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From: petersja@debussy.cs.colostate.edu (james peterson)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,alt.privacy
Subject: Re: Safeway Stores to Accept Charge Cards
Message-ID: <14015@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU>
Date: 5 Apr 91 17:59:26 GMT
References: <13810@asylum.SF.CA.US>
Sender: news@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU
Organization: Colorado State Computer Science Department
Lines: 31

In article <13810@asylum.SF.CA.US> langz@asylum.SF.CA.US (Lang Zerner) writes:
>According to the San Francisco Chronicle, p. C1, April 4, 1991, the
>national Safeway supermarket chain will soon begin accepting Visa and
>MasterCard for purchases of groceries and other items.  
>  [stuff deleted]
>The following sentence appears on the
>continuation page: "Suzanne McGrath, a supermarket-industry analyst at
>Piper Jaffrey in Portland [Oregon], suggested that banks may be
>subsidizing the cost of the new equipment in order to gain information
>on customer purchases that they could then sell to consumer goods
>companies."
>


Interesting.  Safeway is one store I will not shop at since they refused
to issue me a check cashing card without knowing my Social Security number.
This even after arguing four rungs up their corporate ladder.  They
simply refused.  So I simply refuse to shop there.

All part of the same pattern?   If they took a debit card and only
recorded the total, my privacy would have been enhanced over providing
them with my SS#...




-- 
james lee peterson				petersja@CS.ColoState.edu
dept. of computer science                       
colorado state university		"Some ignorance is invincible."
ft. collins, colorado  (voice:303/491-7137; fax:303/491-2293)