We were just reading about Safeway’s new “Just for U” program. It’s an add-on to Safeway’s longstanding Club Card loyalty program. With Just for U, Safeway Club Card members can get extra discounts on items they’ve bought before and on items they’re likely to buy in the future, based on the items they’ve bought before. So if you buy corn chips today, Safeway might offer you a Just for U discount on Cheez Whiz tomorrow.
Great, right? Or is it? Did you ever wonder what supermarkets like Safeway do with all the data they collect on your purchases? Obviously they use it to offer you discounts. But what else do they do with it? Oh, just sell it to third parties (like maybe health insurers) who might have an interest in the things you buy regularly (like maybe beer, cigarettes, and Molten Hot Wings Ruffles). Yeah, we know: Most of these loyalty programs have privacy policies, and they promise not to sell your information. But the policies have fine print like this (from Safeway): “We may share personal information with our affiliate companies or in the course of an actual or potential sale, reorganization, consolidation, merger or amalgamation of our business or businesses.” That’s how, when Winn-Dixie went bankrupt, customers’ pharmacy records were sold to the highest bidders. CVS bought the records from 62 stores for $6.4 million, Eckerd purchased the records from 20 stores for $2.7 million, Kroger paid $1.47 million for 12 stores’ records, etc. (So next time you go to buy that mineral-oil enema your doctor recommended, don’t use your club card.)
What else do supermarkets do with your data?
Read the full article here.