Technical > Home Improvement > mylowes card?!?!?

mylowes card?!?!?

This might explain part of it:

There is absolutely no doubt this new "service" will provide Lowes some sort revenue stream and the customer some sort of (additional) irritation. The privacy rants will provide endless hours of entertaining reading. Thanks Lowes but I'll stick with my off-line method of "purchase tracking".
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Zach

reply to SwedishRider
If the stores are actively pushing it on customers you can bet it benefits them.

Business Intelligence is huge nowadays. Perhaps they want to take BI one step past the store & register level and be able to identify purchasing habits among individual purchasers. Without being able to track habits of the same customer over time this is not possible. The card would allow them to do it.

reply to SwedishRider
I've seen the commercials on TV. On the surface it appears it could benefit the consumer. Like the video above shows, it is convenient to look back at your history and be able to replace items with the same thing.

But yes, if they are pushing it, it benefits them somehow, too. They are in this to make a profit, and they are not going to do anything that does not benefit them. Is it worth being paranoid over? I doubt it. Unless you think Lowes finds you appealing enough to single you out from the other millions of customers they have.

reply to SwedishRider
I got one the last time I was there - was confused about what it was for and have not bothered researching it. PrntRhd thanks for the video. You saved me the effort to figure out what it was for. I wonder if anyone from Lowes monitors this forum. Great marketing ploy where the brilliant minds who post on this forum can't figure out what the card is for.

I keep track of my purchases in various ways - have no need for Lowes to do it for me. Retail business are trying hard to attract repeat customers. Recently I installed a whole house sediment filter. I bought online. One of the things the site wanted me to do was sign up for filter element replacement emails.

/tom

reply to SwedishRider
This probably won't even help customers. HD and Lowes change their products so often that they seldom carry the same stock for more than a couple of years.

This is the main part of the agreement:

"When you register, you will also have the opportunity to sign up for email newsletters on certain subjects. These newsletters will be sent to you only if you choose to place your name on our mailing list. In order for us to deliver these newsletters, we may need to pass your name and email address to our service providers who supply us this email service. We also use a third-party company to authenticate and validate the information you provide to us. Your registration information is merged with information provided by the third party for our marketing purposes. The information you provide while visiting Lowes.com is combined with marketing research from internal and external sources. The information will be used to determine shopping and informational preferences."

The state that they don't "sell" your information but they can give it to other parties to be used as Lowes allows them. Lowes wants to send you newsletters and emailed promoting their products.

You can opt'ed out.

Personally, if I need to be reminding of something I use Google Calender. All of my reminders in one place.

Yeah, they won't sell your info, but they'll exchange it for something. Either way, it looks to me like your personal info is given to quite a few different entities. I still don't get paranoid about it, but I would get annoyed with the possibility of being added to more junk mail lists.

Unless I get coupons like 10 off 30, 20% off one item, on a regular basis (like Kohl's), the card is going in the trash.

reply to SwedishRider
I've been asked the same thing.... If I had a rental property, yes, I would want to keep track of expenses... But for home, I could care less if I kept track of purchases!!!

Keep track of paint purchases? Yes, I want to register the 3 gallons I just purchased at Menards...... Oh, you can't register paint bought elsewhere???

Don't need it...
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Looking for 1939 Indian Motocycle

reply to SwedishRider
I haven't setup a "profile" online, but the brochure says,"Create an online place for every space, add room dimensions and keep notes for future plans." Sounds like they want more information so they can go data mining and either try to sell me more stuff or give that info to others who will try.

If a credit card is used, all purchases can be looked up using that card without the need for a receipt for refunds already... so that's a non-starter for this program.

I don't see any other purpose than to just hand over more information to a company that sells me stuff for no benefit in return. I do have rewards cards at other retailers for store loyalty, and some of those programs really save money or reward customers for repeated purchases. I know they keep my information, blah, blah... but using credit or debit cards today is still creating a digital paper trail anyway.

Unless this new program yields the customer some realistic benefits, I think I'll pass on this one..

reply to Jan Janowski

reply to SwedishRider
Honestly, I can see the usefullness of this.
I do alot of DIY home improvements, and I am constantly at Lowes.
However, the only problem I have with it, is the fact that in the past 2 weeks I have probably made over $500 in purchases, and but only my wife has the card. Last night was the first night that someone actually said they could look up the account via phone #.
As usual, there where multiple listings for the same phone #.
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Getting it Done.

reply to SwedishRider
Lowe's has been asking for your phone number now for ages (at least in the self-check lanes, which is what I always use), in order to "help with returns", should it be needed. They actually have multiple ways to track you, anyway. If you use a credit card (but they usually have to pay for this info), if you use their card, or if you enter your phone number. And you are always under taped video surveillance (inside and outside), if they want to use that to investigate a particular individual.

BTW, I have a Lowe's credit card, which I've used precisely once. And that was strictly to take advantage of a "50% discount on your first Lowe's card purchase" promotion that they were running at the time, which in my case meant saving $50, so it was definitely worth it.

reply to Jan Janowski

reply to SwedishRider
I can tell you who indirectly benefits from the My Lowes card ... several of my friends who are employed at Lowes to keep that system running.

Not to say I support said friends because I refuse to get one if their cards.

Now if you want to talk invasion of privacy - the local Harris Teeter here demands your drivers license number before they'll give you one of their frequent shopper cards. I told them to get out of town when I found that out.

reply to scross