This is the kind of thing that really sets me off.  As I mentioned earlier, I’m not very fond of being profiled and tracked by retailers.

Safeway is testing these carts in Moraga and Cameron Park, California:

Shopping carts in those stores have been equipped with a touch screen and scanner, where shoppers are invited to swipe their Safeway Club Cards—“loyalty” cards that keep track of everything their holders buy in exchange for discounts on merchandise.

As customers stroll the aisles of the store, the screen flashes promotions based on their purchasing histories. For instance, if a shopper is passing the detergent shelves and hasn’t stocked up in while, the cart could flash a coupon for his or her preferred brand.

On the surface, Safeway says it is interested in the technology as a tool for boosting convenience for customers, according to Safeway spokesman David Bowlby. “As with Club Cards, it’s an added convenience for customers,” said Bowlby. “We’re constantly enhancing the customer shopping experience and making it more convenient for them.”

Right.  Requiring a card to get a higher price is really convenient.

But the data gathered by stores such as Safeway represents a treasure trove of consumer buying habits, which may ultimately allow retailers to boost profits by better tailoring their inventories to customers’ desires. The data can also help retailers squeeze more efficiency out of their supply chain by ensuring that they are stocking up on inventory that consumers want to buy.

Inventory my arse, they want that “treasure trove of … habits” so they can build a portfolio on you and market crap to you based on it.

Katherine Albrecht, founder of CASPIAN (whom I came to know because of Albertson’s breaking their no card promise here in North Texas):

I think the average shopper would be creeped out by being tracked around the store. It’s a disturbing thought—being treated like a lab rat.

Instead of creeped out, try infuriated.

Marketing tools like “smart” shopping carts could backfire, however, if people aren’t given the choice not to use them, said Boone. Customers could get annoyed, for instance, if the cart beeped at them until they swiped their card.

If these things are linked to “loyalty” cards, then I probably won’t encounter them, since I won’t shop in a store that uses them.  However if I ever encounter one of these that can’t be disabled I’m going to perform a field study on the distruptive effects of magnetic fields on electronic devices (i.e. clamp a big honkin’ magnet on this sucker).