OK, this is weird (they're watching you edition)

[Ratty]

At work I logged into the Safeway website and looked through their coupons as I typically do every couple of weeks. I selected a coupon for Quilted Northern Bathroom tissue (I know, Koch, right? I'm bad - but I probably won't get it so there). I get home, on a DIFFERENT computer I go to Amazon because I want to order another NYT crossword puzzle book because I'm almost done with the one I have and guess what I see on the very first page on a list of deals I might be interested in. You guessed it. Number 1: a dollar off on 12 rolls of Quilted Northern Bathroom tissue. Same discount as Safeway.

I don't think I like that. I mean toilet tissue is innocuous right? It's more convenient, Amazon offering things I might be interested in I guess. But it creeps me out. What else do "they" know about me? Do they know my porn habits? I guess I'm not mad exactly. Although I have all kinds of cookie guards installed on my Firefox I did log in to both sites so I voluntarily told them who I was. And I imagine there must have been some terms and conditions I clicked OK on that spelled out what they share and with whom. But it always creeps me out when that happens.

Anybody have a Safeway account and an Amazon account they want to try it on? I SUPPOSE it could just be a big coincidemce.

[DebJ]

1. Well, this past summer I bought a pair of sandals

at a local discount store. I rarely buy shoes....I keep only maybe 3-4 pair, and that includes winter and summer...
so it had been actually a few years since I had purchased any shoes.

I went to Facebook 3 days later, and there was a big advertisement for the same maker of shoes.

Freaked me out.

But that must have been a coincidence, unless somehow my bank card number that I used to pay
for the shoes is being tracked.............

So this had to be coincidence.......

[Ratty]

2. Yeah I'm thinking I'm paranoid

I mean why would Safeway share your shopping habits with a competitor? It makes no sense. Also, Safeway doesn't know my credit card number. I usually pay there in cash or use my bank card. I never use my credit card though. So how would they know I even the same person? Maybe Northern is just pushing their deals out aggressively to all their outlets. I remember noticing the same thing before though. I searched for something on Google (which I'm signed into) and noticed the same items offered on the Amazon homepage.

[HopeHoops]

3. Clear your browser cookies. That's where the vast majority of such information lurks.

Google Ads does the same thing. I guarantee that if you go to a drug store web site and search for "enema" that the next site you go to with Google Ads will have one for something related to constipation - laxative most likely.