DAYTON — The deep discounts on groceries and gas you can get with your loyalty card make it seem like the obvious choice. However, we are learning that a discount comes at a price.
A startling amount of your private information is also being harvested, bundled, and sold to people you don’t know for millions.
Gary Horcher, with our sister station, KIRO-TV, in Seattle, shows us how you’re tracked and traced while being told it’s all to save money.
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When you scan our loyalty card or punch in your phone number, your card has been accepted.
It feels great to get a deal. Your rewards of loyalty might even include customized coupons for stuff you buy often.
But it turns out, to get that discount, you traded valuable information, and it funds an enormous, influential, and virtually invisible separate information industry, and it starts the moment you walk in.
They are making money off your data, and we have absolutely no control over what they get and how they use it.
Legendary consumer reporter Herb Weisbaum said in exchange for discounts, what’s really for sale is you.
It starts with what you buy, but loyalty programs also collect and sell profiles and estimations based on your searches, how much you spend, and even where you walk.
Weisbaum said info they’re bundling and selling about you can be worth far more than the discount you’re getting.
According to Consumer Reports, Kroger earned $527 million selling personal shopper information to data brokers in 2024. They could make $825 million selling shopper profiles next year. That adds up to 35% of Kroger’s total revenue.
Layered into the fine print of Kroger’s app, you agree to relay your location data, including your precise geolocation information. That means they know what aisle you are in.
Before that, all the story apps say they may note your license plate in the parking lot. Then, the apps try to trace and share spoken languages and your employment information.
Right now, 19 states have laws like the People’s Privacy Act to protect consumers. In 2023, Ohio House Bill 345 was introduced.
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