Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
sold or shared? Suppose you call your employer and tell him you are too sick to come
into work. Your boss is suspicious, since this is the third Friday this winter you've called
in sick. Your employer pays your cell phone provider and discovers that you made your
call from a ski resort [28].
Rewards or loyalty programs for shoppers have been around for more than 100 years.
Your grandparents may remember using S&H Green Stamps, the most popular rewards
program in the United States from the 1950s through the 1970s. Shoppers would collect
Green Stamps with purchases, paste them into booklets, and redeem the booklets by
shopping in the Sperry & Hutchinson catalog for household items.
Today many shoppers take advantage of rewards programs sponsored by grocery
stores. Card-carrying members of the store's “club” save money on many of their pur-
chases, either through coupons or instant discounts at the cash register. The most signif-
icant difference between the Green Stamps program and a contemporary shopper's club
is that today's rewards programs are run by computers that record every purchase. Com-
panies can use information about the buying habits of particular customers to provide
them with individualized service.
For example, ShopRite grocery stores have computerized shopping carts. The shop-
ping cart has a card reader and an LCD screen. Customers identify themselves by swiping
their loyalty card through the card reader. A computer taps into a database with the cus-
tomer's buying history and uses this information to guide the customer to frequently
purchased products. As the cart passes through the aisles, pop-up ads display items the
computer predicts the customer may be interested in purchasing [29].
Critics of grocery club cards say that the problem is not that card users pay less for
their groceries, but that those who don't use cards pay more. They give examples of club-
member prices being equivalent to the regular product price at stores without customer
loyalty programs [30].
Some consumers respond to the potential loss of privacy by giving phony personal
information when they apply for these cards. Others take it a step further by regularly
exchanging their cards with those held by other people [31].
Other consumers have learned how to “game” the system. One shopper noticed
that by alternating her ground coffee purchases between Starbucks brand and Dunkin'
Donuts brand, she got better prices than when she just bought Starbucks [32].
(This section describes scanners designed to take a person's measurements. Advanced
imaging technology scanners used at airport security checkpoints are discussed in Sec-
tion 6.11.2.)
Looking good is important to many, if not most, of us. Computer technology
is making it possible for us to save time shopping and find clothes that fit us better
(Figure 5.2).
