Walmart tracking your underwear?

[Koa]

In case some of you are behind the times, Walmarts have numerous cameras outside and inside their stores, and they can track your every move. This marketing idea sounds more like a way to easily computerize customers patterns and to track how they shop as they go through a store. Grocery stores have done this for years, but with low tech, human observations. Grocery stores also make money from product displays. Different shelves get different amounts of attention.

There are numerous ways to track many people as they go about their day. Facebook, Twitter, GPS coordinates from your cell phone, credit card/debit card charges, highway cameras tracking your car, security cameras at various stores, IP address, etc. People just don't realize that they are already being followed.

 

[Dwight Williams]

Will my skidmarks intefer with this technology? What if I'm lost, say, in a snowstorm and they can't find me?

 

[Alicia Leonard]

Will my skidmarks intefer with this technology? What if I'm lost, say, in a snowstorm and they can't find me?

If this were true, Dwight, many men will be lost.

 

[Everytime]

What I'll do is I'll remove the tags, bring them back into walmart, and put them in different places. They'll go crazy wondering why there's a bunch of underwear next to the Castrol GTX.

Brilliant! I was thinking of just carrying some scissors with me whenever making purchases, detaching the locators, and dropping them off at Customer Service on my way out, but your idea sounds much better; may as well make use of their technology and have fun with it. I ask the proponents of this tracking device: Should we, the customer, be allowed to do some little scheme like this? If we are truly buying ownership of the merchandise and not some license to use or rent it, I think so.

30AShopper, I'm a conservative, pro-business capitalist like yourself, but prefer to provide information on a need-to-know basis and I prefer to control the distribution of such information. Not really a conspiracy theory, but I do think the potential for mis-use is too great. If these locators are truly capable of what they're claiming to be, are the authorities able to use them to locate missing kids, stolen goods, etc.? I have no problem with law enforecement using such technology in license plates, driver's licenses, etc., but retailers, maybe that's a different story; we are not supposed to be subservient to other civilians or private entities, are we?

 

[30ashopper]

I would just add that the tags have limited range, they don't have batteries, you have to be in the store and in range of a scanner to have them read. So it's not like once you walk out of the store WalMart will be watching (not yet anyway).

 

[Dwight Williams]

If this were true, Dwight, many men will be lost.

I'm going to go buy a second pair right now. When I get back, I'll wash the ones I'm wearing. Rather be safe than sorry.

 

[scooterbug44]

Reason 467 not to shop at Wal-mart!

If a store wants to tag items INSIDE their store and then remove/deactivate it or have customers remove them after purchase that is fine with me.

But this is just too Orwellian for me (even if it wasn't being implemented by my nemesis).

 

[Everytime]

I would just add that the tags have limited range, they don't have batteries, you have to be in the store and in range of a scanner to have them read. So it's not like once you walk out of the store WalMart will be watching (not yet anyway).

Point taken, and position revised. After going back and reading the blog more closely, I now undertand that the only "tracking" this technology handles is in-store merchandise. It's mot like they can go to some computer and enter a zip code and see who's wearing their underpants, and it they're still wearing them beyond the manufacturer's suggested product lifetime, they can say "OK, send that household a 'Buy 3, Get 1 for 10% Off' coupon.' This is merely for keeping track of inventory in the store. No problem there.

But I do recall an article a couple of years ago about Wal-Mart and manufacturers putting such a technology in other products, maybe Gilette Mach 3 razors or similar products, that could track how long consumers use them. That's a bit creepy.

And I'm not an anti-Wal-Mart hippie, as I went there twice this week for food items (which would be unsanitary to track) and AC filters, which I'll go ahead and tell Wal-Mart & 3M: I took them home and put them in the exchange slots and will replace them on or around Hallo'ween. Put that in your pie charts and marketing data.

 

[Lake View Too]

Will my skidmarks intefer with this technology? What if I'm lost, say, in a snowstorm and they can't find me?

Maybe, nobody wants to find you (just kidding)

 

[ugabuga]

My underwear has been sending out signals for years!