Last week we talked about saving money on insurance by installing a tracking device in your car. I didn’t like the idea because it felt too invasive and many of you said you wouldn’t give up your privacy to save a few dollars on insurance.
Our discussion got me thinking about all the ways we do give up our privacy to save money, probably without even thinking about it.
One way that most if not all people allow companies to learn more about them is grocery store loyalty cards. Often grocery stores will offer shoppers with loyalty cards significant discounts on groceries.
When signing up for the loyalty card there is usually a page of “terms” that I never read, do you? I just sign and save!
Every time you shop and use the card the store learns more about you and your grocery habits. As long as the card is swiped during the transaction it is tracking all your purchases, not just the discounted items.
The grocery store learns a lot about you over the course of a few years. They know the days you shop, spending habits, and the type of food you are buying. Of course the store has your address and phone number because you had to list that on the form when you received your card.
Most of us sign up for these cards without a second thought, I know I do. Who wants to pay regular prices?
At what point are we unwilling to give up our privacy to save money? Many of you said there was no way you would let your auto insurance company track your driving. What if your health insurance company was given access to your grocery information? Would it be worth the savings?
I’ve been thinking all week about the point at which I would rather pay more to protect my privacy.
I can’t quite decide, my desire to save is pretty great, but I wonder about the long term consequences of selling my information. Is it worth it?
What do you think?
Photo credit: joelogon
The car tracking thing freaks me out a little, but I’m beginning to wonder why. I don’t mind that the grocery store tracks me – they give me more relevant coupons. I’m all over Facebook and social networking sites, and I’m a very open person so as long as my safety (or that of my family) isn’t blatantly at risk, I apparently don’t mind. On the other hand – at what point does having my information out there actually become a safety risk? It’s a little hard to know and something I really do need to think more about.
This is a good topic. Several years ago I signed up for cards with CVS and Kroger, but gave as little info as possible, and may have even made up some fictitious info… We’ve moved since then, and I’ve become an avid couponer. Since I really want all the coupons and offers that come through email and regular mail, all of these companies have my correct info. Very rarely do I pay with a credit card, so I guess I’ve thought I was protecting my privacy by paying with cash. I imagine that most of these companies can, and perhaps do consolidate their collected info on consumers. I wonder what I’m risking by letting them know so much about my shopping habits.
We have a Kroger card, but they probably think my family only eats junk food & drinks soda. I only go there to shop if there’s a great deal on soda or goldfish crackers. We also have a CVS card, but I don’t use it often either. Both stores I gave fictitious information to and my spam email address.
this has always made me think “mark of the beast”. Took me a long time to sign up and I still only have one that I use regularly. But I have a library card, sam’s card and costco card. Scary if you think of all the information that floats around out there.
My husband agrees to a health check up (does a survey, has his blood pressure, and cholesterol checked, etc.) at work to saving a significant amount of money per month on our health insurance. (This year they also gave the employees a $75 gift card for doing it too.) I think that’s the most personal thing we do to save money. But, considering that the insurance is through his work anyway, they all have the same information whether we would agree for him to do that or not. (Well, unless he also skipped a yearly check up with the doctor.)
Now, if that information went to anyone additional, I would have us pay more for him to skip it.
People here in the UK are always rabbiting on about how we have the most CCTV cameras in the world and “Big Brother is watching you”….however I’ve always been of the opinion that if you aint done nothing wrong you aint got nothing to hide. I take a similar stance on issues like these. Yes at first glance it’s an odd thought that someone may be tracking my movements whether that be when I’m at the shop or where my car is at any given time…however, why should I want to hide that information anyhow? I buy nothing “wrong” with my groceries, I don’t go driving into illicit areas to meet strange, dark figures. In the worst ever case scenario, someone with a vendetta against you may access databases in which this information is stored, but when you think about it, given the thousands of people signed up to these schemes and the level of protection and encryption most companies have around their databases, such a person would have to be a genius and you would have had to have done something seriously bad to miff them off that much. As for the companies themselves, unless the illuminati really is out there I just can’t see any way as to how they could use that information to your own personal detriment. Finally, I think we have to seriously evaluate what we consider private information. Anything about ourselves is private from some but open to others. Whilst your car location is obviously an immediate security risk if the wrong people got their hands on it, what is the likelihood of your insurers coming to break in? And whilst that is indeed an obvious risk, what is the precise risk of your supermarket knowing your favourite brand of toilet paper? It’s all about relevance, and assessing the real risk to you.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this became something that was required in the future. I don’t really care if my grocery store tracks my purchases, but I would have a problem with it if they started sharing that information with my insurance company or anyone else. They would have to prove I ate it! lol
I once watched a show about what our insurance would be like in the future. It showed that our toilets would send our urine results directly to the insurance company. The insurance company would then be able to track what we eat and drink. With the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if that really happened. Pretty gross if you ask me!
As one who studied marketing (but finished in HR, it was more fun), I’m game for giving them my info. Why? Because #1, they don’t really care who each individual is. They aren’t looking at the lists thinking, “Oh, they eat horribly.” Or “Wow! What amazing people, look what they buy!”. They look at lists. They clump you with other people that buy the same things and send you incentives to buy more. They want data in large numbers.
Also, when they see what the general public is going for, they tend to make more products that fit that demographic. They aren’t just guessing at what improvements to make, they are looking at what you (and everyone else) prefer at large, and trying to meet those needs. Businesses that do not meet a need fail eventually, and they do not want to fail.
great points. i don’t like to be tracked..ever. 1) ditch the cards ya have 2) reapply with a bogus name 3) OR reapply with a local food bank address or needy family (that agrees to their name and address being used) (etc) and have the q-pons go to them
i personally miss getting sales because they were on sale, not because i had some plastic do-lolly telling me that i’m price-worthy.
but, i must have sale prices; since that’s the only time i buy..so whatcha gonna do?! lol
great topic.
It’s scary to think what information they may be gathering but for now, I can’t afford to stop using my Kroger card. Just last week my total before my card was $217. My card and coupons dropped it down to $119 – most of that savings was the card. So for now, I’m keeping the card. Who knows what the future will hold and I what I’ll do then.
I don’t have a problem at all with companies having information on what groceries I buy, how much money I spend and where and when. I don’t have a problem either with the car tracker. What are the chances that someone is actually going to use this information to hurt myself or my family? Also, other than knowing where my car is (with the tracker) how would they be able to hurt me? You are probably more at risk of getting mugged by a stranger than having a disgruntled marketing employee poison your Cheetos because he knows that is what you buy every Friday night at Kroger. On the subject of our information being sold to health insurance companies, again, I don’t see the risk. My health ins co already knows I am overweight, struggle with depression and have all of my family health history in doctors records. Knowing my shopping habits is way less personal than the results of my last gyno exam!
One thought that I had was how stores that don’t offer “club cards” whether they still track your purchases/trends.
For example, I have returned stuff to Target that I bought myself but didn’t have a receipt for (accidentally threw it away). They offer to look it up on the card I used to originally pay for it and that bothers me because are they storing my credit card number in it’s entirety? Maybe they do stuff to encrypt the information but since cards expire every couple of years and I use the same debit/credit card to make my purchases at Target, are they also keeping track of my spending habits?
At this point, if you’re online or digital at all (FB, blog, email, text, cell phones), your data is already being compiled and tracked and sold. You might as well save some money by doing it yourself.
I agree. Bex said it better than I could. The only info I don’t give out is my birth date as someone with that info could access your social security number, if they are smart enough! We just need to be careful with our info. Good thoughts though and makes you think!
I usually draw the line at special offers or freebies that require you to allow a program to access your Facebook profile. I hadn’t considered the possibility that health insurance companies might find the information about what sorts of foods I buy. That thought does make me uncomfortable.
We are also giving up our privacy with free coupon offers. They want address and email; to give to other companies and advertisers. As the quote states “there is no free lunch”.