
August 6, 2009 at 7:33 am
The ACLU has a comical video of ordering pizza in 2012. Data Mining and linking of information can get out of hand already. But imagine the possibilities. Fortunately for retailers I am not paranoid... YET!
August 6, 2009 at 8:22 am
I like to shop at places where a card isn't needed to get the sale price. I don't like having my habits tracked by anyone.
Loyalty programs are fine as long as they don't require giving your data out. We have a restaurant that uses a card they punch. Very low tech.
I will not give out my email address, phone number, or zip code just to buy a CD or DVD. Just let me buy it, already!
Remember, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you. :w00t:
August 6, 2009 at 8:43 am
I tend to like those businesses that just have cards that are punched. The QDoba one does take an email, and they periodically send me coupons (like for my Apr 1 birthday!). I'm not sure I'm too worried about them tracking what I eat, especially as I buy for friends at times.
August 6, 2009 at 9:41 am
In the UK there are many small loyalty schemes, and 2 big ones - Nectar and Tesco. Both of these span multiple companies that have no common ownership. You get points when you shop in affiliated stores which can be exchanged for goods or cash.
The amount of data that gets collected on buying habits is vast. So also is the amount of information you have to give to get one of these cards.
For me, if keeping my details to myself means missing out on a small amount of discount, then I prefer to miss out on the discount. There are far too many organisations that data on individuals that goes beyond that needed to complete a transaction. The less I am known the better.
Original author: https://github.com/SQL-FineBuild/Common/wiki/ 1-click install and best practice configuration of SQL Server 2019, 2017 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008 and 2005.
When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist - Archbishop Hélder Câmara
August 6, 2009 at 9:44 am
Here's the rub: This is all about marketing, and when you pay alot for marketing you want to know if it's worth it. You could just hand out a bunch of punch cards, and yes your business bumped up, but why did it. Was it seasonal? Was it 10 people who decided to eat there everyday, and just kept getting new cards? or was it just people within a 5 mile radius of your store? In NY that's alot of people, in Wy it's pitiful.
If you have a uniqueID then you have a PK, and I don't have to tell this group how important that is. Email is good, because even if it's shared, the demographics are tight, phone number, same. In a harmless sense, having a PK and a physical location helps them know if they are effective at there marketing. Take the zip code example you gave Steve, that helps Home Depot decide where to build there next store (so that it is closest to the most number of people who traveled some distance to get there), but allows them to easily remove the outliers from the formula.
Anything more than a zip code is an attempt to direct mail, be sure to check the opt out box, it's required to be there.
Same is true for email and phone, trying for the PK, but if they assign CustomerID's, how do they keep you from signing up more than once? or at least know if you have? This I think is where the Fed ID program is really targeted. Just hand out FED GUIDs to everyone, don't ask for any data in return (for security) but it would allow you to use it to apply for all these things. They wouldn't know who you are, just that you are the same you that you where the last time you visited this store or got that previous discount card.
August 6, 2009 at 10:07 am
Steve - right on.
We just transferred our phone from the regional provider to our cable provider. I could have kept my old phone number, but decided to get a new one which I will keep unlisted for a year or two. I'm hoping I can get rid (at least for the near term) of all the nonsense I'm getting from all of the unknown entities that have my old phone number and appear to feel free to pass it around.
It's funny that the earliest responders to this editorial thought about local store cards - that was my first thought, too. They're really annoying. I carry enough plastic around without having to have a card for every local grocery (and other) store I visit. I don't mind the idea of stores keeping track of what I purchase so they can improve their business processes, advertising, etc., but there just has to be a better way...
___________________________________________________
“Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.”
August 6, 2009 at 11:29 am
I don't mind having my shopping habits tracked when it means they send me targeted special discounts for the things I shop for regularly .. which my grocery store "club" does. Also, they provide the info on a tag I can keep on my key ring, so I don't have to carry a full-size card.
But then, since I have had a security clearance most of my life, I am used to the idea of strangers poking around in my background.
August 6, 2009 at 11:35 am
I go so far as to willingly pay more in order to avoid giving away my personal information. If they want my personal data, they better pay me good for it and there are precious few deals out there where the pay is good enough. I refuse to join one free book store card program because it requires giving up my e-mail and then the rewards are not worth it.
I will stop shopping at a store completely if the only way to get the sales price is to use their "I'm tracking you" card. I was a loyal Albertsons grocery store shopper for years until they instituted their card system. Now I happily shop at Fred Meyer. They have a card system too, but you don't have to use it to get the sales price. Their card system does not offer enough benefits to make it worth using (they are not paying me enough for my data), so I don't use their card.
On the other hand, I can get a free punch card from a yogurt place, not give out any info at all, and get a free sundae every 7th purchase. They have my completely loyalty!
August 6, 2009 at 11:39 am
Steve - I agree, but only to a point. I have no issue whatsoever with a loyalty program on those vendors I deem worthy. But that's the rub - I would prefer it be an opt-IN product, and not an opt-OUT product. I'd prefer to find out if you're worthy of having my info before I go telling you about Aunt Tilly and her crazy geraniums (and all of the other demographic info leading up to Tilly).
And frankly - I think it actually would help the retailers as well: I'm still getting mailing from an online vendor I used exactly once 7 years ago for something I have no intention of purchasing from them again. I wouldn't call that a "loyal customer".
Untill there truly is an opt-out, "delete my info and never contact me again" mechanism, I will stay aloof until I KNOW you're someone I'm interested in maintaining a contact with.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?
August 6, 2009 at 11:41 am
jpowers (8/6/2009)
I don't mind having my shopping habits tracked when it means they send me targeted special discounts for the things I shop for regularly .. which my grocery store "club" does. Also, they provide the info on a tag I can keep on my key ring, so I don't have to carry a full-size card.But then, since I have had a security clearance most of my life, I am used to the idea of strangers poking around in my background.
Yeah, I used to object to so-called loyalty cards on privacy grounds, but maybe my tinfoil needs to be replaced, since I've gotten over it... Maybe it was the security clearance nonsense, or running for office. Never thought about it. Just thought I was gettin' old. Heh.
As a multiple victim of fraud, it used to really bug me to give my SSN to doctors and insurance companies, but I do trust them with [censored], so despite their weak, barely locked paper storage, I give it up. Then I go buy fraud insurance from Zander.
I will be concerned when people (and laws) begin to get suspicious of individuals who provide fictitious information. There is already some case law which tends in that direction, which is frightening. There are a lot of government agencies that want your digital shadow to be a high fidelity reflection of the real you. Watch for this to get worse.
I have stopped giving away my correct birthday now that the SSN algorithm has been tightly linked to birthday, and I've noticed a eerie similarity in all of the "secret questions" that people get asked when creating a new account anywhere online these days. I've had to start using PasswordSafe just to keep track of all the imaginary values I give them, because nobody needs to know what city I was born in unless they're trying to look up my birth certificate.
The discounts for having a card from the local grocery stores make it worth carrying an extra key tag or two, and most of the rest of them (REI, Best Buy, etc) look me up by phone number. I give away my cell phone to anybody who asks, and nobody ever calls me anyway, so I haven't had to worry about it anyway...
I think I've rambled enough now. Nevermind.
:hehe:
August 6, 2009 at 12:19 pm
For those who read this forum and who are living in the U.S.A and who have forgotten about the Do Not Call listing and who wish to stop telemarketing phone calls, for both land line and cell phones visit this site and register your phone numbers
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 21 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply