Wednesday, 6/29

If you think that you have any privacy these days, that any part of your personal life can't be bought or sold...

Then I have a tale for you.

I don't shop at Meijer at Marquette a lot; there's really no reason for that, other than the fact that I could find myself addicted to the cornbread in their bakery and it's probably better for my health and my waistline that I'm not a regular shopper there. It's a fine store and the people who work there are top-notch.

I'm just not a regular-regular customer.

But every so often Loraine and I head out there to pick up household items or to grab things that may not be available at other stores. Last time around, in fact, I picked up, among other things, protein bars, dental floss, and green tea with blueberry and acai. I would normally pay cash for that mix, but I wanted to see if they still do something I started noticing a couple of years ago.

And I got my answer when I came home and checked the mail last night.

Among the things I found in the mail was a little package of coupons from Meijer, addressed to me. What did those coupons offer for sale? Well, how about protein bars, dental floss, and green tea with blueberry and acai, among other thing. Now, I'm not a Meijer mPerks member. When I bought the protein bars, dental floss, and green tea with blueberry and acai, I did not tell them who I was. The store has no way of knowing I would like to buy protein bars, dental floss, and green tea with blueberry and acai, among other things, unless they noticed someone with my credit card number bought them, and then paid and/or traded with my credit card company o find out who owned said credit card number.

This isn't the first time that's happened. And it happens at stores other that Meijer, as well.

That seems to me to be the only way that Meijer (or any other store) would know that it was me who purchased the protein bars, dental floss, and green tea with blueberry and acai, among other things. And I don't know what I find more discomforting—the fact that Meijer (or any other store) can buy that information, or the fact that my credit card company would sell it. I mean, I'm as aware as anyone that we have no privacy these days, that information about us is bought and sold multiple times an hour. But to see such a...demonstrative example of this when I opened the mail last night was, well, a wake up call. Proof positive that it happens whether we realize it or not.

And yet another rude welcome to life in the 21^st century as we know and live it.

(jim@wmqt.com)