"Dan O'Brasky" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> It's your name dweeb. They do so at a lot of stores including CompUSA so that they do indeed have
> a way to reference your purchase and it's date
and
> price if you need to return it or it is defective and needs to be exchange so that you aren't SOL
> and they don't have a ticked off customer who they have no proof of purchasing through them.
>
That's what receipts are for. If Joe Customer is too incompetant to safely save his receipts, he
deserves no support from the retailer.
> What is the worst thing they could do with your information anyway? Send you a catalog or sales
> announcement? Geez, stop being so paranoid and by the way, try being polite to salespeople in
> stores instead of an arrogant, self-righteous weenie. The guy making $8 an hour is told to ask for
certain
> information. Want to buy an extra phone at your local cellular phone
shop,
> well you'll have to give your name. Oh and by the way, if a retailer can track it's customer's
> purchases, they can develop purchase pattern information which can help them to stock product that
> you want or would be inclined to purchase versus something the buyer "thinks" people like
because
> that person does and they can go back to their data and say, well you know we sold 5 times as many
> Continental tires in red as we did in the generic tan and black, let's make sure we order
> appropriately so that we don't disappoint you Mr. Customer when you come in to buy another couple
> sets of red and gee, we ran out 2 weeks ago and we won't be able to get any for another 2
> weeks...they lose a sale, you leave frustrated, have to go elsewhere, you've wasted time and
> accomplished nothing and spend half the rest of the day finding someone else locally who has the
> tires in the
color
> you want for your ride tomorrow. Isn't that a better way to run a company than your way? I'm sure
> you aren't in sales and you are not in a decision-making role whatever you do. And one last thing,
> if you were the norm, they wouldn't ask the question. Maybe you would be more relaxed if you left
> down your guard, relaxed a bit and got off your high horse. I'm sure you pay taxes dude, so uncle
> Sam already knows who you are and where you live. I'm sure your sense of importance is
> self-importance and I'm
sure
> you are nothing more than a cog in someone else's wheel at best. And by
the
> way, try shopping for stuff at a locally owned pro shop and support your local merchants for a
> change. I'm sure you don't mind telling them your name, particularly when you drop your bike for
> some servicing! Or your local cleaner or where you make an appointment to get your hair cut or
lawn
> mowed or car serviced. Such inanity! Dan
As far as tracking their sales, they don't need my name to track the quantities of each product sold
in a given period; they can do that by scanning the barcode on the product and updating their
database accordingly.
Cellular phone service represents an on-going business relationship; of course the vendor has
both a need and a right to know who I am. Buying a bicycle pump, for cash, is a one-time
encounter and the vendor has no need, and therefore no right, to know anything about me. You're
comparing Apples and PCs.
Personally, I don't really care who tracks what information about me (I don't know about the OP). I
do get annoyed with companies who want my name and address and phone number when I'm making a small
cash purchase. They are making a big production, and wasting time, over a trivial sale. Information
that they don't need they don't get.
Actually, given the rising number of identity thefts each year, we probably ought not be cavalier
with our personal information.