Reply #21: Actually...interesting you should ask... [View All]

[October]

I always felt my privacy was violated when the clerks requested my zip and/or phone number, but not any more.

One day I got a phone call from Circuit City telling me my "projector" was ready for shipment. ($899 price tag) I hadn't ordered a projector, but I had purchased something at the store a long while back, so they had my telephone number. That phone call came because the shipping zip code did not match the billing zip code on file -- and that triggered the phone call the verify the purchase -- since it was a high price.

I had assumed they wanted my zip code for profiling purposes or some other marketing reason -- but it was actually to help stop identity theft.