It never fails. I always find a way to get into the shortest looking line at the grocery store, which turns into a 20-minute wait. I watch the lines around me empty. *ugh* I’m not sure if it’s a guy-thing, or more personal and some kind of genetic-defect. Regardless, it gives one time to think. So as I stare at the incredible price I’m paying for cereal thinking, “how could I make my own cheaper?” I glance at the person ahead of me and identify the problem. She’s writing a check. A CHECK! “Who does that anymore?” I mean, we’ve had credit and debit cards for how long now? Since the ’80s??? But maybe she’s on to something… and doing a better job of protecting her privacy than I am.Retail is notorious for data collection. The more they know about your purchasing habits, the more they can tweak their marketing, product-lines and pricing models, find trends,etc. Enter my “Wegmans Shopper’s Club Card.” I save 50 cents on my box of Cheerios by using my Shopper’s Club Card. I also give Wegmans information on my buying habits on all the other stuff I didn’t get a discount on (wing sauce). I also pay by credit card because one can never have enough airline miles. In exchange I know I’m giving MasterCard business from the merchant fees, and also giving them electronic data on my purchase. How much data seems to vary by merchant and point-of-sale system.

I started to feel better about shopping at Wegmans when on at least two occasions they contacted customers directly for health concerns/recalls. In one case, they contacted customers who purchased E. Coli tainted beef, in another a Hep C warning on fresh produce — in both cases using Shopper’s Club Card data to notify customers. I wasn’t affected by either, but their local competitors here in Buffalo have never used their customer data in such a positive way, and it actually impacts my shopping habits (since I don’t shop there, unless I have to). It’s nice to see these grocery stores posting their privacy policies (however lax they may be) for customers to read and even using the data in a manner that shows they understand the value of the data they possess. Behind the trends and numbers are real human beings and families. Could be part of a case study in brand loyalty. But that’s not why we’re here…

I worked in a Bank’s check processing center. When moving checks, they just want the numbers. “Account from,” and “Amount,” all encoded on micr ink. No Cheerios, no wing sauce.

So the woman ahead of me using a check — was she on to something? By paying by check, even if it’s processed “electronically,” is she starving credit card companies valuable purchasing data? Was she protecting her privacy?

Or was she just wasting my time?

Check out this interesting story, “Will Police Turn Buying Habits into Grocery Fingerprints” that I found while writing this post…

Filed under: Anonymity, Privacy