You Know Not to Give Out Your Zip Code to Merchants, Right?

[alfreda89]

Buying gasoline is an exception--they actually use the zip to make sure the right person is using the card.

Everyone else is using it for marketing. They will know everything about you. They don't need it for the transaction.

If they want it that badly, and refuse to sell you something--maybe you should buy the product somewhere else, or do without?

By the way, you can always give the general zip for your area (downtown.) Or your place of biz, if you're feeling generous. I just hate all this attention to where I am. It's none of your damn business where I live, or where I am.

I guess I'm a privacy throwback. Thanks to originalkitsune for finding this!

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Excuse me, that's not the only reason. When we ask for a billing zip code, it's because IT COSTS US MORE not to have it -- that's a condition imposed by Visa/Mastercard, who charge a higher percentage for transactions lacking a zip code. This is one of the reasons that we always ask people "Can we run this as debit?" if they hand us a debit card; we don't need to ask for a zip code unless it's a credit transaction. And if you give us a different zip code from the one on your billing address, your transaction may not go through when it hits the card service center. This is at root an anti-fraud measure, no matter what other purposes some places may use it for.

I'm not at all surprised that the Forbes article would fail to mention any of this.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Thanks for clarifying that, Lee.

So Forbes' journalism is now suspect, too? You'd think something this basic would be included in the article!

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

I don't think they consider it "basic" from the consumer's POV. This is something you'd never be likely to hear about if you don't know someone like me, who has to deal with the credit-card companies directly. And it doesn't surprise me that Forbes would not reveal something about the merchant side of the credit-card agreement in a consumer article. It's... how do I put this... not relevant to the thrust of the article, which is "companies use your zip code for targeted advertising". And yes, a lot of them do.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

when they ask for my zip code, I just say "no thank you" and refuse to give it to them.