One Card Fits All?

I went to an excellent presentation today by a company that collects and analyzes the data from a widely used point card — you know, the card that you give them at the store when you buy stuff and they give you points that you’ll probably never use. Anyway, because you use the card, they know who you are and what you bought. So they can develop profiles. And since the card is not just for food stores, the profiles are more than just what you eat. Which lets them find, for example, that people who eat this brand of ice cream tend to prefer this kind of music. And more, much more.

But they would be able to do even more if they had more data. Like from me. I have the card. It is one of maybe a dozen I have. And because I have a dozen, they are all at home when I impluse-shop. (I am not going to carry a deck of cards around all day every day.)
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So it would make sense for all of these card issuers to consolidate and make it just one card. “But we would lose our advantage,” they cry. No you wouldn’t. In the first place, if I don’t carry your card around, you don’t have an advantage. And in the second place, it should be possible to have a single card but have the data sent to different companies depending upon where you use it — the same way the transit card keeps track of where you used it and sends money to the different rail companies accordingly. This should not be a difficult thing to do, if they wanted to. So why don’t they want to? Just insecurity? Egos? Too much money involved in issuing them? (If the last, this could be done by a company they all jointly own.) Or it just never occurred to them to give a little to get a lot more? They’re trapped in their boxes?

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