Used to be when I needed to deposit a check in my bank account, I would just drive over to the bank and deliver it in person. Time passed, things changed, and now I mail my deposits.
For a while, I was filing medical insurance claims on fairly regular basis. The address was some post office box somewhere in the Northwest, and the four digit box number was the same as the four digit suffix to the Zip Code. With the Zip Code, you don't really need the city or state, and if the box number is the same as the suffix, I bet you can do without it as well. So I started addressing my mail with just the name of the company and the nine digit number. Worked fine for a long time. Then one day I tried it with a bank deposit, and it got bounced back by some officious numbskull. Bah. And they still don't supply me with preaddressed envelopes or even address stickers.
I used to buy gas at a funky little gas station because there usually wasn't a line of cars waiting to buy gas like there was at the, fancy, new, modern Chevron station. But recently they started asking me for my Zip Code (I use a credit card to buy gas). No big deal, but it irritates me. So I started going to Chevron, where they don't ask me for my Zip Code. No lines there anymore either, so it's okay. I don't know whether they are just selling less gas, or I have learned not to go there when they are busy. Albertson's (a grocery store) doesn't ask for your Zip Code when you buy gas there either. I wonder who is in charge of the Zip Code question decision.
I know the Safeway gas stations also ask for a zip code, but I always figured it was some sort of extra layer of security to make sure it wasn't someone who stole your card.
ReplyDeleteAlso there are some stores that also ask for your zip code whenever you purchase something--whether by cash, credit card, or check. Maybe it's for demographic purposes.
I don't buy gas (obviously), but I do buy clothes; my previously favorite Daffy's department store started the same practice - a cashier asks for my zipcode when I charge my purchases on credit card. Also, an automated ticket machine often asks the same before proceeding with transaction.
ReplyDeleteSo, I conclude it's a credit card Cos' policy. Although for what earthly purpose they might need this statistic, escapes me.
But I, too, feel irritated every time they ask.
Do you know that in Canada and in UK their postal codes are incredibly detailed, so much so that lots of people actually send mail addressed @postal code - because it often means one particular building?
Inasmuch as all the corporate credit-card stuff comes by my desk at some point, I can tell you this: the address-verification system in use by most card networks calls for both the numeric part of the street address and the zip code. Since this is encoded into the strip on the back of the card, swiping the card is sufficient to meet this demand, though merchants are expected to double-check a portion of these to demonstrate their commitment to security, or some such nonsense. The Circle K I visit most often asks for my Zip code about a third of the time; the Conoco station, almost all the time.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a Web storefront, though, you can't swipe cards because they're obviously not there, so these bits of data become more critical, and banks reserve the right to refuse transactions without them.
You want simulated security? Lowe's, at least the one nearest me, now asks for the last four digits of the card you just swiped, on the off-chance that you just found it somewhere lying on the ground and haven't looked at it.
It is actually against Visa (and MC?) merchant agreeements for retailers to ask for a zip code or address. It is also against the law, CA had a recent supreme court case that ruled the retailers could not ask for or record any personal information for a credit card purchase...
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