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POLL: ok, when you're out shopping *in the real world* and you're asked for an email address *in the real world* from a place you're *really buying something*, do you...

EDIT: I intentionally left "I don't give an email" off the list, lol just pick one, it's a poll on social media not an election

  • give them a fake email/one you'll never check (43%, 235 votes)
  • give them an email that'll actually deliver to you (56%, 306 votes)
541 voters. Poll end: 2 settimane fa

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Oh my goodness SO MANY PEOPLE telling me they don't give a damn email, read the damn directions
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

OK, I'm gathering from a lot of the comments that "can I get your email" isn't a common thing in a lot of the world.

I live in Minneapolis, a major metropolitan area in the United States, and it's *extremely common* for most in-person businesses to be using a point-of-sale system that requires or heavily suggests using an email or phone number to ID each patron. Many businesses are quite insistent, and I'm not going to be a jerk about it to the cashier, who didn't make that decision.

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Particularly when I have throwaway emails at the ready, it's quite trivial to give out an email that I can easily delete later on. But a lot of the time, particularly for *in-person* shopping, I actually want/need the receipt, and want/need the coupons that come from the seller.

That's just my experience though as someone who lives in a big city where this tech is essentially omnipresent.

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I've seen the poll, have waited for more information, because I have never ever been asked for an e-mail address in a real world shop and was puzzled by the reply options and answers from people. Thanks for clearing things up!
in reply to Wurzelmann

@wurzelmann same here. Never been asked in the real world.i live in a large metro capital city.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

do I remember correctly that you use FastMail?

Have a "random number" widget on your phone. Copy random number. Go to FastMail Settings → Aliases. Add new: "user-$n@$domain", with a private label naming the retail vendor.

Takes only a few seconds.

And have a filter that sorts "to:user-*@$domain" into "retail" folder.

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to progo in NYC

@progo Fastmail now offers this as a service as well right from their website, I have a whole slew of fake emails for various domains and can spin up more in minutes. I always keep a list of them on standby for this sort of occasion!
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I've been using Sneakemail.com for this purpose for a LONG time. Unfortuantely Sneakemail doesn't allow requesting a custom "user part" of the email address, nor a "pronounceable" option. It's a random alphanumeric string.

I might eventually gather up the contact relationships I need and migrate out of Sneakemail, but it's going to be a big job.

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

The use case you describe is a perfect example for @simplelogin. It can generate an address on-the-fly on first use. That way you get the receipts as you want, and can close the addresses independently if they are getting abused.

And when I give them an address, I often deliberately give them an address which includes the shop name and the word "spam" ... Just to observe the look on their faces trying to comprehend what is just happening.

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

this is why I used to love having my main email be a catchalll address. Let me use whatever business name at my domain. Easy to remember, and let me track where leaks were.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I don't use throwaway emails as often as I should, but I do use throwaway credit cards! Like privacy ones. They work fantastically well
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

how do you manage your throwaway email addresses? With something like a locally hosted version of addy.io/ ?
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I have a domain I don't use for anything with wildcard email address that goes to one of my real addresses. I grok receipts, etc., but it also helps when I get an email addressed to business@domain.com and it's about crypto investment.

Then I go and throw high profanity loaded messages to their corporate "contact us" link/email address.

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I'm fascinated by how different two very large cities can be, but in a big country, there are bound to be some real regional differences.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Even more than email, phone number feels almost universal, these days, and it's even trickled down to small shops because they're often using Square/Toast/Stripe/etc. and those bind your loyalty points or whatever to a phone number by default.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Comparaison with the local situation

Sensitive content

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I live in London, Ontario and regularly go to Toronto. I can't remember the last time somebody asked for my email.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I never really got over Radio Shack asking me for my phone number to do a price check on batteries. Every single time, I felt like this is a social norm no-no.

I am mostly reluctant, but if you are "my" grocer, sure spam away (one of) my inbox(es)

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I've always politely said "I prefer to decline" when asked for email by a cashier, and never had a problem with the transaction being completed (I also live in the Twin Cities).

(oops, missed the original post/poll)

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

If you ever decide to do a poll about paying by cheque (I think USA calls it a "check")
I imagine a similar mix of bemusement and regional / age generational differences in the replies!
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

@Veronica Explains
Here in Italy we have fidelity cards (not only from supermarkets) and you can get coupons printed together with your receipt. You may be asked for your email when you request the fidelity card, but not always. Sometimes you only enter your email if you create an account on the store's website.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I live in Manchester and perhaps it just depends where you shop, but seems common to me to be asked for my email. My wife's shop is only a small store and don't print receipts so only option if people want receipts is to have it emailed or texted to them.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Maybe it's regional? (the apple store was the last place I can think of, here in the Boston area, that even asked) and even when the swipe to pay terminal has buttons to pick print/email, I've never had the actual human ask for it. Or maybe since I'm paying with cash, they assume that there's no point in asking me?
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I didn't like your question, but rather than just move on, my opinion is so important I'm going to answer the question I think you should have asked 🙄
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

90% of the time I never want contact of any kind so I'm happy to let their severs fill with delivery failed notifications to fuckubigbrother@farts.gov, so that's my default answer.

If there is a real chance I'll need contact I'll go through the trouble of a masked email.

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I give them an aliased email. That way I'll know if they sell my data to a data broker and I just get rid of that email.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Um, not buy and go somewhere else?

(This actually happened for real couple years ago, and I actually did drop my prospective purchase on the counter and left.)

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to Luís Correia

@luisfcorreia receipts and coupons, mostly! And marketing of course, but it typically comes with some sort of coupon.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

ah, here they are always required to provide a paper slip (legal requirement), although some stores ask if we want it by email (Auchan Supermarket and Decathlon sports stuff)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I marked "give them a fake email" because that's my last resort, but I usually just tell them I don't have one.
in reply to Ethan Blanton

"I think I already have an account, but I can't remember it right now" sometimes works, too, they'll just like beep a special barcode they have behind the register.
in reply to Ethan Blanton

@elb they almost always keep a skip barcode behind the counter for this sort of thing. Folks are flighty and a long line at the register is bad for the business!
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Always a real email but one that is specific to their business.

No physical store has ever leaked my details though. Only tech companies (for a somewhat broad definition of "tech companies" -- I'm including Patreon lol)

Oh and one store I shop at a lot is also my employer so I use my work email there, the IT team can deal with all the crap they send me 😀

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Depends if it's expensible for work purposes 😁.

Yes, and give them my work email, which (given past experience) may not exist in N years 😁

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

That would depend a bit, how much i like the shop. But mostly, i would give them a fake address. Or when they ask for the zip code, it's always 12345.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I would never even give Radio Shack my real ZIP Code (that feels so mild compared to today)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I give them a deliverable email but one that's specific to the vendor (storename@mydomain) so I can block it later if need be

Interestingly, generally the smaller the business the more respectful they are about how they use it

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I annoy myself how compliant I am in these situations. Plus, my email is a pain to spell out unless you’re British, nerdy, and of a certain age.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

In general i go for the "I don't have email" approach and rant about technology and how the youngs have broke everything good
in reply to LoboAureo

@loboaureo young folks didn't build this system, we built it for them. Don't blame them.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I usually say I do not have one I actively use. If the person asking pushes further, I try to explain in a polite way I do not feel comfortable giving it to them
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I give them an email address alias that is easily deletible. So if the given adsress starts getting spam or resold, the aliase get deleted.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

If it's needed to receive a box code, it's one that pings BUT one that I can turn off easily.
If I'm vetting pizza to my door and paying cash? Mailinator.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Honestly might be more of a USA-side thing physical stores asking for email addresses routinely.

None of the UK shops I regularly visit in person ask for email, receipts are physically printed unless declined.

The grocery stores don't ask at the till. Might have a leaflet elsewhere to pickup for "loyalty" scheme but they assume people will be prompted to do that with online orders rather than having time to push it in-store.

Esp. since the shift to self-service checkouts.

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

if i do its always an alias, if i intend to read it alteast once. Otherwise they're outta luck.
The only time it happened for which i did want to recieve anything, it ended up being unused. But pysical mail on the other hand...
in reply to 🔗 David Sommerseth

@dazo@infosec.exchange This is exactly the system I was trying to remember and that I want to install on my server! Thank you!

Yeah, I hope it works like DuckDuckGo Email Protection, right? Same principle: I just give a unique email for each place that asks, a real address that I can disable anytime.

If I may share something curious, in Brazil, what we're always asked for is our CPF (our taxpayer/everything government ID number). I'm always trying to avoid disclosing it, for obvious reasons. The second thing they often ask for is our mobile phone number. Some places now even ask about :instaburn: ... they just assume, if you're a living person, you use Instagram and your phone number is actually WhatsApp :picardFacepalm:

CC: @vkc@linuxmom.net @simplelogin@fosstodon.org

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Well if it's a bank or something I will give em an email that I don't use but still check, but if I was getting things like water or chocolate then flat out no email for that unless it's like a thing where I can win money lol.
Unknown parent

@neil two of my favorite neighborhood stores can't even print physical receipts, like at all.

That's less common than a place like a grocery store where they have older POS systems (my guess is due to accepting government benefits as payment). But the grocery store still wants it for coupons nowadays!

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I have a catchall set up so it's a real email until they abuse it. (Although I have had stores refuse to accept it. Then they get nothing.)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Here in the UK I had a shop (chain went out of business years ago) refuse to sell me an unlocked mobile phone that I was going to use with my own SIM unless I gave a load details including email address. They claimed it was for "security" reasons.
I went to another store (its still trades to this day) and got the same phone at same price, no data given away.
I found out that the 1st store was getting paid for selling customer data. About tens bucks per customer in USA money.
Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

as someone with both a foreign accent and a name that often gets misspelled, i dread this interaction
Unknown parent

mastodon - Collegamento all'originale
Paul L

@neil
Do you think it is partly due to the legal frameworks / data protection?

Here I believe the rule is not to collect/retain information that is not required to complete a transaction or other process.

I also assume shops are not strictly allowed to share purchase history with any other stores not in the same chain or partner group.

Although most web advertising / analytics will probably claim grounds of "browsing data collected to improve the website performance / customer experience".

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I have a custom domain with wildcard addressing, so email to anything@mydomain.com will get to me. Then I can block that address if they start being spammy.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

@neil it's interesting to see the geographic variation in these things... Here in Europe I never saw people asking for email, stores that want some tracking or coupons will make you get an app or a physical customer card. Back in Brazil stores will want your tax number for tracking and discounts (which most people will be fine giving), and very few people even have or check emails, all commercial communication is through WhatsApp
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

here in Brazil it's not a common thing.
Usually, the big stores offer discounts by downloading and sign in an app or making a credit card from the store. But you can buy without doing that.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I'm deeply easy to figure out. I bought a Ford once. They email me to ford@ . I shop at MicroCenter@. But, it's e-bestbuy@ because of a breach many years ago.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Depends.

A one-time-shopping place : lol, here's my trash-email

A supermarket I buy from every week and would like coupons from : ok, you can have an e-mail I check.

(Also I'm in the European Union, data protection is supposed to be the rule)(Not great though, but better than nothing at all)

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

definitely i give them a real email. The fact that is a SimpleLogin alias doesn't matter.

And TBH I prefer give out the email (which I can always filter) rather than the mobile phone number which is a real plague here in Italy.

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

In Germany we don't have such things as coupons etc.. and receipts are given in paper form or none at all - partly you are forced to print a receipt.
in reply to Stefan 'lerothas' D.

@lerothas yeah not here in the US, even if you refuse your email they'll use their point-of-sale system to connect your credit card to a purchase history at other stores. Then they use *that* email.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

If I really want the receipt or something similar, I'll give them an alias email address that will deliver to my main address, but can be traced back to the store. Something like myname+storename@my.domain.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

For Shops where I really want to buy, I give them a unique throwaway email, that redirects to my real email. As soon as I get to many Spam on that, I throw it away.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

@neil Showing my age here, but I remember Tandy (aka Radio Shack) always asking for a name and address every time, back when they'd send catalogues and coupons through the post. Can't remember the last time I was asked for an email address for an in-store purchase, though.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

it is better (rather more evil, not better, but anyway 😀 to give them a valid unique email and automatically train all incoming mail as spam, report them to public spamlist.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I give them an alias address that I commonly use that delivers to me. I commonly unsubscribe from emails too. If they don’t stop sending emails I just kill the alias.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

This is something I don't have to deal with, but would probably give one that actually delivered to me if I had to.

I live in such a small town that the hardware store still runs on paper: cash, check, or set up a charge account that is tracked on hand written paper invoices. No digital payment capability at all.

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I used to have a spam mail, that was on another known provider, such as Yahoo mail. I have a mindset that if I got an email from that given address, I don't bother.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

i think this is rarer in the UK but i just give them a valid email (from a small selection depending on"trust").

What's the risk model/concern with giving them an email? i.e. why would you not?

Edit: strike that, I've just seen one of your later comments that implies "spam". Maybe it's a UK/EU thing but I've found stores are pretty good at honouring "Unsubscribe", and I'm fairly certain not selling on "email lists".

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 settimane fa)
in reply to Snail

@snail company gets hacked, email gets loose, folks start probing for other ways to use it.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

that's fair. I'm probably too trusting/relaxed,

I've got email accounts that are 30 years old, so I suspect a good number are out there, even if I do get very little (unexpected) spam.

My password hygiene is good though, plus 2FA, which at least would mitigate some of that risk. I'm probably more worried about the number of companies who have things like Credit card details (I normally uncheck "save this for next time")

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

rare to encounter here, I give an actual working email if I want the contents (my real email)...
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

@neil ah - interesting - here it's getting pretty common to offer the customer a paperless receipt via QR code (even at the bakery) ... eMail I only know from online shopping ..
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I've been asked this twice. One was when I bought a bicycle at a small company and had an option to handle all the guarantee things and servicing in an uncomplicated manner; the other one was some shop that wanted me to join their frequent buyer program that way. Sounded complicated with all that hassle at the counter, so I skipped.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

Little of column A little of column B for me.

I have email masks I can name/make up on the fly that do go to my real email, but can be set to filter out promotional emails, or just block all content (or let it through later). Plus it helps give me both unique logins and passwords for sites that collect email as an account name.

I'd say between the two options, I'm the first one, but I'm not REALLY in either camp.

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

"I'm actually physically standing here in the shop right in front of you. If you need to tell me anything you can say it to my face here and now. It doesn't require email." 🙂
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

This reminds me I need to hunt for a better domain to use with my e4ward account. The one I use now is hard for people to spell.
in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

I've only been asked once in Australia. I was already fed up, so made a face like I was about to burst into tears, & said "I just want to pay & go home", in a confused voice.

I'm not too proud! 😂

If it was it a requirement everywhere, I'd be really pissed off, but I'd have a please send spam here address to give. It's the owners I'm angry with, & they're rarely on the floor.

in reply to now it's veronicaexplains.net

my approach is that I give a brand new email address on my personal domain that has catch-all setup. So I do get to see it, but if that address starts being abused, I can easily blackhole it