>> You're already being tracked by the grocery stores
>
> With cash and no store "loyalty" app - no.
Assuming no facial recognition, phone tracking or license plate reading, all that means is they aren't tracking you between visits. Certainly the items purchased together are tracked. And they get lumped together into the "cash, no card" group. And if you buy any age restricted products where they can see your ID, your birthdate is entered into the system, which is probably unique enough among cardless cash users in any grocery store.
phones made in the last few years have mac address randomization to thwart this type of stuff. It's not perfect, but it suffices to prevent them from building a profile of your purchases between visits.
>Some also use facial recognition.
good thing covid made face masks socially acceptable ;)
In England they definitely do for parking purposes. Like, you get two hours free parking and after you have to pay. And they track it via licence plate readers.
Oh, but you are. You are lumped in with other folks using cash and no loyalty card. There is a demographic like you, in other words. You might very well be tracked through the store so that they can study where you go and what you stop at as well.
> wouldn't it be better to be tracked by someone who at least tries to have your best interests at heart
Ok. Except that they might just use it to do good overall too. I very highly doubt you can be any more sure than the rest of us.
> You are lumped in with other folks using cash and no loyalty card.
More than that you’re lumped in with other folks who have the same habits and brand preferences as you, which may very well be a lump of exactly one person.
With cash and no store "loyalty" app - no.
> wouldn't it be better to be tracked by someone who at least tries to have your best interests at heart
But this is not the case here.