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Oh No. Staples knows I need paper and ink cartridges. Oh wait that is all I get from them.
Oh No. Staples knows I need paper and ink cartridges. Oh wait that is all I get from them.
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Does Staples know what Office Depot is charging these days?
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Staples tracks every single purchase made by any online customers as well as in-store customers using a rewards card. The information is used to target specific advertisement types. That bothers a lot of people. I believe this option on the unsubscribe screen is relevant.
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i only buy my paper stuff from dunder mifflin and yes, kelly is disturbingly personal but hey, you can't beat that kind of customer service!
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@trujunglist: Did your latest paper shipment include any pictures from Ryan's \"Exposure in the Workplace\" series?
Amazingly, Staples COULD be watching me. Could explain why my recent suggested supplies included pants...
@GitEmSteveDave_IsSlacking: Staples, Office Depot, Target, Sears, Barack Obama, the pervert from across the street. All fans of JerseyCam!
... not United Airlines though.
I misread a friends-and-family email, realizing my mistake when the shoes were in my cart but not reduced as much as I expected. So, I didn't buy them.
The next day I got an email from the store, saying that they noticed I didn't complete my order so here's 10% off if you come back.
It was a little weird, I have to admit. I kind of wanted to explain why I wasn't buying the damn shoes.
@dognose: @GitEmSteveDave_IsSlacking: It lists mine as legal and criminal justice; I was just doing keyword research on DUI law for a client, so I guess that skewed my results.
@dognose: That was weird. It lists as my interests a couple of things I have no interest in. I can't even figure out what I might have searched for to give it that impression.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1314487-100x100.png\")
@dognose: Oh noes, Google has outed me as an alternative Punk rocker wiith an interest in Bollywood films. There goes my street cred.
Fortunately, they haven't figured out my shoe fetish..
@DangerMouth: ..and yet, Google can't remember my damn preferences from one day to the next and show me 50 results per page instead of 10.
/rant
@dognose: I don't have any interests either, apparently. Personally, I would have thought Google would have me down as a Sims addicted bargain hunting tecnogeek with a penchant for lulz. I don't clock on ads that often though so that's probably why.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-159929-100x100.png\")
A few weeks ago, I got a voicemail at work from a company I had taken a training class with a year earlier. I had clicked on a link in one of the emails they sent me, and they wanted to know if I was looking for a particular class.
It seemed kind of creepy and desperate to me.
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hehe, i think oneshanesplace.com really has the method perfected. i mentioned on twitter the other day that i might go bra shopping over the weekend. i didn't mention the store name but it was in fact the store i planned to go to.
they aren't following me on twitter, i am not following them on twitter
within 5 minutes i got an email from them about the weekend buy 2 get 1 free bra sale.
i think they might be reading my mind!
@GitEmSteveDave_IsSlacking: i find it amusing that when i mention my loathing or disgust with something, a twitter account for a blog about how awesome the subject is will follow me.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-483565-100x100.png\")
@GitEmSteveDave_IsSlacking: I'm creeped out by the fact that my Twitter (quitter) account received, within the month of its opening, a follower that was a slightly sketchy company I'd done business with over a year ago. I never mentioned their product, my last name isn't in my username, I have no idea how they connected it and what the hell they think they're doing.
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Huh? \"Creepy\" and \"paranoid\"?
If you're buying things with a credit card or membership card of some sort, that means they have your name and address, plus it means they have a list of what you bought and when you bought it.
How hard is it for a company to program their computers to send out emails for reams of paper every two weeks and boxes of 100 paperclips every two months?
Not to attack \"Aelxandra\" (*), but why would anyone give their email address to a store? If you must give one, why not create an account somewhere to receive spam from such companies?
(* - Consumerist's typo, not mine)
@P_Smith: You realize you just called someones name a typo, right? It's because of people like you my first born son's name will be \"SteveDave\"(*).
(*-Not a typo)
It's odd to hear that this practice is a surprise to anyone these days. Any store that offers a member card with special discounts (the grocery store, CVS, etc) do it because the information they gather form your purchases is valuable to them.
A 'spam' email is handy for signing up for such things. I use two emails... one 'good' Gmail one and an old crap Hotmail one for stuff that tends to be spammy and mailing lists.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-131536-100x100.png\")
I don't like stores that know too much about me...we went to rooms to go once, parked in the lot, never filled anything out, did not buy anything, about a week to 2 weeks later, we got a mailer to my husband (who the car was registered to) and it was directed at him & his recent visit to the store....the only thing we can figure is they ran his plate? CREEPY, we've never even considered going back. I don't like to be watched at all.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-350988-100x100.png\")
@boxjockey68: A similar thing happened to my boyfriend at another store, but I can't remember where. He walked in looking for something, didn't buy anything, then received mailings from them he had never gotten before. His thought was they read a RFID chip in a card or something. I sent him a link to that wallet that is supposed to prevent that. :)
I get emails from Staples and from Quill, another office supply company. They also send coupons which save me quite a bit of dough. I don't find it disturbing at all, just good marketing.
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@AllanG54: We get them too, because we order office supplies here at work and paper from Quill (cheaper). Way more stuff from Quill than Staples; also, they send coupons for the paper that work out to about $2.50-$3.00 a ream. When you're buying 100 reams at a time, that's appreciated.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-391270-100x100.png\")
Well given how paranoid some people are these days, it seems like a valid option, even if it is incredibly funny.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-841594-100x100.png\")
Email from Staples goes directly into my spam file. So I don't actually \"read\" any of it.
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Yes, I can confirm it is still there.
And gee, thanks for sticking that Rockwell one-hit song in my head.
Hehe...business intelligence is supposed to be stupid...but I guess we are creatures of habit and preference.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1319474-100x100.png\")
I don't really care if they are watching what I buy. I rather have targeted ads of something I might want but might not know about than learn about 'the new purple pill' that does God knows what.
Newegg does the same thing. I was looking at CPU heatsinks and didn't buy anything, but kept the page saved in Firefox so I'd remember to order it later. The next 3 days I received emails titled \"Looking for CPU Heatinks\" and the email stating that it noticed I was interested in them and here's a few I may like.
Kind of creepy.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-436259-100x100.png\")
Few weeks ago I was doing heavy research on Google regarding Canon lens for my camera.
Now, any major site I visit features \"Amazon DSLR store\" advertisement on the front page. From IMDB to CNN - all of them have the same ad.
This freaked me out for quite some time until I figured out to flushed cookies from the browser.
@azzie: yeah technology is fun. Behavioral Targeting is more fun. and Behavioral *re*-targeting is the funnest.
@azzie: youtube is doing this as well, something I only figured out from a rare visit through their front page instead of through a link.
I'ts a reminder to delete cookies more regularly, but I'm just as capable of ignoring youtube's video recomendations as I am most other types of ads.
Sometimes targeting might be usefull (to me), but seriously, how often do you buy the same thing over and over again?
Also- since Adblock, and I don't see many ads anymore.
@azzie:
And to think I was getting all kinds of perturbed because I kept getting ads for our competition pop up on MSN.
It wasn't until I realized I had searched said competition for price-matching did I realize my browser was \"catering to me\" in a very infuriating fashion.
@azzie: Go login to your Google Dashboard. Build tinfoil hat. Place newly built tinfoil hat on head. Hide.