My Email Is Worth $5
My Email Is Worth $5
No, you can’t have it in exchange for rewards or discounts.
But shout out to J.Crew for at least trying to buy it for five bucks. That’s what they offered me today at checkout: $5 off if I handed over my email. I actually respect this more than the usual “give your info now, get a reward later” tactic.
At least they named a price.
This got me thinking more broadly about what it really costs us to provide our email addresses and phone numbers in these situations:
The retailers you share your info with will market to you later via email.
These emails contain tracking pixels that reveal your online behavior so they can target you even more.
Depending on your location, you may be charged more or less than someone in a different ZIP code.
These emails often use trackers like cookies, pixels, and web beacons.
You’re not handed a privacy policy at the register, so you don’t know what happens to your data until it’s already in motion.
“Handled” often means your data is shared with partners for secondary purposes like profiling you by age, race, or buying behavior.
In many cases, that data is sold to enrichment firms, whose privacy policies then allow them to sell your data to brokers.
Brokers do just that. They resell your data to the highest bidder.
All of this operates quietly unless you take the time to learn how the system works.
So, as for J.Crew, at least their offer felt overt. At least you walk out with five bucks instead of just getting shafted.