Dear Barnes & Noble

[elfs]

Dear Barnes & Noble,

I am fully aware of the fact that each and every purchase I make with my credit card is tracked in a database somewhere. I am also fully aware that my membership in your loyalty club makes it possible for you to keep a secondary database of every purchase.

But frankly, sending me email one month after a visit to your store with the message, "By now you should have read those cookbooks, programming books, and SF novels we sold you. Here's a list of what you bought back in December, in case you forgot. We didn't. Please tell our other participants what you thought about those books," is creepy.

This may be the very moment when I decide to never pay with anything other than cash again. ATMs might be able to track my movements, but at least they won't know when I buy politically sensitive or sexually explicit books. It's one of those things I always "knew" was happening, but it's not until a big nameless, faceless conglomerate tells me right out, "We Know What You Read," that I start to wonder if trading my privacy for convenience is worth it.

Sherri at Philosecurity has a great article on how we trade our privacy for convenience and credit card companies have a vested interest in disregarding your privacy as much as possible: the more information they have about you, the earlier they are likely to discover fraud conducted by others in your name. Anne C at Existence Is Wonderful (from whom I got the Philosecurity link) likewise adds that the modern credit system is irretrievably linked to certain privileges (you cannot buy a house without a credit record, and it's even hard to find a job today without one) and not having a credit history is the equivalent today to being an "economic non-person." Like Anne, I thought I was doing well by having very little credit use history up until about 30; it wasn't until Omaha pointed out that I couldn't buy a car without a credit record that I started to use credit. Now I've become accustomed to the convenience. The cost of that convenience was made eerily apparent to me this morning.

Comments

[feveredwritings.livejournal.com]

I am by no means knowledgeable in this department, but surely if I write someone a check for a car's purchase price, they'll be willing to give me the car, right? I mean, maybe they'll want to wait until the check clears, but they won't just refuse. Now, getting a car loan or a mortgage, sure they'll want a credit history, to know that they're not just throwing away their money. But that debt is a convenience: a way to get a car sooner than you would if you had to save a lot and pay for it up-front. Correct me if I'm wrong about that.

As for not getting a job without a credit rating... yes, that sucks and is wrong.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

The Consumerist just had an article about how a guy went to two Jeep dealerships and couldn't buy a vehicle with a lump-sum payment:

http://consumerist.com/5162727/jeep-incapable-of-selling-to-man-with-24000-in-cash

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

I look forward to the day they get sued because they emailed the address X with all the details about what books the man got, and his wife left him because of the email.

[abostick59.livejournal.com]

More precisely, the dealers were engaging in bait-and-switch, and wanted to sell him a car for several thousand dollars more than he was prepared to pay.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

You will have to fill out a CTR form if the car is more than 10,000 (or maybe more than 5000, there was talk of changing it). The state likes to keep tabs on large sums of money moving about.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

You CAN buy a car with the lump sum payment in a check from a different bank. Arrange a "Drive out" price with your salesman, and do the paperwork at your bank of choice. Walk in with the check. In the business office, they'll give you the business all right. They'll offer absurd benefits to you if you'll just tear up that check - after which they'll try to add every warranty and feature under the sun. But they can't add on all the gravy if you have money in hand.

I bought my new civic EX (deluxe model) for about 21K. They didn't want to sell me the car for the driveout price. When I got up and said I was going to a dealership down the freeway, they finally sold me the car.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

It's quite a few years since I did this, though it wasn't a new car. It horribly confused the salesman.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Some of us choose to have some privacy. Others don't. Anyone who really cares can break the limited veil I put on my privacy -- but at a deeper level, those who can do so lack motive and/or interest.

One slight cultural shift and the witch hunts begin . . .

[mouser.livejournal.com]

"...to sell him a car they already had on the lot...."

[kengr]

Oh, there's a reason for that. And why the car companies need a bailout.

For the last 20-30 years they have not made a profit on the *cars*. They make their profit from the *finance charges*.

Thus, they don't want to sell for cash. Also, the salesman's commission is based on the price. So selling for $24k cash, versus $31k financed is a no-brainer.

[(Anonymous)]

It was nice to get the email from the grocery store that none of the items I had bought were on the peanut recall list