Slashdot had an article a few days ago on Budweiser’s internal sales tracking network. Some expressed concern about Anheuser-Busch’s tracking down to the 6-pack, but most posters wisely concluded that you shouldn’t have anything to worry about since there’s no reason to buy Budweiser in the first place ;).
In any case, the Slashdot discussion turned to customer tracking of other kinds, such as those supermarket cards. And, switcha pointed out Rob Cockerham’s Ultimate Shopper endeavor. In short, Rob took a digital photo of his Safeway card, cropped the image and then printed a bunch of replica barcodes onto labels with his inkjet. This way, you can use one of his stickers and become Rob. More importantly, your privacy remains intact since Safeway no longer tracks your identity.
I like the tongue-in-check character of the page, but I’m still not fond of these shopper cards. Sure, you can trade them with your friends or even apply for them with fake credentials, but you still have to carry around that silly card in your wallet (or even three or four, depending on the number of supermarkets in your area). So, these days, I’ve emptied my wallet of those cards and I just go to stores that offer sale prices without any strings attached.