
Is a supermarket discount coupon worth giving away your privacy? - lnguyen
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-01-21/ralphs-privacy-disclosure
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axaxs
This is incredibly wasteful. Back when I had a Kroger I would just play dumb
and ask for the discount, even if I get a new card each time, because I refuse
to carry their card. Not wanting to hold up their line, cashiers would either
scan their own card or scan a new card and give it with a blank application,
which I'd promptly trash. For those unfamiliar, they have laughably high
prices on a lot of common items, unless you have your card which cuts the
price in half.

The gas stations would ask you if you had a card, and if you said you didn't
want one, they'd scan one and throw it away. I assume it's because some higher
up demands x percent new signups...for what?

In the end they are just going to track me by my credit card, so what's the
whole point of this song and dance?

~~~
dawnerd
I signed up for a kroger account online with a fake number and information.
Instead of a phone number they just asked for an alternative id, which of
course they highly suggested being a phone number. No problems so far.

(Slight pro tip, just enter in the stores phone number as an alt id - very
good chance they'll have it registered)

But you're right, they're just going to track you some other way.

~~~
t34543
I also used 555-1212 etc but I used to shop at Harris Teeter and they flagged
me. They knew who I was even when paying cash. I would get them to use the
store card on occasion but they were strict and it was at manager discretion.

To sign up for their crappy card they copied your ID, something I’m not ok
with.

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Doubl
Tesco give you an effective 1% discount on some future purchases for using
their clubcard at the checkout, that's provided you use the coupons they send
you periodically before they expire. I prefer to do as little shopping as
possible there and instead shop at the far cheaper German discounter Lidl down
the road. They don't have any of that loyalty crap.

~~~
adrianN
In Germany Lidl recently started an app that gives you discounts.

~~~
Freak_NL
Netherlands too. Really disappointing.

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zweep
It's a hugely privileged point of view to think that people could pass up
multiple dollars of discounts to preserve the rather abstract notion of their
privacy. That's why this shit needs to be regulated with the force of law and
not make unreasonable expectations of consumers.

~~~
logicchains
Or, maybe they just care a lot less about privacy than you do. I'm certainly
not poor but I'd happily save a couple dollars per shopping trip in exchange
for the supermarket having more details on my shopping habits, and the
majority of people I know act similarly. Just because you feel very strongly
about something, doesn't mean other people are wrong because they don't care
so much about it. Is it so hard to imagine that some people might actually be
happy to give up a bit of purchasing information in exchange for paying less
for things?

It seems like the height of arrogance to demand that people not be allowed to
do something without even asking them how they feel about doing it. Or maybe
you don't need to ask them, because you know better than them?

~~~
teddyh
> _I 'd happily save a couple dollars per shopping trip in exchange for the
> supermarket having more details on my shopping habits_

You’re thinking about this all wrong. The “discount” is the actual real price;
the price on the shelf is the punishment price for people who stubbornly
refuse to give up their privacy.

~~~
LargoLasskhyfv
See it as the price of privacy (priced in).

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bitlevel
If they can afford to give you a discount coupon, then the 'discount' is
already built into the product. Non-compliant customers pay more as a result.

~~~
xscott
Yes. Even if they don't use your data (incredibly unlikely), they win just by
scamming privacy conscious, or even apathetic, people into paying more.

~~~
beatgammit
Perhaps, but at least in my area, I can just choose to shop somewhere that
doesn't require a club card to get discounts.

Most places have a club card where you get points to redeem in the form of
cash back after some amount of spend, but the minimum redemption is so high
that you'd have to make them your main store to get enough to redeem, so I
doubt most people with a card actually redeem the points. Advertised prices
don't need a card, except at 1-2 places (e.g. a rebranded Kroger store in my
area). I just avoid places that require a card to get advertised prices, and
my life is simpler (no recitation of my phone number, just a "no thanks").

However, everywhere asks for my phone number, so I can't help but feel like
people are being coerced into tracking. I think we need to remind friends and
whatnot that giving your phone number out quite often doesn't save you money,
and just remember a short list of places where it does. For those places, I
give my parents' number (they can have the fuel points or whatever), which
makes the data fairly useless.

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Freak_NL
All these loyalty programs aren't there to give you a discount, they exist to
fine the customers who don't participate.

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anon463637
Giving them false information maybe an option.. or even "unintentional"
misspellings, off-by-one phone numbers, disposable email addresses and vacant
lots.

IANAL: Btw, has anyone asked a lawyer if this is a crime in any state or
country?

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LargoLasskhyfv
You know? Whith all the ranting here about the pros and cons, maybe you should
read about
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_tag#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_tag#History)

Edit: From my point of view the gathering of data is unnecessary. The shopped
items are scanned by their barcodes at the cashiers point. This is enough to
plan for restocking, in real time, with datamining considering time, location,
events, holidays, whatnot. Everything else is superfluous, and just a lie.
That simple.

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OJFord
I nearly exclusively order online and have it delivered, which seems to be
much more commonplace in the UK than in North America, I've noticed.

It saves me too much time and money, frankly, even though I'm otherwise quite
privacy-conscious. (I won't scan my 'myWaitrose' card in-store when asked if I
have one, for example, since it's 100% about tracking and gives me no benefit
if I'm not claiming a free coffee/newspaper.)

Besides, it would be hypocritical of me to shop on Amazon so much and then
object to supermarket websites.

------
arminiusreturns
The sad thing is they all are doing it and don't even need you to use any of
their "discount cards" or whatever, they can just do credit card correlation
with third parties and achieve all the same results without you ever agreeing
to it. I compromised and got a card but never signed anything or registered
it, so I still get discounts but I can't, for example, enter my phone number
(I have to have the card for scanning on me). They are correlating the data
anyway so I might as well save a buck or two.

~~~
mixmastamyk
Albertsons did away with their card for that reason but they also accept Apple
Pay, so I believe I’m in the clear. TJs too.

~~~
stirlo
Contrary to the way it was marketed Apple Pay only randomises the credit card
number when you add the card the first time. After that it’s the same card
number being used for every transaction and traceable.

~~~
mattr47
Source?

~~~
stirlo
There was a thread a while ago...
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14491409](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14491409)

Essentially make a few Apple Pay purchases and look at the card number on the
receipt. It's always the same.

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imgabe
There's always the time honored tradition of giving a fake phone number.

Giant even has a "Forgot my card" option on the self checkout that just gives
you the discount without entering anything.

~~~
amelius
Another option is to periodically swap your card with a random person on the
subway.

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tsherr
Depends. I got $360 in free groceries last year at one place so I think that
was a fair trade.

At the other store in town I got about $150.

Better pay than I get for my privacy on the web.

~~~
adtac
Hypothetical example: and what happens when your insurance company buys this
data 10 years down the line, sees that you've buying an awful lot of sugary
soda very closely in line with people at risk of diabetes, and decides to
increase your monthly premium?

This is my favourite example of a consequence of loss of privacy. I've found
it to be incredibly efficient at convincing even non-tech people (like my
family) to be privacy-aware.

~~~
planb
Then we as a society should decide if pricing people differently based on this
kind of data should be legal (in my opinion it shouldn't for social
insurance). But the probability that you indeed have a risk for diabetes is
higher than if you'd only have bought broccoli.

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neonate
[http://archive.md/w1p71](http://archive.md/w1p71)

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SkyMarshal
Just use a burner email and fake or burner phone number for your supermarket
rewards account.

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anotheryou
Are they forbidden to or is it technical not possible to track by credit card?

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scarejunba
Yes? Between this and my Amex Blue 6% cashback it's pretty good.

Also, why on Earth would HN ask for my location
[https://imgur.com/a/RMOXa1d](https://imgur.com/a/RMOXa1d)

That makes less sense.

~~~
lol768
Are you sure there's no extension injecting JS or something into the page?

I'm pretty sure this should never happen - you should probably reach out to
hn@ycombinator.com about this

~~~
scarejunba
It's Chrome on Android, which doesn't do extensions, right? And I don't think
Sonic is putting JS on the page. I wonder if it's a race that occurs when you
just navigate past a page that _does_ ask. On the Pixel 3a there are
noticeable pauses when browsing. Could be something like that.

