Originally Posted By RoadTrip It could be that the store was looking for more than just age identification. A local liquor store chain started requiring an ID from everyone, which they would then scan. Information read not only included the person's age, but it would also record their address information. The liquor chain said "oops... we didn't know the software would do thatâ€. Right. You go out and buy new point of sale terminals with card readers for all of yours stores, invest in software, and you have no idea what information is retained. Right. Now they say they’ve deleted everything from their database. I don’t believe that either. The details: <<Folks at the MGM Liquor Warehouse in Crystal know a thing or two about license-scanning and customer backlash. According to Paul Setter, director of advertising and marketing for the St. Paul-based liquor chain, the company decided to install scanning software on the Crystal store's cash registers after the outlet was cited for selling alcohol to a minor during a routine compliance check by Crystal licensing officials this past December. (After months of legal wrangling, the location was shut down for ten days on August 18 as a result of the bust.) Setter says the company ordered software that would provide age verification and nothing else. But early this summer the California firm that supplies MGM's cash registers delivered more than the liquor retailer had asked for. The new software revealed all of the information contained on the magnetic strip: the customer's name, license (or ID) number, address, and date of birth. Additionally, the program stored the information on a database--along with a record of what each customer had purchased. It didn't take long for irate customers to complain to corporate headquarters. One angry patron, who had seen his personal information pop up on the store's cash-register screen, went so far as to write a letter to the Star Tribune, which was published in the August 9 edition. By then, according to Setter, MGM had called California and asked that the system be changed. "We only had it running for about a month before we realized what it was doing, and we decided to stop it," he says. "We've deleted everything that was in the database," adds Setter, who says the information was never used in any way. "All we're doing now is verifying age. We don't even keep that information. If people want to be on our mailing list, they can ask us and we'll add them but we aren't going to just make up a database without their permission. We don't want to mail things out to people who don't want them." Setter reports that the modified software has been installed in a few additional MGM locations and will eventually be deployed at all of the liquor retailer's 18 metro-area stores.>> Source: <a href="http://citypages.com/databank/22/1082/article9781.asp" target="_blank">http://citypages.com/databank/ 22/1082/article9781.asp</a>
Originally Posted By jonvn Be careful when you buy stuff at grocery stores and use those discount cards. They record everything you buy. I have heard of one case where this information was subpoened and the information used to try and show that a participant to the lawsuit was an alcohol abuser.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder The only carded I get anymore is at birthdays, or when I'm asked if I'm in AARP yet.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I'm there 3 April's ahead of you -- there's no upside to it that I can see
Originally Posted By jonvn You're going to start getting carded. I was just carded at IHOP. Why? Because I wanted to down my pancakes with some beer. I'll simply state I don't quite look 21.
Originally Posted By mele Mm, beer and pancakes. It's really stupid that this person wasn't allowed to buy liquor. I can understand that the store has a policy and that it should be respected, but a little common sense should prevail too. Let them buy the liquor that one time and then inform them that they won't be allowed to buy liquor the next time they don't have an ID. I always think it's kind of odd that someone would have cash and not have their wallet with them. I almost always have my wallet with me and the times that I do leave my wallet at home (like walking to the school to pick up my daughter) I don't drop by the liquor store to buy a gallon of whiskey.
