"...vendors/etc and track internet traffic etc, is
informative and helpful..."
We tend to think that in our "modern" life,
computers and the internet invades our privacy etc. I'm not saying that
this is good or bad, I just want to comment that in "the good ole' days",
merchants knew a lot about us. It is only in the latter half of the 20th
century that most folk became used to being pretty anonymous in their every day
lives.
People living in cities, and paying in cash
realized that the impersonal merchants, who were part of large chains, did not
know who they were, and could not track their purchases. When I was a
child in the '50's folk would lament that the merchants did not know them or
value their patronage.
Previously, most Americans traded in small towns,
and even in big cities patronized local merchants. The local merchant, who
in many cases extended credit knew exactly who they were, who their kids were,
where they lived etc. They could offer personal service and stock and
suggest the purchase of items they were known to like. My mother bought
all of her meat at a butcher shop. The butcher, who actually cut animals
up, would suggest when she came in that he had a nice cut of meat or chicken
that she was sure to like. When we moved and she started purchasing meat
at a super market, it was a shock. They neither knew or cared about the
exact cuts of meat she liked.
Now essentially the same information can be
collected by computers. Some think that this is an invasion of privacy and
is spying on them. Maybe yes, maybe no. I don't
know.
Ed
Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower
Road Victor, MT 59875
