Note: The news sites linked from these stories are constantly being updated. As a result, some links may no longer be valid.

Snooping Shopping Carts Receive National Coverage

Associated Press reporter Jennifer Hoyt took a hard look at supermarket 'loyalty' cards and shopping carts that track your every move in a story sent to AP wire subscribers in late January. The story was picked up by dozens of newspapers and online news outlets around the country, appearing everywhere from CNN, ABC News, and USA Today to papers as far flung as Anchorage, Alaska and San Luis Obispo, California. CASPIAN volunteer staffer John Vanderlippe was quoted in the article and his photograph (at left) was included with the story. The article ends with a quote by CASPIAN founder Katherine Albrecht who questions the so-called savings available through card surveillance programs. (She later went on to debate the president of KleverMarketing, Rick Trout, on live radio KTSA in San Antonio.) If you missed the AP story in your local paper, you can view it online at USA TODAY:http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/01/28/supermarket-privacy.htm

Identico

A supermarket company in the Northwest has gone beyond asking for ID to cash checks -- they have actually created a database of shoppers' drivers' license information in order to to store the information and image from drivers' licenses Brown & Cole, parent company of Cost Cutter, Food Pavilion, Food Depot and Save-on-Foods in Oregon and Washington, has begun storing True ID is the first identity verification service designed to improve check management and internal verification systems by ``putting a face'' on every transaction. With a customer's permission, the photo and information from a valid photo ID is collected and electronically stored in a database. The next time the consumer initiates a transaction, the consumer's image is securely and instantly sent to the point of service, where the employee matches the face in the photo to that of the consumer and decides whether to proceed with the transaction.

Supermarket Monitoring Companies to Merge

According to a December 19, 2001 announcement, ShopperTrak and RCT, two companies that monitor the activities of shoppers in the nation's stores, intend to merge. ShopperTrak uses two products, Orbit II™ and Executive Sandbox™, to gather and report the movement of shoppers in retail environments, e.g., the travel path of customers through a store, how long people linger at given counter etc. RCT provides reporting on shopping trends for retail establishments, such as the traffic in malls nationwide for a given day or weekend. Much of this information is gathered via unobtrusive video surveillance cameras and devices. What happens when these tools are employed by a retailer and combined with credit card or loyalty card purchase information? Should we be concerned that a corporation could track our individual movements so closely? Funny, I thought 1984 was seven years ago. (Business Wire via Yahoo Supermarket News 12/19/01) News item contributed by Ryan Yuhas, CASPIAN volunteer.

Has Your Grocer Bought your "Penetration Profile"?

"I'm not worried about surveillance cards. My supermarket only knows what groceries I buy." But is that really true any longer?

As if recording an individual's grocery purchases in a permanent database weren't bad enough, now supermarkets can purchase detailed information on other aspects of consumers' lives and link it to their shopper card records. A Florida company called AccuData helps supermarkets obtain far more detailed customer profiles than shopper card records alone could provide. They create a "penetration profile" which "involves analyzing...trends in geodemographic, psychographic and purchasing characteristics" and then help supermarkets attach this detailed outside data to each customer's club card record. Now there's no telling how much they know about you. (Accudata Press Release via Yahoo Supermarket Industry News 10/31/01)

Stores Now Scanning Driver's Licenses

Our friends at Amador Publishers' No-Cards Shoppers tell us that 7-Eleven and Allsup's convenience stores in Albuquerque, New Mexico have begun scanning the magnetic strips on the back of driver's licenses for alcohol and cigarette purchases. According to one shopper, Allsup's won't sell these items to shoppers who refuse to comply with the license scanning policy. Of course, once scanned, license information could be stored in the companys' computers and then sold, traded, or worse. And with all the recent coziness between 7-Eleven and law enforcement (see below), would it be far-fetched for the stores to provide up-to-the-minute liquor purchase information, complete with driver's license info, to the highway patrol "just in case" a purchaser might drive drunk? Since New Mexico is often used as a test-market, these license scanning policies may headed for a convenience store near you. (No-Cards Shoppers 11/6/00)

Smile, You're on Supermarket Camera

Surveillance cameras should give us all the creeps, but unfortunately, shoppers grow numb to even the most invasive technologies once they've become commonplace. This week ASDA, a UK-based supermarket chain, joined the ranks of Kroger, Winn-Dixie, Food Lion, Fred Meyer, Tesco and Pao de Acucar as the latest major food retailer to install Sensormatic high-tech surveillance cameras in its stores. These cameras collect detailed images of market aisles and store the footage in digital format on a computer hard drive, (rather than on old-fashioned VHS tape). The company bills their product as "the smallest, full-featured, high-speed programmable dome camera, offering the sharpest, most detailed video image available with the power of a 48 times zoom lens." 48x? Geez, at that magnification they could see the roots of your hair. George Orwell would be proud! (Sensormatic Press Release 11/6/00)

Home Barcode Scanners Distributed in Ohio

How hard is making a shopping list? When most of us run out of something we grab a pencil and write it on a piece of paper -- and we don't need an engineering degree to figure out what to do next. But a company called "BeeLine Shopper" wants to change all that. Fulmer Supermarkets, an Ohio chain with no surveillance card, is the test market for the new BeeLine home barcode shopping system. Participating shoppers pass a hand-held, battery-operated barcode scanner over items in their pantry and refrigerator as they run out. Then they insert the device into a cradle attached to their home computer where it communicates their preferences to BeeLine via the Internet. BeeLine scrounges up savings coupons (on competitive products, never on the ones the shopper scanned, it seems), and finally, all this technology results in a shopping list, complete with rather patronizing "alternative suggestions" paid for by manufacturers. To get the discounts, shoppers present their BeeLine printouts at the register where the cashier scans yet another barcode at the bottom. The cost for all this obsessive-compulsiveness? A $30 deposit and $24.95 per year. This is a prime example of applying technology to a problem that doesn't exist. (BeeLine Shopper press release via Yahoo Supermarket News 8/11/00)

Shopping Carts to Track Customer Movements

A Sacramento-based company called Kart Saver has come up with the following awful idea: It's the "K-Trac" shopper monitoring system which uses hidden infrared devices to "track the traffic patterns and shopping habits of the consumer." Here's a verbatim quote from the company's own press release (emphasis added):

"In an age where consumers' shopping habits are tracked through ATM and credit card purchases, and one's Internet research patterns can be picked up through computer technology, it was only a matter of time before a shopper's actual traffic patterns inside of a retail store could be monitored and recorded for marketing purposes.

A new system, K-Trac...is operated by attaching a tracking device to individual shopping carts that communicates by way of infra red signals to similar devices mounted in the store's ceiling. As the customer makes his way through the store, the devices track the traffic patterns and shopping habits of the consumer. As the cart travels toward certain products, the shelves actually "call out" to the customer with a customized audio advertisement ...

While the K-Trac system will obviously benefit retailers, most consumers will never even know that the product is being employed, with the exception of the talking advertisements.... The K-Trac system is to be test marketed in a store in Sacramento this summer."

If this is what's in store for us at the supermarket of the future, I'd rather plant a garden. (Kart Saver press release via Yahoo Supermarket News 8/8/00)

ExxonMobil Speedpass Provides Chilling View of "How Consumers Will Shop in the Future"

Of all the developments to cross my desk in the past year, this is perhaps the most disturbing. By the end of the summer, more than 3,500 Mobil convenience stores will begin to offer "Speedpass" for purchases inside the store. "Easy-to-use" indoor Speedpass reader units will be located on the checkout counter next to cash registers. A store customer simply waves a Speedpass key tag (containing a tiny plastic transponder with the customer's encoded ID number) over the "Place Speedpass Here" box on the counter-top reader. The Pegasus symbol (the Mobil brand's flying red horse icon) lights, recognizing the customer and approving the transaction. A receipt is automatically issued and the customer is ready to go. There is no need for cash or cards - just the shopper's number as contained in the plastic chip.

"This is the first expansion of Speedpass technology for purchases beyond the fuel pumps," said an ExxonMobil spokesman. "Its introduction provides a glimpse of how consumers will shop in the future, and we're proud that we are the first to make this innovative payment technology available to our customers." The national rollout follows a 69-store trial in St. Louis where customers reported that they valued the increased convenience and simplicity of using Speedpass inside. "St. Louis customers have been using their Speedpass tags increasingly and our research indicates that they appreciate the faster payment method and freedom from paying with cash," Carter noted. To date, over 4 million Americans have signed up to receive Speedpass devices.

If you've been keeping up with recent developments, you know that the grocery and convenience market industries have begun consolidating lately. It may not be long before Speedpass-like technology begins to appear in supermarkets. If it replaces cash, we can say goodbye to any hope of anonymity and privacy in our monetary transactions, and hello to enforced numbering to buy food. (Exxon Mobil press release via Business Wire 8/3/00)

Introducing the "Klever-Kart"

The latest marketing gimmick due to hit stores is the "Klever Kart" -- a shopping cart that bombards consumers with a constant stream of advertising as they walk through the supermarket. Billed as a "personal shopping assistant," the Klever-Kart incorporates an LED screen mounted to the handle of a shopping cart that interacts with displays throughout the store. Klever Marketing, its manufacturer, will finish installation of their first phase roll out into a major southern California retailer within the next few weeks. Amazingly, 85% of shoppers on whom the system was test marketed stated that the device "added to their favorable shopping experience" and that they want to use it again. [source] For a Multimedia Flash demo of the system, visit http://www.kleverkart.com/flashdemo.htm.(Klever Marketing press release 7/12/00)

The "KleverKard" Scheduled to Arrive in 2001

You knew there had to be more to it than that. Yes, the Klever Kart will soon be interacting with shopper's surveillance cards. Here's how the company's website explains it:

"Information from individual consumer cards will enable the Klever-Kart® unit to display customer messages containing promotions and advertising specific to an individual...The consumer simply swipes her frequent shopper card in the display unit to display personalized messages. Klever-Kard offers true one-to-one marketing during the shopping trip and, more importantly, at the Point-of-Selection where the consumer makes the product choice. "

Hmm, targeting to an individual. But how will that work? The company offers the following example to make it all clear:

"The marketing department wants to implement a targeted promotional offer with varying coupon values for their new line of fat-free potato chips. They choose to use Klever-Kard to distribute a $.20 coupon to customers who have a history of purchasing low-fat or fat-free products. The goal is to generate trial, reward current users, and encourage pantry loading. They offer competitive brand users a $.40 value to encourage trial and brand switching. Non-users of diet-conscious products receive a $.50 value to stimulate quality trial and increase category consumption. Klever-Kard enables a cost-effective approach to individualized promotional inducements. "

This truly is discriminatory pricing taken to new lows.

Albertson's Launches Cardless E-Marketing

Albertson's, the nation's second largest supermarket chain and an avowed no-cards store, has announced that it has partnered up with InterAct Electronic Marketing to offer shoppers "customized purchase incentives and information before they shop utilizing in-store web portals." Though we are assured that no frequent shopper card will be required to use the system, it is unclear how offers can be customized without requiring identifying information from shoppers. (Interact press release via Yahoo Supermarket News 7/12/00)

More on InterAct Electronic Marketing Inc.

Despite claims that Albertson's partnership with InterAct (above) will not require frequent shopper cards, InterAct's website boasts that their network "captures the purchase history of each frequent card user and creates an individual profile." They go on to exclaim that "A full 65 weeks of item-level purchase history is retained for each individual shopper!" An image below this claim implies that data on 75% of U.S. households is available through their system.

An understanding of InterAct would not be complete without looking at the artwork the company uses to market its omniscient shopper surveillance system. In a disconcerting twist on Michelangelo's famous painting, The Creation of Adam (where the hands of God and Adam touch), InterAct has replaced one of the hands with that of a metallic cyborg. This odd misuse of religious imagery makes me wonder how InterAct views its role in human affairs.

Shopper Perks: InterAct's Web Coupons

One way InterAct interacts with shopper's private information is through their website at http://www.ShopperPerks.com. Here shoppers are prompted to enter their "loyalty" card numbers in order to root around their local stores for a few pennies' worth of discounts. When they get to the store and scan their surveillance cards the discounts are automatically taken at the register. Of course, this adds one more layer of surveillance to the buying process, since InterAct will maintain detailed purchase records in addition to those kept by the store. So far the number of participating supermarket chains in the Shopper Perks system is low.

McDonald's Tests Cashless Payment System

McDonald's (the fast food restaurant) is exploring the type of drive-through payment scheme popularized by the Mobil Speedpass and EZ Pass toll-collection systems. In July, a Houston-area McDonald's franchise will test a system called "CarCash." Created by Keycash, the system deducts payments from a prepaid account linked to a decal on the car's windshield. The restaurant emits a radio signal that reads a chip on the decal, which contains the customer's account number and then debits his account. Some have proposed installing similar chips in shopper "loyalty" cards so that they'll have your number as soon as you walk through the door. More ancient sources have predicted that such devices will one day wind up in shoppers' right hands. (Source: Smart Card News 5/19/00)

Safeway Implanting Subdermal ID Microchips

...into pets, not people. At least for now. Safeway (the nation's second largest grocery chain) has enlisted veterinarians to inject microchips into the bodies of Safeway shoppers' pets. In a process similar to vaccination, a syringe is used to insert a chip the size of a grain of rice under the animal's skin. The idea is to identify the pet should it be lost. Each microchip contains a unique identification number that is recorded in a national database and can be read by a scanner. That sounds awfully similar to shopper surveillance cards, though so far they've only offered shoppers the keychain option for keeping their number with them at all times.

When they came for the pets, I didn't object, because I wasn't a pet. [ref.]

More Biometric ATM's Arrive at H-E-B

H-E-B, the nation's 12th largest retail supermarket chain, is increasing the number of biometric bank machines in its stores in the Houston, Texas area from 14 to 35. The bank machines, made by InnoVentry Corp incorporate a biometric face-recognition system to allow customers to cash checks without a picture ID, bank card or PIN. Aimed at those who chose not to have a bank account, the system will soon serve as a platform for the sale of money orders and bill-payment services, as well. Imagine the following dialog: "We can't have those bankless customers remaining anonymous, we've got to get them into the database somehow. Hmm... I've got it! Biometric ATM's!" (Yahoo Supermarket News 5/11/00)

"Loyalty" Cards to Contain Banking Data

The Food Marketing Institute, a leading trade organization, has announced that it will help "promote the acceptance" of pre-authorized debit cards in the supermarket industry. The plastic cards, made by Concord EFS, Inc, will be issued by supermarkets so they can debit food purchases directly from shoppers' bank accounts. (The swiped cards are designed to replace paper checks.) The promoters boast that these cards can be combined with frequent shopper programs, creating a single card for payments, store discounts, and rewards. If you sign up, your "loyalty" card record will contain your bank account information, too. I've warned of a time when you won't be able to get a "loyalty" card without supplying banking information -- could this be far off? (Concord EFS Company Press Release, available via Yahoo Supermarket News 5/9/00)

Microprocessors Begin to Appear in Shopper Cards

Furr's Supermarkets plans to issue more than 100,000 microprocessor-equipped "smart cards" to shoppers at 10 New Mexico stores this summer. Customers will collect digital coupons by inserting their cards into small readers on shelves, then present the cards to cashiers when they check out to receive discounts. The program creator, SoftCARD Systems Inc., says the microprocessors on the cards (which Furr's conveniently neglects to mention to shoppers) will enable supermarkets to add "more sophisticated rewards programs and to cross-sell with other merchants." SoftCARD is currently negotiating with the 1,650-store Safeway chain to put microprocessors in their cards, too. (From Smart Card News 4/13)

Ukrop's Unveils "the Shopper"

Ukrop's, a 27-store Virginia chain, has come out with a dubiously valuable new technology called "the Shopper." "Loyal" shoppers can now scan their Ukrop's Valued Customer Card into a freestanding Shopper kiosk to receive "personalized messages and relevant offers." The personalized message might consist of a note letting a customer know the brand of juice they normally buy is on sale; the offer might be a $1 deli coupon. It's a shame Ukrop's isn't making this technology available to all shoppers, but to be honest, I don't think we're missing much. (Yahoo Supermarket News 3/16/00)

Hello, Self-Scanners. Goodbye, Privacy.

Self-serve checkout systems -- you scan it, you bag it, you pay for it -- are erupting like boils at supermarkets nationwide. Kroger has installed U-Scan Express machines in more than 200 of its stores, and A&P, Meijer, Harris Teeter, Winn-Dixie, Wal-Mart and smaller grocery chains are experimenting with the system. The problem? These machines don't take cash. Once they replace the traditional cashier altogether, supermarkets will no longer need a "loyalty card" to track your purchases, since your every purchase will be linked to you through your credit or ATM card. (Source: Yahoo Supermarket News 3/14/00)

Update 3/20: A kind reader set me straight on the cash issue as follows: "The U-Scan self-service checkout machines do accept cash (both bills and coins), along with credit cards. I know because I've used the machines a few times."

Shoppers Choose Privacy over Discounts

Consumers are thinking twice about shopper surveillance cards. Privacy experts say there's nothing to keep loyalty card data secret from a subpoena if someone is being sought in a criminal case or involved in a child-custody fight. "You may innocently buy junk food, a pregnancy kit or over-the-counter sleeping aids, but how would it look if you decided to run for the school board or mayor 10 years from now?" (Denver Rocky Mountain News 10/17/99)

Registration and Monitoring from Your Keychain

Shoppers are lining their key rings with bar code tags for everything from supermarkets and fitness clubs to pet food stores. As one grocery store operator explains, "What we are doing is taking the technology of scanning and instead of tracking product movement we are tracking customer movement.'' Sounds creepy to me. (Newspage 9/99)

CASPIAN
Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering
An information clearinghouse and resource for community and national action

© 1999-2005 Katherine Albrecht. All rights reserved.