I had previously mentioned an OfficeMax survey that was the last straw with regards to my participation in surveys and information gathering at checkout.

I was in the OfficeMax in Denton yesterday and I noticed that the cash register still prompts the clerk for the survey questions (intended use of the merchandise and zip code), but the clerk zipped by them and just put filler.  She never asked me for any of it.  I didn’t ask about it, but I suspect that this is a case of practicality taking over in place of the grand schemes of marketing.  The clerks just want to get through the work day and if the survey questions cause them a lot of grief, they’ll stop asking them (and fill in junk or nothing if the computer makes them fill in something).  After trying the survey for a while, I suspect they found that people were being put off by it and gave up.  Maybe the market sorted this one out for the better this time.

Or it could be that they recognized me as the curmudgeon who wouldn’t answer their questions last time and decided it wasn’t worth the trouble .