[lbo-talk] direct marketing

[Mr. WD]

Almost every major grocery store chain offers its customers a little
card that goes on your keychain and can be swiped along with your
groceries to get any discounts the store might be offering.  You
usually don't save very much -- maybe $200/year.  In return, the store
presumably records all your purchases.  But to what end?  Being
somewhat paranoid, I imagine this will one day be sold to insurance
companies so they can develop custom-made actuarial tables -- adjusted
in accordance with your consumption of booze, and salty and fatty
foods.

I've been swiping my card at various chains for years, but I never saw
any evidence of anything really malevolent in the practice.  The
threat was purely hypothetical.

Then today, my wife went through the self check-out and it printed out
what appears to be a custom-generated advertisement for "New
Morningstar Farms (R) Asian Veggie Patties!  Introducing a sweet and
spicy twist on traditional veggie burgers."  This being North Carolina
(pork-land, where "Asian-style vegetables and hints of chilis, garlic
and ginger" aren't going to get a lot of folks' mouths watering) it's
almost impossible to believe this isn't the first phase of some sort
of creepy direct marketing campaign.

Still, it seems futile to dump the little keychain card, as this will
only result in me being asked if I want to sign up for one every time
I want to buy groceries.

-WD