WAY OFF: Insidious business practices

[dhuggins]

Yeah,

        All this new technology is bullcrap.  I don't know why we put up with it.
DO away with it all.  And fleurine.  Who needs flowery water anyways?  Heh,
even those fricking keyboards and synthesizers are too much.


                        OOps, went to faaaaar. . . . . .


Technology marches on, but you gotta pay the piper.  Just make sure you
come out ahead.


At 06:18 PM 3/28/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Keith,
>
>This has been going on for quite some time.  I recall when I was a GTA
>for the Professionalism in Computing class here I screened some sort of
>video called "They Know Where You Live" (or something similar), which
>was about Direct Marketing.  It's all about the quest for data.  More
>specifically, purchase histories.  Some supermarkets actually started
>with store credit cards, so they could tie register data with
>individuals.
>
>You can probably blame data mining for the increase in all this lately.
>Having done a data mining class, and looked at some of the algorithms
>and approaches used, it is just as useful to know that X bought these
>items together, rather than Keith Henderson of Ohio bought these items
>together.  That's why they're not fanatical about verifying your
>information.  The name and address only come in handy for them if they
>decide to start sending you "targeted promotions." :-)
>
>Incidentally, haven't you realised that WWW sites have been doing this
>for ages (assuming you have cookies enabled)?  It is becoming more
>prevalent as folks jump on the "personalisation" bandwagon.
>
>To answer your question about how widespread this is, I can say our
>Kroger introduced it at least a year ago.  I was fairly miffed because
>their "buy one get one free" type promotions now only apply when using
>the Kroger Plus card, and there are now many "Kroger Plus" savings which
>only apply when using the card.  But, as I filled out my application in
>the name of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs of Dallas, TX, I don't lose too much sleep
>over it.
>
>Food Lion introduced this here much before Kroger.  (Food Lion have the
>"MVP Card;" what an ego boost every day!;)  I still have my (now
>dog-eared) temporary card, and so don't even have a fictitious ID
>registered with them.  The cashiers occasionally do a double-take at it
>every now and then (it is not even plastic, like the real ["permanent?"]
>cards).  Mind you, Food Lion do sometimes run lottery promotions, such
>as free groceries for a year, and cash prizes, etc., so I have wondered
>if I've ever won any of these and had it go unclaimed. :-)
>
>=> And because of Kroger's new card, they have a special response, which is
>=> quite interesting.  You're paying for their market research!  :)
>
>Are you saying your Kroger Plus card offers no benefits?  I get good
>savings with the one I use.  (BTW, at our Kroger, coupons up to 50 cents
>are *always* doubled when using the Kroger Plus card, which is a big
>saver.)
>
>Cheers,
>
>Paul.
>
>e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu
>
>"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
> deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
>        --- Frank Vincent Zappa