Will smartphone ownership become a de facto requirement?

[kkt]

Some parking, even public street parking, requires a smart phone in order to pay.

Some businesses train their clerks to ask for a cell phone number from all customers, because email is too easy to ignore.

[Bruce]

More and more major sports teams are now requiring that a cell phone app be scanned for ticketing and admissions, too.  I'm worried about cold weather performance of the phone and its battery for this.

(grrrrr...)

Mike

A good ticketing app will have Google/Apple Pay integration, which helps with performance (less resources consumed and faster to load).

That said I do miss having paper tickets to negotiate with scalpers.

[MikeTheActuary]

I'm surprised you don't use the smart phone camera to take backup photos of the receipts. 

I haven't needed to do that this trip, so far.   Actually, I think I've only done the "take a picture of your receipt" trick once in the past dozen-or-so business trips.  (Parking receipt on my last trip to Montréal, since I was driving home after work on my last day up there, and therefore couldn't use a hotel garage.).

Hotel receipts are generally emailed to me.  Plane tickets bought through the corporate travel system don't require receipts.  I don't normally expense meals unless I'm in a situation where I'm obliged to spend more than I normally pay for food at home.

Additions to my list of things I wish I had my phone for:

• Finding my desk at the office (post-pandemic, we reserve desks, which are identified by number; if I had had my phone, I would have known where my desk for the day was.)
  
• Phone again -- phones seem to have disappeared from cubes and some conference rooms with the shift to hybrid work, since most cubes are vacant these days, since most voice communications has moved to Teams, and since most of my coworkers have their business numbers routed to their cell phones
  
• Teams client
  
• Calendar
  
• To-Do List
  
• News source
  
• Calculator
  

[Scott5114]

Some businesses train their clerks to ask for a cell phone number from all customers, because email is too easy to ignore.

Joke's on them, then–I practically never even look at my phone when it starts ringing, because I never get any calls from anyone I want to talk to!

[Ned Weasel]

Some businesses train their clerks to ask for a cell phone number from all customers, because email is too easy to ignore.

You can say no.  If they already have your money, they don't need your damn phone number.

[1995hoo]

Some businesses train their clerks to ask for a cell phone number from all customers, because email is too easy to ignore.

You can say no.  If they already have your money, they don't need your damn phone number.

Or just give either a fake number or an old number.

[kkt]

Some businesses train their clerks to ask for a cell phone number from all customers, because email is too easy to ignore.

You can say no.  If they already have your money, they don't need your damn phone number.

Or just give either a fake number or an old number.

I give them my landline number, which will take a message if a person calls but pretty effectively blocks robocalls.

[CtrlAltDel]

Some businesses train their clerks to ask for a cell phone number from all customers, because email is too easy to ignore.

You can say no.  If they already have your money, they don't need your damn phone number.

Or just give either a fake number or an old number.

867-5309

[Ted$8roadFan]

(New to this thread). The answer is yes; it already is.

[mgk920]

Some parking, even public street parking, requires a smart phone in order to pay.

Some businesses train their clerks to ask for a cell phone number from all customers, because email is too easy to ignore.

The most difficult messages for me to overlook or ignore are hard copy ones that are brought to me by someone from the United States Postal Service and are marked 'First Class Mail'.

Mike

[Dirt Roads]

Some businesses train their clerks to ask for a cell phone number from all customers, because email is too easy to ignore.

You can say no.  If they already have your money, they don't need your damn phone number.

About five or six years ago, I tried to buy a particular tool that I could only get at one of those cheap tool warehouses (can't remember which one, and I'm sure that will come back to haunt me).  Anyhow, I was planning to use a credit card and they asked for my phone number.  I politely said "I'm sorry, but we don't give out our phone numbers" and then offered to pay in cash.  She sternly said that it was company policy to require a phone number and home address.  I walked away from the sale and ended up having to take the machine in for repairs (which cost many times more than the tool did). 

[1995hoo]

^^^^

I worked at a computer store in the early 1990s and we had a strict policy about asking for phone numbers and addresses. Naturally, all of us had programmed in some dummy information (typically stuff like WJ Clinton at 1600 Pennsylvania or A. Gore at One Observatory Circle) so that we could process cash sales where the customer got belligerent. Management theoretically prohibited that, but they let it go because they understood the value of making the sale versus standing on principle about building a marketing database.

[Scott5114]

I wonder how much automatically-generated junk mail the White House gets from people doing things like that. I almost made Donald Trump a player's club account at the casino I worked at for similar reasons, but backed out without saving out of fear of what would happen if a mailer went out with his name on it  (and because we had policies in place specifically for handling data of "politically-exposed persons" that I didn't want to run afoul of just because I was trying to save some time; considering that Trump has ties to the gaming industry it would be quasi-reasonable to think he might have a legitimate account for some reason). I ended up just making an account for the supervisor's D&D character instead and used some address in Norman I knew didn't exist.

[kkt]

Yes, probably a lot.  When our college library was getting a new automation system, we practiced creating fake records for borrowers so we could try everything out before it went live.  One of the borrower records put it was the president at the white house.  We got it mailed back with a letter from a white house staff member asking (politely) if we were for real.  And we got a lesson in creating fake borrower records that couldn't accidentally be delivered to real people.

[J N Winkler]

I can't remember the last time I was asked in person for a phone number or address while trying to buy something.  It's easier to extort that information through an online form by playing on the fear that false information will trigger anti-fraud measures that prevent the transaction from going through, but if it is in person, then it is pretty obvious the information is being collected for marketing purposes.

[1995hoo]

I'll be asked to confirm my address and phone number for a purchase later this morning, but it's understandable because I'm going to be getting a new pair of prescription glasses and it'll take a week or two for them to cut the lenses and they'll have to contact me when they're ready. So that sort of thing makes eminent sense to me.

[kalvado]

I really wonder how useful that phone & e-mail information is.
I get my fair share of spam SMSes and calls, but those seem to go all over the place. After all, there are only that many valid area code and exchange combinations (aka first 5-6 digits) to cover. Filter out  big business with block allocation of numbers, and here you go. The only  unwanted but targeted texts come from local pet shelter, but I just cannot make myself to unsubscribe from those.
Genuine promotion e-mails... Most e-mail systems collect them into a separate group to look through when you're bored. Cleaning up that folder every year takes only that much effort.  I don't remember when I saw purely spam e-mails (like pЄni$ enlargement)  last time.
In many cases you also get something useful - like 1% discount on store brand or electronic emailed receipt  - as part of "loyality program".

[NWI_Irish96]

If you're under the age of 35, smartphones have pretty much been around your entire adult life. I have to imagine that within 20 years, the number of independent adults attempting to navigate life without one will be pretty close to zero.

[GaryV]

On a purchase I completed this week, there were places for Phone and Cell Phone. I filled in the cell, along with other information they needed. Pushed submit, and got the dreaded missing information message. So I went back. Phone was a required field, Cell Phone optional. I put my cell number in both fields and the order went through.

[kalvado]

On a purchase I completed this week, there were places for Phone and Cell Phone. I filled in the cell, along with other information they needed. Pushed submit, and got the dreaded missing information message. So I went back. Phone was a required field, Cell Phone optional. I put my cell number in both fields and the order went through.

I still remember how Sprint used to require phone number as part of their account information - and it could not be the cell number.

[Scott5114]

I really wonder how useful that phone & e-mail information is.
[...]
In many cases you also get something useful - like 1% discount on store brand or electronic emailed receipt  - as part of "loyality program".

It's not about actually contacting you (although that helps), it's about having some consistent reference to correlate purchases with. Data like "men 18-35 who buy X item frequently also buy Y", and "women 18-35 often buy brand Y, but women ages 36-65 buy brand Z" is invaluable data. Of course if you can then act upon it by sending a coupon for something your data shows they'll want, so much the better.

Target has gotten so good at doing this that they got in a little hot water for sending a teenage girl coupons for pregnancy supplies before she knew she was pregnant. But her purchase history showed she was likely to be, and it turned out the algorithm was right.

[kalvado]

I really wonder how useful that phone & e-mail information is.
[...]
In many cases you also get something useful - like 1% discount on store brand or electronic emailed receipt  - as part of "loyality program".

It's not about actually contacting you (although that helps), it's about having some consistent reference to correlate purchases with. Data like "men 18-35 who buy X item frequently also buy Y", and "women 18-35 often buy brand Y, but women ages 36-65 buy brand Z" is invaluable data. Of course if you can then act upon it by sending a coupon for something your data shows they'll want, so much the better.

Target has gotten so good at doing this that they got in a little hot water for sending a teenage girl coupons for pregnancy supplies before she knew she was pregnant. But her purchase history showed she was likely to be, and it turned out the algorithm was right.

Question is how bad that is in a grand scheme of things.  I don't mind some coupons for things I need.
But again, most of my identifiable purchases are from grocery stores. Yes, I buy yogurt and don't mind trying brands on a cheap. So what? Yogurt coupon? May I have two of them?
The most cheesy thing happened to me is Walmart apparently identifying me by credit card number I used online with them, and they used to email survey after in-store transaction where card was only identifying piece. Coupled with mandatory security cameras and face recognition.... That may be a lot...

[Scott5114]

I really wonder how useful that phone & e-mail information is.
[...]
In many cases you also get something useful - like 1% discount on store brand or electronic emailed receipt  - as part of "loyality program".

It's not about actually contacting you (although that helps), it's about having some consistent reference to correlate purchases with. Data like "men 18-35 who buy X item frequently also buy Y", and "women 18-35 often buy brand Y, but women ages 36-65 buy brand Z" is invaluable data. Of course if you can then act upon it by sending a coupon for something your data shows they'll want, so much the better.

Target has gotten so good at doing this that they got in a little hot water for sending a teenage girl coupons for pregnancy supplies before she knew she was pregnant. But her purchase history showed she was likely to be, and it turned out the algorithm was right.

Question is how bad that is in a grand scheme of things.  I don't mind some coupons for things I need.
But again, most of my identifiable purchases are from grocery stores. Yes, I buy yogurt and don't mind trying brands on a cheap. So what? Yogurt coupon? May I have two of them?
The most cheesy thing happened to me is Walmart apparently identifying me by credit card number I used online with them, and they used to email survey after in-store transaction where card was only identifying piece. Coupled with mandatory security cameras and face recognition.... That may be a lot...

Yeah, it really depends a lot on what sort of store it is that's collecting the data. A grocery store is no big deal, although someone knowing your diet could have some negative implications ("this person eats like garbage, let's send them a Cheetos coupon"). It gets far more into "yikes" territory when it's a general retailer like Walmart/Target/Amazon that can paint a much more complete picture of the sort of person someone is based on the type of products they buy.

And of course, since that sort of data has value, it can theoretically be sold to anyone. Even if you don't mind the grocery store knowing what types of meat you buy, they could sell that info to some other company that has also bought your purchase history from a few other stores.

[kkt]

Add to list of places that require a cell phone:  US Postal Service for setting up a vacation hold for mail.  It doesn't insist that the "cell phone" number be filled in setting up the account, but if you don't it will not verify the account until you have a postcard with a code number mailed to you.

[Big John]

And there are plenty of stores (especially grocery) that use "shopper's cards" giving them personal info and a record of what you buy.  No card = pay inflated regular price.  One place that doesn't use them is Meijer, but they still mail me coupons based on my previous purchases.