Re: Bogus! The Container Store Wants Your Phone Number

Today was my first time in the Container Store. I bought something;

> at checkout, she asked for my phone number. I politely declined. > She assured me that they didn't sell the number; their purpose, she > said, was to tell them where their customers were coming from for > store planning and general demographic purposes. > I'm no Einstein, but my mind works quickly enough that it took me all > of about half a second to realize that this was utter and complete BS. > I even told her that, and explained it: > 1) if you want to know where your customers are coming from, use the > ZIP code where they live. > 2) If you insist on using a phone number, you need only the area code > and exchange in order to pin down a geographic location. You don't > need my entire number. > 3) What about people who have only cell phones and no land lines? > "Oh, the company we use has some way of working through that," she > said. This poor babe. She had no idea what she was saying or to whom > she was saying it. I explained how unless their data collection > company had inside tracks with the cell companies, which we're finding > out is HIGHLY frowned upon, a cell phone number is not trackable to a > physical location for the purposes of demographic planning. > In other words, the Container Store just throws this BS out there as a > smokescreen. I told her up front that I didn't believe they'd never > sell my phone number, and a couple minutes later -- after explaining the > above -- I restated that. > Of course, it was like talking to a wall. Nonetheless, it forced me > to think it all the way through and come to the conclusion that in > FACT the Container Store is lying to everyone when they say they're > going to hold your phone number private. > Either that, or they're spending a lot of time and money and effort > collecting data that are entirely useless. > But once they realize the data are useless, they'll just recoup their > losses by selling the numbers. > Fortunately she accepted without question my knee-jerk "No, thank you" > response to her request for my phone number. But she had to plug > something in; she plugged in all 1s. > Shades of the old Radio Shack days, when you couldn't buy a 30 cent > battery without giving up your family tree and medical history.

I know that Bed, Bath & Beyond will occasionally ask for a zip code. I see that as reasonable. But the zip code in which I live covers a pretty huge swarth of the city. For example, 02903 covers about 5 square miles.

But I think your assesment is dead on. The Container Store is not using it for analysis, they're using it as a revenue stream. This is particularly true since the advent of VoIP and cell. Someone had to know that when the program was implemented.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Speaking of Radio Shack, at the store > in Skokie, IL where I worked as one of the 'you have questions, we > have answers' people, (in other words a humble sales person for a two > year period in 1994-95 96?) they were big on the that 'get a name and > _address_ and a _phone number_' for even a small purchase like > batteries. I went along with it and based, I assume, on my good looks > and charm managed to obtain a lot of names, addresses and phone > numbers. My specialty was telephones and telephone equipment. The > store manager and the regional manager and the _area_ manager (as well > as we clerks) all got such _tremendous_ heat from the general public > RS finally discontinued the system. It was a horid system, in a > terrible place to work. PAT]

Oh do I remember those days. They used to just ask for name to which I'd reply "C-A-S-H". Most got the message quite clearly and had a CASH account setup already. But those who didn't simply lost a sale.

That being said, I'd been and still am on RS mailing lists pretty much forever.

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