Safeway Shopping Surveillance

[Star Man]

I was offended and angry when the Rohnert Park Safeway checker demanded that I swipe my driver's license as a condition of shopping this past Saturday. I had already swiped my Safeway card, so the computer could identify me. I asked the checker if he was working for Homeland Security. "I wish," he replied. He informed me that both Rohnert Park and Petaluma Safeway stores were requiring IDs as a condition of making a purchase. Anybody else offended? Anybody know what's going on? Is this part of a campaign to identify and track illegals? Where is this headed?

[Hotspring 44]

Where is this headed?
To Hell in a handbag!... ..I mean a Safeway bag.

[Debunker]

Like the frog sitting in water that very slowly comes to a boil, most of us aren't aware that by incremental degrees, we are heading toward a fascist corporate state.


I was offended and angry when the Rohnert Park Safeway checker demanded that I swipe my driver's license as a condition of shopping this past Saturday. I had already swiped my Safeway card, so the computer could identify me. I asked the checker if he was working for Homeland Security. "I wish," he replied. He informed me that both Rohnert Park and Petaluma Safeway stores were requiring IDs as a condition of making a purchase. Anybody else offended? Anybody know what's going on? Is this part of a campaign to identify and track illegals? Where is this headed?

[2Bwacco]

was considering going to S--way for one item (butter). 'spose i enter with no purse, just cash in my pocket. wonder what they will do if i say, sorry don't have it with me?

There was a piece on TV recently reviewing sales practices regarding the spray air that teens use to "huff." Purchases were being made at major corporate pharmacy chain stores.

The majority of the sales people:

1. were not aware of the age restriction (must be over 18) for a sale;
2. computer cash drawer should have required they ask for ID -- most did not; and
3. not aware they were not to sell the product to teens under 18 !!

[Braggi]

Like the frog sitting in water that very slowly comes to a boil, most of us aren't aware that by incremental degrees, we are heading toward a fascist corporate state.

Actually, the frog thing is a myth. If you heat the water, the frog is smart enough to jump out. We're not, but that's mostly because everyplace else is worse.

-Jeff

[Debunker]

Actually, we lag behind most western nations in just about every measure of quality of life. Dead last in several.

I wasn't too concerned about the Safeway policy of ID-ing everyone for alcohol, but then about a month ago I was shopping at Target, among other innocuous items I had a bottle of over-the-counter cough syrup in my cart.

The clerk asked for ID!
I said,"what for?"
He says, "Some people abuse cough syrup."
I said, "Yeah, so? I have a bad cold, can't you tell?"
Clerk, "I still need to see ID."
I said, "I'm not providing ID to buy a bottle of cough syrup, WTF are you talking about?"
So he calls his manager over, the manager presses a few keys on the register and they sell me the cough syrup without ID.




Actually, the frog thing is a myth. If you heat the water, the frog is smart enough to jump out. We're not, but that's mostly because everyplace else is worse.

-Jeff

[Braggi]

Actually, we lag behind most western nations in just about every measure of quality of life. Dead last in several. ...

We have cheaper food by half than most of the civilized world. Way better variety and quality as well. We have cheaper, safer and better water, cheaper better wine, cheaper fuels (of all types), larger houses, more goodies, electronic and otherwise, and if you exclude the poorest segments of our population, we live longer happier lives than most of the world. Sorry to debunk you Debunker, but what you said just ain't so. Been there, seen it. Health care in France sucks, BTW. Michael Moore didn't bother to film all the toothless, crippled, homeless beggars filling the streets of Paris. There are many thousands.

Kudos to you for standing up to the BS in Safeway. If we don't stand up for our privacy we won't have any. This story is yet another reason to avoid Safeway except for emergencies.

-Jeff

[LenInSebastopol]

Actually, we lag behind most western nations in just about every measure of quality of life. Dead last in several.

I wasn't too concerned about the Safeway policy of ID-ing everyone for alcohol, but then about a month ago I was shopping at Target, among other innocuous items I had a bottle of over-the-counter cough syrup in my cart.

The clerk asked for ID!
I said,"what for?"
He says, "Some people abuse cough syrup."
I said, "Yeah, so? I have a bad cold, can't you tell?"
Clerk, "I still need to see ID."
I said, "I'm not providing ID to buy a bottle of cough syrup, WTF are you talking about?"
So he calls his manager over, the manager presses a few keys on the register and they sell me the cough syrup without ID.

You surely made that guy earn HIS $9/hr and he had a chance to learn how to deal with a surly customer. Kudos on such giving to the world. John Wayne lives!

[LenInSebastopol]

Actually, we lag behind most western nations in just about every measure of quality of life. Dead last in several.

I wasn't too concerned about the Safeway policy of ID-ing everyone for alcohol, but then about a month ago I was shopping at Target, among other innocuous items I had a bottle of over-the-counter cough syrup in my cart.

The clerk asked for ID!
I said,"what for?"
He says, "Some people abuse cough syrup."
I said, "Yeah, so? I have a bad cold, can't you tell?"
Clerk, "I still need to see ID."
I said, "I'm not providing ID to buy a bottle of cough syrup, WTF are you talking about?"
So he calls his manager over, the manager presses a few keys on the register and they sell me the cough syrup without ID.

You surely made that guy earn HIS $9/hr and he had a chance to learn how to deal with a surly customer. Kudos on such giving to the world. John Wayne lives!

[Debunker]

Your opinion doesn't debunk anything. We rank 11th overall in the following measures of quality of life;
Quality-of-life index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-life_index)

And our infant mortality rate is horrendous... "U.S. now ranks 42nd among the world’s nations in child mortality rates, down from 29th place just 20 years ago."
Second Opinion: Inequality and mortality - A virtual meeting of The Sun's editorial board, where issues are discussed, opinions made - baltimoresun.com (https://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/2010/05/inequality_and_mortality.html)

You can compare the US to the rest of the world in just about any measure you want, here;
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/rankorderguide.html

Here's another good meta-database for comparing countries
https://www.nationmaster.com/statistics

And by the way, it wasn't Safeway, it was Target that tried to ID me for cough syrup.


We have cheaper food by half than most of the civilized world. Way better variety and quality as well. We have cheaper, safer and better water, cheaper better wine, cheaper fuels (of all types), larger houses, more goodies, electronic and otherwise, and if you exclude the poorest segments of our population, we live longer happier lives than most of the world. Sorry to debunk you Debunker, but what you said just ain't so. Been there, seen it. Health care in France sucks, BTW. Michael Moore didn't bother to film all the toothless, crippled, homeless beggars filling the streets of Paris. There are many thousands.

Kudos to you for standing up to the BS in Safeway. If we don't stand up for our privacy we won't have any. This story is yet another reason to avoid Safeway except for emergencies.

-Jeff

[Beinghere]

Wasn't this killed in an earlier discussion?