General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEver been asked for your zip code/telephone number when making a purchase???
I have, when using my debit card.
Turns out, getting your zip code is the key to getting your address, for marketing database ( and maybe nefarious) reasons.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/06/19/theres-a-billion-reasons-not-to-give-stores-your-zip-code-ever/
Also turns out there have been several lawsuits which supported customers, making asking for zip codes or other information illegal when you buy something.
ForgoTheConsequence
(4,867 posts)Usually I say "i live in the woods".
CurtEastPoint
(18,613 posts)Same with filling out forms (medical/doctors are notorious) asking for Social Security Number.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)I just say No, thanks. (The thanks is to the cashier)
And they usually take my money.
randome
(34,845 posts)Sometimes I'll simply say, "No, thanks."
Sometimes I leap over the counter and decapitate the clerk.
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[font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font]
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Whisp
(24,096 posts)sometimes the cashiers don't even question it and punch it in. that's the best case scenario.
when they do question it and ask if that's a real number I say No. And they leave it at that.
I use it for almost everything. Apparently, so do other people.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)uppityperson
(115,677 posts)people use it.
Lint Head
(15,064 posts)demwing
(16,916 posts)Indianademocrat91
(390 posts)Whenever I accidentally put in the wrong zip, it says that the transaction has been declined and I have to do it again with the right zip. I'm pretty sure it's so people can't swipe your card then use it at places where no person is there to verify your info. Maybe I'm delusional in thinking that?
randome
(34,845 posts)I could be wrong but why don't online sites ask for zip codes when you use your credit card?
[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font]
[hr]
ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)If the address does not match the billing address, the transacton is declined. Many also ask for the CVV number on the back of the card.
randome
(34,845 posts)I use my debit card, haven't used my credit card for a long time I'd forgotten.
[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font]
[hr]
RobinA
(9,884 posts)and convenience stores are popular targets for credit car thieves. Don't ask me why, I'd head for a clothing store.
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)the security thing. The card will not work unless the zip code of the billing address is punched in. If someone steals the card but doesn't get the address, then they can't use the card at the pump. Frankly, I think carrying credit and debit cards separately from an ID might be a good idea. Except that it would be easier to misplace them. Then again, the last time I lost a wallet I was in the 4th grade. My name was written inside and a lady from our church found it. My ID and credit cards were all gone.
babylonsister
(171,029 posts)credit cards in the 4th grade?
My wallet got ripped 8 months ago; I vowed never to carry both debit cards at the same time, but they're now both in my wallet for various reasons. I think I'll hide one right now! I AM much more careful fwiw...
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)them, I only carry one credit card at a time. I only have one debit card. Yeah, the ID and credit card thing as a fourth grader was my small attempt at humor. I have a thin card holder that fits in my pocket. Paper money is on a money clip. Like most people, I no longer carry my checkbook, although I still have paper checks if I need them. I still remember years ago the first time I wrote a check, they ran it through their machine and handed it back to me. I thought, what the hell, am I going to do with this? I wanted them to turn the check over to their bank, it goes to the Federal Reserve Bank and then to my bank and it's returned to me in my monthly statement. Just writing that makes me feel old.
wercal
(1,370 posts)There is a 'right' answer; and, if I don't know it, I can't get gas.
So, the card reader already knows my billing zip code as soon as I swipe.
So, I question the story in the OP.
Habibi
(3,598 posts)I simply say "No" when they ask if they can have my zip. What are they gonna do, refuse to take my money?
EvilAL
(1,437 posts)to by a wifi router and they wanted my name, address and phone number. for their records.. Whatever the fuck that means
I said a fake name and told him he couldn't have anything else. He said he had to put it in to complete the sale, I told him to put his address and phone number in. He put something in and rang me up.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)mattvermont
(646 posts)HipChick
(25,485 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)HappyMe
(20,277 posts)Nobody ever gave me a hard time.
ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)Since I know that they know that I know, giving them a false answer keeps everyone happy and the lines moving quickly.
LeftInTX
(25,103 posts)That is the only time I use my credit card. I use the keypad and they ask for my zip. I thought they were asking for security reasons, to verify that I'm the person that has the credit card. But if they're just doing it for marketing, I think I'll make something up, like 66666
Ilsa
(61,690 posts)Code in the wrong zip. This happened at two places when I moved from one zip to another a couple of years ago.
ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)At the cash register it is for marketing.
greytdemocrat
(3,299 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)Because you will surely want to hear all about future deals!
JI7
(89,239 posts)i remember trader joes doing this even when i paid with cash.
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)A couple of years later we got our own Trader Joes.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)radio shack has done that for decades.
Sgent
(5,857 posts)In certain cases its being collected for verification purposes -- especially if you don't sign your receipt. Although it can be collected for marketing purposes, it is also used by various vendors to help deter fraud (someone might steal or reproduce your credit card, but your zip code is not on your magnetic stripe). It can be part of the requirement to process a CC.
Hekate
(90,538 posts)... and it seemed pretty innocuous. A couple of small local stores ask me for my zip code, and I just figured they were trying to keep track of where their customer base was.
Well, well.
I never let anyone "swipe" my driver's license though, nor do I reveal my SSN.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)complete with a made up phone number, and rarely use my debit card, I use cash.
I have always been prickly abou tmy privacy.
What bothers me even more is stupidity...I know the cash register minion has been told to get the information,
but also has no way to know if the info. is correct and blindly enters whatever you say, so hopefully is gathering a lof of dis-information.
But where I live, most people will automatically give out all sorts of info.
tabbycat31
(6,336 posts)And I used my regular address. I figured if Tabby Lastname ever got mail I knew where it was coming from.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)My dog has websites, junk mail, all sorts of stuff he has "signed up" for.....
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)sometimes they already know the zip of the van down by the river.
bluedigger
(17,085 posts)I don't give them my phone number, because then they will call you to do "customer satisfaction surveys" , but I don't care if they have my zip code. It just tells them where their customers are coming from for future expansion plans.
MrSlayer
(22,143 posts)I give it to them to access the supercard or whatever from whatever store I'm buying shit from. Gets you discounts and all. I dont care if I get target marketed. In fact, I like it. I like getting discounts on things I buy a lot of.
Baitball Blogger
(46,676 posts)yellerpup
(12,252 posts)in order to have the sales tax calculated to our village. Where we shop, the local sales tax rate is over 10%; where we live the rate is 5.6%. I don't know if this is the practice in all of NY, but it is in our county.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)the last time I got a haircut; granted, I only do cheap haircuts once or twice a year, but I'd been getting my cheap haircut at this place for 8 years, and suddenly they wanted my zip code. I said no, and she said that she couldn't enter the haircut without it, so I said no thanks.
My hair looks pretty bad right now; I took my ponytail, held it up, and lopped off about 5 inches, leaving enough hair to get it back in the tail and up off my neck if it ever gets warm this summer. With the only pair of very dull scissors in the house.
Still.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)There have been, and still are, lawsuits about denial of service because of no zip code.
But, as someone pointed out up thread, it is easier and faster to give them a fake zip than to hassle about it.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)that will cut my hair before work resumes in August; what I've got going now is not "professional," to say the least.
A fake zip is a good idea.
tabbycat31
(6,336 posts)That at most stores, the cashiers are scored on how many zipcodes/phone numbers that they capture and they will get in trouble if they don't meet their quotas. So if you are uncomfortable giving out your own, make one up then complain to the store's corporate office.
(I've been that cashier).
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Tis sad that people are being threatened if they do not act like "good Germans" gather private info about their customers.
tabbycat31
(6,336 posts)But in Big Box stores, the worker bees have no say in anything. Even the store level management has no say. It's all directed from corporate.
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)for all transactions, not just those with credit cards. The retail establishment wants to know where their customers are coming from. There is an Aldi store near my house that periodically asks for zip codes (they don't take credit cards). They do this to see where they might wish to open a new store. I give them the zip code of a town 30 miles away that is on the way to our northern Minnesota property. It would make it easier to buy groceries on the way.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)a discount card, but I gave them one that I don't use anymore. Only friends and family have my cell phone number which is what I use. I give everyone else a former number I once had that I canceled because I was being overwhelmed with telemarketers. Can't fake the zip code though.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,817 posts)But I think they finally gave up the practice.
valerief
(53,235 posts)virgogal
(10,178 posts)rdking647
(5,113 posts)512.477.9821
its the number to the texas republican party
Fuddnik
(8,846 posts)They wouldn't sell it to me without name, address, zip, and phone.
I told the clerk all he needed was my cash. He wouldn't do it.
I walked out, and went across the street and bought it.
krawhitham
(4,637 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)can you explain for me, pls?
krawhitham
(4,637 posts)At least in Ohio they do
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)So where we live makes no difference, if I shop in another county I pay the rate of tax at that store.