Walmart Scanning App

[hemsteadc]

On 3/25/2018 at 3:52 AM, remoandiris said:

IDK, but maybe that is why McDs is installing more self-service kiosks.  

Which at Quartzsite are so far, largely ignored.  I use the McD's app to order when the line is long.  Works like a charm.

[kb0zke]

Several years ago the father of a high-school-age daughter was surprised to find Target ads for baby stuff addressed to his daughter. He went to the local Target store and complained to the manager. The manager apologized and said that he didn't know how it had happened. A few days later the manager called and apologized again. He had found out that Target based ads on previous items purchased. If you bought a,b, and c and then two weeks later you bought d and e, then a month later bought f, g, h, and i they knew that you would have a baby on a certain date, and were even able to predict the gender with good probability. That father said that he had to apologize to the store manager. He had had a talk with his daughter and it seems that there was some unauthorized activity taking place after school.

As we've seen from the news recently, data mining is BIG business. This morning I used a store loyalty card to get 3 cents off the price of gas, and paid for it with a credit card. That credit card is now linked to that loyalty card, so the store now knows everything that I buy using that card.  Knowing what I buy tells them what I'm interested in. If enough people are interested in the same thing the store will stock it, hoping that I will buy it from them instead of the guy down the street.

The only real way to avoid being tracked in the future is to unplug completely from the Internet and use only cash for all purchases. Neither is really practical for full-timers.

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, kb0zke said:

That credit card is now linked to that loyalty card, so the store now knows everything that I buy using that card.

If it were me, I would drop that credit card. All of the cards I carry allow me to configure to limit who they share any of my information with. 

[jamtracy]

Shoot where I live most Walmart customers wont scan and just go. LOL

 

 

[dartmouth01]

Scanned the thread and didnt see some particular comments made so here are a few reasons I use the Walmart app. 

1)  I'll use the scanner while in the store if I find an item that doesn't have a price tag on the shelf (and sometimes, the online price is actually cheaper too, and you can get a price adjustment at customer service).  Just point at at the barcode of the particular item!  

2)  If I have an item in mind, but not sure where to find it in the store, I'll search for it in the app, and then filter for the store I'm in.  If the store has it, it will show up on my screen and oftentimes give me an aisle number.  For example, i was looking for stick on LED lights, and results came up in both Auto and Home Improvement aisles.  I would not have thought to check the Auto aisle if I was just roaming the store.

3) I upload my receipts into Savings Catcher and Walmart will credit back to me if Walmart finds any lower prices at competitors within 7 days.  Hasn't brought back much money, but has worked a couple times in the past year.

4) The receipts in Savings Catcher also means I don't have to save paper receipts anymore, if I need to return anything I just find it in my purchase history and a scannable barcode comes up that I can use at customer service.  Occasionally, I can process a return from my phone and Walmart will just tell me to keep the item.

5) If you use Walmart Pay within the app, you don't even need to get a paper receipt, it'll save directly to your purchase history.  Personally, I tend not to use Walmart Pay, since I generally opt to use Chase Pay or Samsung Pay, as I find their rewards for using those apps are better.  I'll get $10 gift certificates occasionally using those.

 

[Kirk W]

3 hours ago, dartmouth01 said:

3) I upload my receipts into Savings Catcher and Walmart will credit back to me if Walmart finds any lower prices at competitors within 7 days.  Hasn't brought back much money, but has worked a couple times in the past year.

Pam has this on her phone and with the majority of our shopping for groceries and sundry items at Walmart it has a history of refunding about 5% of our purchase costs over the past several years with an average of about $100/week spent there. We have not yet used the "scan & go" app" as our local store hasn't yet introduced it but the Savings Catcher workes for any Walmart receipt. Just use the camera on the phone the app resides on and scan the barcode on the bottom of your paper receipt. 

[SWharton]

If you use Walmart Pay you don't need to can the receipt, there is an option to send the receipt over to Savings Catcher. Future(announced but not working yet) is to send the receipt to Savings Catcher automatically.

[dartmouth01]

11 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

Pam has this on her phone and with the majority of our shopping for groceries and sundry items at Walmart it has a history of refunding about 5% of our purchase costs over the past several years with an average of about $100/week spent there. We have not yet used the "scan & go" app" as our local store hasn't yet introduced it but the Savings Catcher workes for any Walmart receipt. Just use the camera on the phone the app resides on and scan the barcode on the bottom of your paper receipt. 

That is great, unfortunately we haven't seen the same results, and we spend a similar amount on groceries.  I just checked, lifetime rewards earned has been $3.60.  :-)  Perhaps the area we shop (Carson City NV), doesn't have as many published competitor rates to compare with?  

[Kirk W]

7 minutes ago, dartmouth01 said:

I just checked, lifetime rewards earned has been $3.60. 

Our lifetime savings are currently $217.23 for lifetime savings. 

[dartmouth01]

14 minutes ago, Kirk Wood said:

Our lifetime savings are currently $217.23 for lifetime savings. 

Dayum, you're doing something right or I'm doing something wrong.  ;-)