In California the cashier can no longer ask for your zip code during a purchase. But even if this isn’t the law in your state, you should know if they do ask, you don’t have to answer.
Last week California’s Supreme Court ruled that asking for a zip code infringes upon consumer rights. The Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971 prohibits stores from recording a consumer’s “personal identification information” during credit transactions – and the ruling labeled a zip code as personal information. Since the ruling, consumers have filed class action suits against major retailers in California, including Target, Wal-Mart and Victoria’s Secret. The penalty for requesting such information can be anywhere between a penny and $1,000.
While I normally prefer to keep my privacy, I like when a credit card machine will ask me for my zip code to prevent fraud.
Did credit card thieves sponsor this legislation?
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
And, if not for authorizing your credit card, it's to help them target their advertising... are most of our customers from within a 5 mile radius or should we go out 50 miles? (or somewhere in between)
... beyond that, I don't think a zip code is truly 'identifying information'
