Every week over 50,000 households in the United States share their purchases with the National Consumer Panel. Wielding a special laser scanner, these Americans capture the UPC codes of all food and apparel bought and brought into their homes. They even mark down their gas fill-ups, vending machine impulses, and afternoon coffee splurges. All of this consumption is carefully recorded and shared with data company Nielsen/SymphonyIRI via an Internet upload. The big data is utilized by media professionals like myself to target advertisements and make marketing decisions.
I was curious about what it would be like to do as those consumers do, and scan all of my purchases. I signed up online to join the National Consumer Panel, and following my admission received my very own scanner in the mail. I excitedly opened the package and hurried to get started with my new toy.
It wasn’t as fun or as simple as I thought it would be, though. In fact, entering in all of my purchases almost took longer than shopping for them.
The flurry of questions took time to punch in answers on the alphanumeric handset. Who went shopping? Who came with the shopper? What was the store’s name? Did I have any coupons? Finally a chance to scan the item, but then there were more questions. How many did I buy? How much did it cost? Did I use any deals? Were there any coupons or sales? What was the coupon’s face value? How much did I spend in total at the store? Did I use a frequent shopper card? How did I pay? What was the total amount I paid?
Making these scans was eye-opening. It was tedious, a little frustrating, and in the words of my coworker, the scanning device was “like an antique.” I thought, as I struggled to determine how to properly record a buy-one-get-one free item, scanning these barcodes is just not fitting into my lifestyle. Could I work it into my routine? Would I be able to keep this up week-after-week? Was it worth it to me?
Earning a $25 iTunes Gift Card would take well over a year even with on-time weekly transmissions. That means that every week of scanning earns the participant less than half a song on iTunes. There are monthly sweepstakes that feature cars, cash, vacations, and shopping sprees, but that’s not a guaranteed reward.
For me, keeping this up would not be for the prizes. What for, then? The program materials purports participants, “make a difference in what manufacturers and retailers make and put on store shelves.”
How committed am I to that cause?
How committed should I be to that cause?
I feel guilty as I replace the scanner back into its cardboard box and flip over the mailing label to return it to the sender. How can I not give back what I so willingly take? I hesitate but ultimately hand over the package for today’s post.
I return to my desk, and decide resignedly that I will sign up for a secret shopper program over my lunch break.
