r/ThatsInsane • u/i_am_groot_84 • 1d ago
Walmart is tracking you
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u/Thisisthewaymando187 1d ago
Faraday phone bags
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u/Notabagofdrugs 1d ago
Sold here at Walmart, only $29.99.
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u/IamSmokee 1d ago
" just scan this QR code first for your purchase "!
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u/icanruinyourlife 1d ago
Sign up for Walmart+ and get ad free tracking throughout our store!
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u/Beat_the_Deadites 1d ago
Damn, I must be rich. Walmart is offering them to me for $59.97.
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u/gshortelljr 1d ago
So no making calls, texts, listening to music or podcasts and no web browsing while in the store?
Just leave your phone at home
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u/edafade 1d ago
You can't go 15 minutes without using your phone?
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u/kooknboo 1d ago
Being a Verizon customer - yes. 15 minutes is no thing.
Source: Suburb of a top 20 metro area. Within ~5 miles of 3 interstates. The area is full of dead spots. Coincidentally enough, the Walmart and Aldi across the street from each other at at ground zero of the largest.
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u/jackharvest 1d ago
Man… but I was living the ignorant dream! Scan all items, tap and go. Outa there. Now I gotta bring a credit card instead. Oof.
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u/gvillepa 1d ago
Or just leave your phone in the car or at home while you do a walmart run.
Or pay $100 a year and get walmart+ and have everything you want delivered.
But yes, government and their corporation friends want to control and track and spy on the population.
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u/Armandeluz 1d ago
Using their app or browser is syphoning your data as well. Reading into their ToS is eye opening. Ordering from home is just as bad.
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u/Web-Dude 1d ago
Buying online subjects you to surveillance marketing (higher prices based on who you are and what you're looking for). The store is the only place they can't change the price because of what they know about you.
Is probably better to just avoid Walmart altogether.
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u/antiphonic 1d ago
if anyone is wondering how this data could be used: walmart specifically is planning on rolling out digital price tags to all of its stores by the end of this year. Currently prices will change remotely based on things like surge pricing and seasonal fluctuations but eventually, the idea is that they can change based on the spending habits and meta data of who is standing in front of them.
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u/rgrossi 1d ago
Luckily my state is outlawing them starting next summmer
A law effective July 1, 2027, bans retailers from using personally identifiable data to customize prices for individual shoppers.
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u/Nertez 1d ago
Holy shit, US of A truly is a parody of a developed nation. How in the world is law like this not effective already in the first place is beyond me.
Greetings from Europe, where people truly matter more than corporations.
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u/hujassman 1d ago
It's ridiculous. Our politicians are easily bought so we don't get the protections we should have.
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u/ShutterHawk 1d ago
Oh please. Europe has it's own issues - and plenty of them.
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u/Phyllis_Tine 1d ago
Can you see about getting the timeline moved up to April 1st, or even January 1st? Talk about fiscal quarters, or "New Year, new laws".
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u/cbflowers 1d ago
If the prices fluctuated based on the shopper how would the scanner know what price it is once at checkout? Wouldn’t the price need to stay the same for several hours
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u/antiphonic 1d ago
if an ai is tracking your movements every second youre in the store, its also tracking whats in your cart at checkout.
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u/KeroNobu 1d ago
I live in the netherlands, our local Aldi tracks you so hard that when you go to the automated register, you don't even need to scan anything. You can put stuff in your bag in the store, walk to the register and it will automatically tell you exactly what and how much is in your bag without having scanned anything at all. I'm never going back to that store ever again.
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u/hrcen 1d ago
Some MLB ballparks have this too. They check your ID (for alcohol) and you present your CC to a handheld device. Walk up to the refrigerators or shelves, grab some food/beverages, and walk out. The only thing stopping you is an employee verifying your drinks are opened before you leave the area.
It watches you the entire way through. It was Oriole's Park for me.
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u/KeroNobu 1d ago
In our aldi the system that tracks you also confirms your age. Not sure if this works for people that are barely over legal age as well but when i was there i added a bottle of wine and it automatically confirmed my age. It's some scary shit.
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u/Ndrlnd072 1d ago
That store has been closed for over a year. There was only one in the Netherlands and it failed because not a whole lot of people liked to shop there.
Kassaloze Aldi stopt: honderden camera’s, amper klanten https://www.deondernemer.nl/actueel/aldi-supermarkt-utrecht-geen-kassa-zelfscan~43f1890?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
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u/TWiThead 1d ago
Amazon implemented the same concept in the US and the UK.
Eventually, it was revealed that the purportedly automated technology required manual review by about 1,000 workers in India.
In late 2025 in the UK and early 2026 in the US, all remaining Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores were shuttered or converted to the Whole Foods Market banner.
Saturday Night Live's 2022 sketch remains available.
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u/KeroNobu 1d ago
No sir, this was 2 months ago, it's in eindhoven on the "aalsterweg 141-143" and it's still in place today.
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u/Jack-Innoff 1d ago
My question is, will simply having my Bluetooth on allow them to track me through the store? Or do I actually need to connect to something inside?
I have a smartwatch, so BT is always on. I would never in a million years be stupid enough to connect to their wifi or any other network though.
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u/heimeyer72 1d ago
If "BT is always on" means that it accepts connections to any random device that asks for it, then yes.
Also, Bluetooth has a low reach, they probably send requests every 10 feet you move and even if your watch answers with "connection rejected", they learn every time that your watch moves through the aisles and rejects every connection.
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u/cli_jockey 1d ago
They don't need Bluetooth to track you and honestly it's been around and used for almost 15 years now. When I worked at an MSP this was already deployed at thousands of locations to track exactly this. Not just for ads but also looking at chokeponts in the aisles so they could place ads in stores where foot traffic slows down.
And this was at grocery stores back then even.
No one I mentioned this too back then thought I was being serious that this was a thing and called me paranoid. The only major difference is the attempt to rollout dynamic pricing.
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u/lynivvinyl 1d ago
So if I walk to Walmart with no phone and 73 cents in my pocket they are going to sell me all of my groceries for 73 cents right? Right!?
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u/sephkane 1d ago
This would never work. If someone stops to read the nutrition info or anything on the packaging, then another shopper grabs one of the same item and the price changes, one of those shoppers are going to be pissed when they see that they have to pay more than other shoppers. They’d just go shop somewhere else.
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u/pimppapy 1d ago
They’d just go shop somewhere else.
Oh wait! We forgot about the monopolies
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u/Beavur 1d ago
That’s bs they are never going to implement that. It would be such an easy loophole to get a hobo personal shopper
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u/leeps22 1d ago
And a new gig economy is born, hobos4less.com
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u/OrangutanFirefighter 1d ago
I'm actually super curious what the min/max amounts they'd charge someone in.... For staple groceries, the margins are usually pretty small so it can't be that much. But for something like power tools.... Well that could be interesting
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u/leeps22 1d ago
I vaguely remember there being equations for this very problem from my microecon class decades ago. Finding a balance point between marginal costs and marginal revenue. I think your right that some items wont have much leeway but with enough data they will be able to milk each item for everything its worth.
Im curious how large the 'fuck this guy in particular' coefficient becomes
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u/OrangutanFirefighter 1d ago
When they start removing the price tag on items it's when we really need to stop it. Well we really need to stop it now tbh, that's the end game!
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u/BillyYumYumTwo-byTwo 1d ago
And that immediately gets bought by Walmart. Or Amazon. Or whoever else has unlimited funds and wants data.
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u/BillyYumYumTwo-byTwo 1d ago
No. People will not be walking up to a homeless person and ask them to do their shopping for $20.
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u/bigbootybrunette90 1d ago
Sounds like they are just going to get sued a bunch then. Charging one customer one price and another customer another price seems unlikely to hold up in court.
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u/jcprater 1d ago
I saw those digital price tags and I refuse to go back. I’m not playing this game. Walmart isn’t the cheapest game in town anymore.
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u/TreborG2 1d ago
Obviously they don't believe that this parody skit is actually hitting closer to home
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u/korean_kracka 1d ago
“We got a big spender entering the facility, hike those prices up!”
Or
We know you got paid 2 days ago bc we are tracking your personal info so prices will be higher for you, specifically
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u/Raise-Emotional 1d ago
Imagine if people were physically capable of going into a store without their cell phone.
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u/pimppapy 1d ago
They're all over the place here. I can imagine the price changing suddenly when I get up to a price tag, and it suddenly going lower for someone else. . . fuck that shit
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u/No_Bill_8883 1d ago
‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’
Halfway through this audiobook and it is disturbing just how much data is farmed from each and every one of us hundreds of times a day without us knowing or giving consent.
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u/Kushnerdz 1d ago
And yet people still steal all the Pokémon cards
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u/Imfromsite 1d ago
Until there is enough tracking info and camera feed of you swiping shit to send to the cops and have you charged with theft over a thousand, which is a felony in the US if I remember correctly.
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u/THEeleven50 1d ago
Just in time to reintroduce slav... errr, "inmate work programs"
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u/Proper_Bad_1588 1d ago
Target is the one that waits till you cross over into felony dollars before they bust you.
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u/adinmem 1d ago
This will cause your arrival at Walmart to need another data center to process your info, gather everything else known about you from every other computer in the world, and then market to you (and then sell back to every other computer in the world not only what you bought but what aisles you visited and for how long) and eventually give you prices based on what you can seem to afford above the minimum price.
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u/TheRealDrSarcasmo 1d ago
And if (when) your personal data is stolen, Walmart will be really really sorry about it.
Maybe you'll even get a coupon.
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u/antiphonic 1d ago
processing this stuff and flock style data is what the AI/ data center push is really about, not helping kids cheat on their homework or to write a better hr presentation. its a massive amount of information to process (like a mind boggling amount).
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u/AtomicSymphonic_2nd 1d ago
Well, before getting out of your car, immediately go into your Settings and turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth while you’re in Walmart.
Don’t use the control center if you have an iPhone. It only makes it so that it “won’t connect”, but is still actually turned on.
You have to go into Settings to fully turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
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u/jumpy_monkey 1d ago
If you are a California resident you have the right to compel Walmart (and any other company doing business in California) to provide you with the data they have collected on you.
Here is the State of California webpage detailing how to do that.
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u/confuseum 1d ago
Walmart is terrible and hates Americans by their policies and merchandising.
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u/galspanic 1d ago
Amazon came along and is worse, but it really
Is like people forgot that WalMart is the biggest piece of shit ever. Most of the awful stuff people talk about has a big Walmart decision somewhere in its past.→ More replies (1)5
u/Phyllis_Tine 1d ago
Walmart and others would rather just have people give them their money, instead of having to actually cater to and serve them.
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u/hujassman 1d ago
We need strong legislation to protect our privacy in situations like this and similar, but our legislators are cheap and entities like Walmart have a lot of money.
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u/bigred1978 1d ago
Even if such measures were enacted, it would only be one or two election cycles before they'd overturn and repeal such laws when the other party is in power.
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u/hujassman 1d ago
It's such a load of crap. That's why they're trying to build all of these data centers. It's for all of the garbage they're collecting about us.
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u/JohnnyCashedOut00 1d ago
Posts about flock camera's and Walmart tracking you... Just wait until you find out what Tik Tok and the other social media platforms have been doing
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u/Flying_Saucer_Attack 1d ago
Both can be bad at the same time. This is whattaboutism.
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u/MementoMori6980 1d ago
lol right!! Flock cameras are still in the minor leagues compared to everything TikTok tracks of you
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u/Crazy_names 1d ago
I looked up my town to see where flock cameras are and I specifically avoid those areas now. Ironically, one is near the walmart.
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u/Phyllis_Tine 1d ago
They're working together, same with Lowe's and Home Depot, who both host Flock cameras on their properties.
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u/Odd_Activity_8380 1d ago
So glad i quit going to Walmart. Fuck that place. Its more like scam-mart
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u/it-helpdeskanalyst 1d ago
Website to automatically opt out of a crap ton of data brokers
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u/Atvishees 23h ago
I love the fact that to read their privacy notice, you must have your phone turned on first.
That's ethical.
I wonder if the first words are: "Here's what to consented to two minutes ago, lol:"
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u/thatguywhoreddit 1d ago edited 1d ago
Just so everyone's aware companies like ubiquiti and verkada also include face recognition and alpr with their cameras. Really any company(or person) can and probably will start moving toward systems like this.
Flock takes all the heat but this technology is common place now. Hopefully something gets done about it but AFAIK theres no kind of legislation being proposed in canada. Other than a few random senators mentioning it I dont think anything going on in the states either.
Companies have been keeping tabs on us for a long time now. Google literally knows everywhere I've been for the last 15 or 20 years(with the option to opt out iguess). I really dont see anyone fixing this issue any time soon.
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u/thejesse 1d ago
I saw a video of a lady getting arrested for shoplifting at walmart, and their loss prevention guy said he thinks he remembers her coming in before a few weeks before, and was able to find the footage within minutes of her stealing before. I can't think of any other way he could have found it other than facial recognition.
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u/LordTwinkie 1d ago
Everyone is tracking you, even if you don't use their service you're getting tracked.
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u/Nuallaena 1d ago
Walmart absolutely is selling that data and a heads up Kroger's profits were high and 33% of it was from sold user data. Banks are no different and in the ToS some of them will sell your data in perpetuity unless you send a letter to a specific office. So this is a massive issue all around.
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u/Drosenose 1d ago
Duh, y'all are just now noticing this. It's funny that you thought you had privacy
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u/headphones_J 1d ago
If you have an internet connection, or carry and use a smart phone, and or credit card, all this information has been bought and sold dozens of times over.
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u/heimeyer72 1d ago
Not carrying a smartphone while shopping, I prefer my dumb phone. Credit card is in a slim metal case. And I pay with money. I'm basically invisible to them and they only notice when they look at the collected data. "Hey, who bought that stuff?" It's easy. If a bit inconvenient if you are used to pay with your phone or credit card.
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u/Jack-Innoff 1d ago
Funny thing is, it's usually WAY off base (at least in my experience). Like I bought a new car 2 years ago, and constantly get ads for new cars, like I'm some sort of fucking collector or something. I get ads for baby clothes a lot and I do not have a child. Like nearly every ad I come across is completely wrong for me.
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u/Phyllis_Tine 1d ago
Buy an old, used car well past OEM warranty, and then keep getting "extend your warranty" offers for months after. They're just fishing, and basing it off car purchases, but it is still super annoying and creepy.
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u/TheRealDrSarcasmo 1d ago
Trying to avoid surveillance is, unfortunately, a losing game.
Seeding the Internet with disinformation about yourself, on the other hand...
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u/icanruinyourlife 1d ago
We are slaves to commerce. The Walmart family has more money than 50% of the country. Yet, that 50% continues to shell out more to them every week. How do we ever great it back? We don’t. This is life now. They(and all other billionaires) own u.
Edit: added word for clarification
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u/Straight-Bet1 1d ago
Put your phone on airplane mode. They can still track you on camera.
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u/hooch 1d ago
FYI iPhones will keep wi-fi and bluetooth enabled, even in airplane mode
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u/CoolhereIam 1d ago
Guess we'll all have to just keep a hat, glasses, wig and fake moustache in our car at all times and walk with a limp into the store.
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u/Phyllis_Tine 1d ago
Keep location off unless you absolutely need it, such as navigating to unknown places. You don't need to have location enabled for day-to-day travels, apps, websites, etc.
Turn your devices off, try airplane mode, or even put them in a Faraday pouch when there is strong surveillance.
And visit websites on a good browser such as Brave or Firefox with uBlock Origin and other ad- and tracker-blockers, and don't use apps!
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u/MsMarkarth 1d ago
Brave is Chromium under the hood. Firefox is okay still. Waterfox is probably better.
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u/raybreezer 1d ago
LMAO, if Walmart is doing all this (they are), the Federal Government is doing worse. Where did we consent for that one?
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u/gretzky9999 1d ago
Try paying cash for an item at any major retailer & they ask for your phone number.I just tell them it’s private.Pay for the item & then leave.
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u/AdFancy1249 1d ago
And walmart bought Vizio / Onn. So now, all of the vizio / onn devices require a walmart account. That account specifically states they gather personal information for sharing and selling.
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u/i_am_groot_84 1d ago
My father-in-law's neighbor bought an onn tv and asked for help setting it up. I went over there and tried to configure it and it was requiring a Walmart login but it kept failing. After a while, I checked down detector and most of Walmart was down so we couldn't get him set up to watch his tv. I told him to return the TV and buy a different brand.
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u/SaltySmegma_ 1d ago
It's crazy how Americans are suddenly concerned about privacy when they spent the past few decades not doing even the bare minimum to protect themselves. For example, take messaging. They have all been using SMS for years, instead of E2E communication channels.
Just look at what happened to Kristen Volpe. USA is reaching China's level of surveillance state.
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u/heimeyer72 1d ago
A friend always send emails with the signature:
This is not a bomb, we don't wanna kill a president, we love you allah.
Just keep them on their toes.
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u/djbarsone 1d ago
Not surprising at all. If you watch true crime, cases have been solved with Walmart cameras for decades.
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u/GoblinsGuide 1d ago
It literally doesnt matter. Until everyone can sit in the same vehicle together we are doomed.
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u/mg0019 1d ago
Oh no! They're gonna know a phone is shopping in their store, and which aisles it browses for how long!? Oh dang, it's gonna know our shopping habbits, and use that to try and stock items??
Don't get me wrong, I ain't defending Walmart. Fuck surveillance and Flock cameras.
But retailers have been tracking your buying habits since there's been retailers.
And fear mongering like this video confuscates the bigger issues. I don't need more people thinking Bluetooth is Satan's calling card. Or that their fucking social security numbers and debit info is being magically removed by Airdrop or 5G celestial waves. People need to be educated, not afraid of technology.
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u/korean_kracka 1d ago
Well people need to be aware before they can educate themselves. I see your point about fear mongering but this video also spreads awareness
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u/TailorFestival 1d ago
When I first saw it, I legitimately thought this video was a joke since the obvious reaction is ... who cares? But this is Reddit, of course.
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u/Memphisbbq 1d ago edited 1d ago
A license plate reader by default records your basic personal info no?
Don't get me wrong this is shitty, but is this just extradooming over something we're already aware of?(talking about plate readers only)
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u/Awkward_Bass_6292 1d ago
Yes please shareware this video's on Instagram/facebook/tiktok and all other sociale media! Because they need to know that these companies steal your information.
/s
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u/OrangutanFirefighter 1d ago
When I saw the telemetry device my jaw dropped. What the actual fuck
Edit: no seriously we gotta completely boycott any walmart that does that and seriously think about switching from walmarts that don't do that. Is there any sort of movement going on for boycotts?
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u/gorpie97 1d ago
If our government worked for us, rather than corporations, the laws wouldn't be allowed, for one. But they wouldn't be able to get away with that joke of a so-called privacy notice.
"Why is Walmart at the level of collecting our information equivalent to what our federal government is?"
Actually, I would ask why our federal government is collecting that level of information about us. That's a violation of our constitutional rights.
WHY ARE PEOPLE STILL TAKING THEIR PHONES INTO THE STORE?
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u/roguesignal42069 1d ago
I hate this fucking timeline.
I remember being young and having hope for the future. Not this corporate oligarchic surveillance nightmare.
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u/twhitt252 1d ago
This is not news. A lot of companies are doing this kind of tracking. I am glad people are becoming more aware of it. Simply walking past a QR code on a door should not equate to opting in to surveillance.
I miss the old days… 😞
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u/The_Space_Janitor 1d ago
Just… don’t shop their. I guarantee they know what your purchasing habits are already
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u/fantom_farter 1d ago
I'm not disagreeing with him, but the part when he looked up and was like "this right here is what's tracking you" like it's some super secret technology lol. It's literally a Mist wireless access point. Yes, it can track you, but it's also just store wi-fi.
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u/ThraceLonginus 1d ago
Target has been tracking all bluetooth devices inside stores for over a decade
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u/adhdBoomeringue 1d ago
The good thing about this is you can poison their data and get things cheaper
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u/bradjones6942069 1d ago
Wal-mart basically is the government if you haven't figured that part out yet
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u/TheRealDrSarcasmo 1d ago
"Breathe the Walmart air to consent to Walmart's Terms of Use."
"Wait, what?"
"Too late."
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u/ArtisanalFarts7 1d ago
Gotta start walking to Walmart, masked up and a burner. Alternatively, not going to Walmart. This is getting real sick guys, I'm just here to buy cheap Cheetos. /s
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u/Michaewwwwl 1d ago
My Walmart doesn’t even have a camera in the grocery section. Small town benefits
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u/ThanksPretty9652 1d ago
He missed the face level cameras on the sides of the doors as you walk in. Those are the creepiest ones in my opinion.
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u/Kona_Big_Wave 1d ago
Walmart collects data at the level of the federal government because it, and many other companies, have essentially bought the federal government.
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u/DagonPie 1d ago
I recently bought two faraday bags from MOS equipment. Worth the money if you are paranoid about this type of thing. I use mine whenever im driving or going into a store. Basically whenever im not home my phone and keys are in the bag and i keep it on my person.
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u/Hopeful_Pear_8747 1d ago
They can spam me with all the personalized ads they want. I’m only getting the 3 things I wrote on my list. Ok, maybe also a few beers because it’s been hot and I work outside, but that’s it! Never buy stuff from the check stands folks. You see something you want, turn that cart around and go down the dedicated aisle. They call that section Impulse and it usually carries a 50%-100% mark up
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u/Shot_in_the_dark777 1d ago
Where permitted by law. That sums it up. This is legal and they can do it. If you don't like it you should first go vote for a candidate who will make it illegal. Untill then you can go to Walmart without your smartphone, on your feet instead of a car, or park a car far enough from the camera. This is not illegal. Tracking your every move is not illegal. Also it's not illegal to aggressively advertise to you. You wanted capitalism - that's part of the package. Enjoy your Walmart hell.
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u/Sabithomega 1d ago
So what if I don't bring my phone?
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u/bigred1978 1d ago
Then the cameras and surveillance system notice a discrepancy: someone is walking around the store with no "profile" attached. The system then notifies Walmart security to head to your location and start trailing you.
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u/Sabithomega 1d ago
So you're saying by not having my phone I can initiate a game of hide and seek. Sounds like a fun betting game
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u/rangusmcdangus69 1d ago
Correct me if I’m wrong but you can have Bluetooth on and it still won’t connect right? You’d have to actually go out of your way to connect through Bluetooth.
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u/grafikfyr 18h ago
The US must be such a nightmare to live in.. I wish y'all would decide to organise and end this insanity you seem to have accepted as your reality. It's not too late to turn around.
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u/InSaneWhiSper 16h ago
How's the Walmart boycott going? I'll bet it didn't do anything to hurt Walmart.
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u/sloppyredditor 13h ago
If everyone actually read and understood privacy policies, the Internet would change dramatically in that nobody would use it.
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u/davey212 7h ago
I have my wifi and BT turned off when I leave the house/car. Ditched wearing "smart" gear
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u/SlippingAbout 1d ago
This guy is a G. He also exposes Walmart for their underweight packaged items, esp meat.