Why You Shouldn't Give Your Zip Code At The Register

Reba said:
That's what's weird. There are some retailers who ask for ZIP codes even for cash transactions. Other than market tracking, what would be the purpose?
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As a 38-year retired postal employee, I can tell you that you hit the nail on the head. Just think of where that business is located and the zips of people using the business show where to concetrate a mass mailing to reach more people to use the business. If there is only one shopper from a specific zip, that zip will not be blanketed by mass mailing. But if enough "hits" are make on a specific zip, then every home gets a flyer or something in the mail to encourage buying. Without mass mailing (it is the cheapest possible way to go for businesses) the Post Office would be dead. It will be soon anyway, thanks to cell phones/the internet/computers. More so, the changeing habits of Americans....just wait and see how many people send their Mom an email or on-line gift for Mother's Day....they wont even think to send a personal, hand-written card. Sad but that is life. p.s. my Mom gets a real card!
 
radioman said:
did you read post #4 ??

IF merchant wants to be a SOB- then give the evil zip code........ :roll:
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I'm not a vengeful person, especially to cashiers. They don't make the rules, so there's no point in giving them a hard time.
 
rolling7 said:
... More so, the changeing habits of Americans....just wait and see how many people send their Mom an email or on-line gift for Mother's Day....they wont even think to send a personal, hand-written card. Sad but that is life. p.s. my Mom gets a real card!
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Sad, indeed. We send real cards and gifts. (Besides, MIL doesn't have a computer.)
 
Reba said:
I usually pay cash for my purchases, except at the gas pump. The funny thing is, the cashiers at some stores ask for my ZIP code when I pay cash!
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Once some Indian guy who owned a newsstand in Richmond made me show my ID even though I was paying in cash.

I told him that it's just not done with people paying in cash as the money is good. It's normally used done with people using cards for security reasons. It doesn't make sense to show your id if you're paying in cash and you're not buying anything that's restricted to the legal age (ie, booze) . I refused to buy anything there again and the place closed after a while.
 
rolling7 said:
As a 38-year retired postal employee, I can tell you that you hit the nail on the head. Just think of where that business is located and the zips of people using the business show where to concetrate a mass mailing to reach more people to use the business. If there is only one shopper from a specific zip, that zip will not be blanketed by mass mailing. But if enough "hits" are make on a specific zip, then every home gets a flyer or something in the mail to encourage buying. Without mass mailing (it is the cheapest possible way to go for businesses) the Post Office would be dead. It will be soon anyway, thanks to cell phones/the internet/computers. More so, the changeing habits of Americans....just wait and see how many people send their Mom an email or on-line gift for Mother's Day....they wont even think to send a personal, hand-written card. Sad but that is life. p.s. my Mom gets a real card!
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'

Yeah. It's useful for knowing the demographics of your market in certain zipcodes. I used to be a adversiting and graphic design major and one of my assignments was to research the demographcis of a certain area so I could sell items to a certain market.
 
Reba said:
I'm not a vengeful person, especially to cashiers. They don't make the rules, so there's no point in giving them a hard time.
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I am not saying give cashier hard time- just the merchant. if they have the wrong zip code you entered, I am sure they are going to scratch their heads. esp. with 60606. If you give them the right zip- you are contributing to their marketing scheme. I for one do not need them to play a money game on me. things are expensive enough.

deafskeptic said:
Once some Indian guy who owned a newsstand in Richmond made me show my ID even though I was paying in cash.

I told him that it's just not done with people paying in cash as the money is good. It's normally used done with people using cards for security reasons. It doesn't make sense to show your id if you're paying in cash and you're not buying anything that's restricted to the legal age (ie, booze) . I refused to buy anything there again and the place closed after a while.
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perhaps you were buying something that is restricted and you didnt know?

for example when I go to walmart to get a bottle of power service for my tractor, they need my freaking ID. when I was getting a kids cold OTC medicine they needed my ID.
 
radioman said:
I am not saying give cashier hard time- just the merchant. if they have the wrong zip code you entered, I am sure they are going to scratch their heads. esp. with 60606. If you give them the right zip- you are contributing to their marketing scheme. I for one do not need them to play a money game on me. things are expensive enough....
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I don't consider marketing by demographics to be a "scheme." It's part of business.
 
Got this email the other day....feel I should share it with you all....


Using the "clear" button? Using credit/debit card?
Read this note very carefully.

I did not know about the clear button, but I will be pushing the clear button before I swipe my gas or debit card and after just to be safe.

People are getting really desperate due to the constantly rising gas prices.

A friend just told me about something that happened to one of his coworkers. She used her credit/debit card to purchase gas at the pump (like most of us do). She received her receipt like normal.

However, when she checked her statement, there were 2 $50. charges added in addition to her purchase. Upon investigation, she found out that because she did not press the 'clear' button on the pump, the employee inside the store was able to use her card to purchase his/her own gas!

To keep this from happening, after you get your receipt, you must press the 'CLEAR' button or your information will be stored until the next customer inserts their card.

Be sure to tell all your friends/family so that this doesn't happen to them. I had never noticed the clear button but I got gas the other day and sure enough it is there. I shall be using it from now on.
 
This Data Isn’t Dull. It Improves Lives.
GOVERNMENTS have learned a cheap new way to improve people’s lives. Here is the basic recipe:

Take data that you and I have already paid a government agency to collect, and post it online in a way that computer programmers can easily use. Then wait a few months. Voilà! The private sector gets busy, creating Web sites and smartphone apps that reformat the information in ways that are helpful to consumers, workers and companies.

Not surprisingly, San Francisco, with its proximity to Silicon Valley, has been a pioneer in these efforts. For some years, Bay Area transit systems had been tracking the locations of their trains and buses via onboard GPS. Then someone got the bright idea to post that information in real time. Thus the delightful app Routesy was born. Install it on a smartphone and the app can tell you that your bus is stuck in traffic and will be 10 minutes late — or it can help you realize that you are standing on the wrong street, dummy. It gives consumers a great new way to find out when and where the bus is coming, and all at minimal government expense.

Another example involves weather data produced by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The forecasts you find on the Weather Channel, or on the evening news or online, use the agency’s information. Again, the government produces and releases raw data, and the private sector transforms it into something useful for the public.

Several other departments in the Obama administration are looking to expand the use of such techniques. On data.gov, you will find huge amounts of downloadable data that had heretofore been inaccessible. As a sign of the importance that President Obama has attached to this approach, he put it on the government’s agenda on Jan. 21, 2009, his second day in office. (Disclosure: My book, “Nudge,” published in 2008, advocated this broad idea; Cass R. Sunstein, co-author of the book, is now administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.)

Now the administration is pushing to use this concept as a tool for regulation, and as a method of avoiding more heavy-handed rule making. The idea is that making things more transparent can immediately turn consumers into better shoppers and make markets work better. One might think that such an initiative would receive nearly universal support — after all, who could be against openness and transparency? But it turns out that some people are.

Two cases are under discussion right now.

First, the Department of Transportation is considering a new rule requiring airlines to make all of their prices public and immediately available online. The postings would include both ticket prices and the fees for “extras” like baggage, movies, food and beverages. The data would then be accessible to travel Web sites, and thus to all shoppers.

The airlines would retain the right to decide how and where to sell their products and services. But many of them are insisting that they should be able to decide where and how to display these extra fees. The issue is likely to grow in importance as airlines expand their lists of possible extras, from seats with more legroom to business-class meals served in coach.

Electronic disclosure of all fees can make it much easier for consumers to figure out what a trip really costs, and thus make markets more efficient, without requiring new rules and regulations. (As someone who once bought two tickets on a discount airline from London to Dublin for the advertised price of £1 each, then ended up paying hundreds of dollars for the privilege of bringing along two heavy suitcases, I acknowledge having a sore spot on this issue.)

Another initiative has been proposed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In 2008, Congress overwhelmingly passed and President George W. Bush signed legislation mandating an online database of reported safety issues in products, at saferproducts.gov. The Web site ran for a few months in a “soft launch” and went into full operation on Friday.

But a majority in the House of Representatives passed an amendment last month that might have stopped this initiative in its tracks. The amendment, sponsored by Representative Mike Pompeo, a Kansas Republican, would have prohibited the agency from spending any further money to start the site. One goal, of course, was to cut the budget, although proponents of the amendment also argue that the Web site might include information that is erroneous and damaging to the businesses that sell children’s products.

Yet several provisions in the final rules protect manufacturers from false or malicious statements. Consumers have to include identifying information and sign an affidavit testifying to the truth of their complaints. Furthermore, manufacturers will be able to see complaints before they are posted, and can then correct mistakes or add comments.

ALTHOUGH this amendment was passed in the name of deficit reduction, the requested money for the site is a puny $3 million a year. If we want to reduce the cost of government regulation, this is exactly the kind of effort we should be applauding and expanding.

Compared with the tiny costs, the benefits of this program could be enormous. Thirteen years ago, two of my dear friends experienced the nightmare that parents dread most. They were called at work by their child-care provider and told that their 18-month-old son had died in a crib accident. Imagine their anguish when they later learned that other children had died in this model of crib, and that still others had died in cribs with similar design. Yet there was no easy way for any parent or child-care provider to know that.

In a recent three-year span, some 265 children under the age of 5 died in accidents related to nursery products, the government has reported. If this program could reduce that number even slightly, the cost would seem amply justified.

Moving the government into the 21st century should be applauded. In a future column, I will explain how the release of some kinds of data can even help consumers better understand themselves.
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radioman said:
I am not saying give cashier hard time- just the merchant. if they have the wrong zip code you entered, I am sure they are going to scratch their heads. esp. with 60606. If you give them the right zip- you are contributing to their marketing scheme. I for one do not need them to play a money game on me. things are expensive enough.



perhaps you were buying something that is restricted and you didnt know?

for example when I go to walmart to get a bottle of power service for my tractor, they need my freaking ID. when I was getting a kids cold OTC medicine they needed my ID.
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Last i heard, there's no restrictions on comic books (unless theyre the mature kind and he didn't sell those) and local newpapers.
 
I had to show an ID to prove my age once at Walmart when I was buying spray paint. (For those who don't know, I'll be 60 years old in a couple of weeks.) :lol:
 
Reba said:
I had to show an ID to prove my age once at Walmart when I was buying spray paint. (For those who don't know, I'll be 60 years old in a couple of weeks.) :lol:
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Makes you feel young, doesn't it? :)
I don't know if I should feel insulted that the waitress didn't ask for ID when I ordered from the 55+ menu recently (my first time...yay :)).
 
LoveBlue said:
Makes you feel young, doesn't it? :)
I don't know if I should feel insulted that the waitress didn't ask for ID when I ordered from the 55+ menu recently (my first time...yay :)).
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Yeah, that's what hurts--when they give you the senior discount without asking first. :laugh2:
 
Well anymore you will be required to show an ID for just about anything you buy. I remember having to show ID once when I bought weed killer spray. I guess I had to show proof that I was old enough to murder some weeds in my yard.
 
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