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eftychia: Me in kilt and poofy shirt, facing away, playing acoustic guitar behind head (Default)
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QotD

posted by [personal profile] eftychia at 05:25am on 2010-08-12

"This reminds me of the regular conversations I have with check-out staffers who persistently encourage me to obtain one of their store discount membership cards. Because I am the person that I am, I will try to explain the principle of 'no free lunch' and that what they're doing is engaging me in a commercial transaction where I pay for that 'discount' with some unspecified and unknown piece of my identity. And I try to explain that I like my commercial transactions to be overt, explicit, and voluntary -- I want to buy something only when I choose to buy it and I want to know exactly what it is that I'm paying for it.

"And I am regularly met with complete incomprehension. These systems flourish not simply because many people accept the devil's bargain, but because they don't even recognize it as a bargain. The creepy stranger offers them candy and they respond, 'Ooooh! Candy!' and get in the car."

-- Heather Rose Jones, 2010-07-26

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There are 6 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
jayblanc: (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] jayblanc at 09:49am on 2010-08-12
It's a little easier to knowingly trust loyalty cards over here, as we have much stricter personal information privacy laws. And the default is that a company is not allowed to sell on my data to third parties without my explicit consent.
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(no subject)

posted by (anonymous) at 11:35am on 2010-08-12
I solve the problem by giving them fake info and/or sharing the cards with friends to mess up their data collection.
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eftychia: Kickdrum (bass drum) with sneakers on the side legs (kickdrum)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] eftychia at 09:22am on 2010-08-17
Same here.
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ext_97617: puffin (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] stori-lundi.livejournal.com at 02:18pm on 2010-08-12
Those cards literally save me hundreds of dollars each year. I only use the coupons that I need and don't buy unnecessary items. Plus you can always say that you are a visitor to the area and use a guest card without ever giving them one bit of information.
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skreidle: (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] skreidle at 02:38am on 2010-08-13
Indeed--since most stores (especially grocery stores) have moved to "you only get sale prices if you have a discount card", it's hard to afford (dollar-wise) not using them.
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I agree, but...

posted by (anonymous) at 08:15pm on 2010-08-16
Given that companies that have incredible amounts of my personal information-- and theoretically have to, in order to operate-- persist on calling me "Mrs." or even "Mr." I have given up feeling threatened by them knowing that I buy loss leaders whenever possible.
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