If scanning military ID’s hasn’t already rolled out at your local base commissary …it’s coming. You’re probably wondering what I am talking about right? Well DECA recently announced that on October 22nd Fort Lee Virginia became the first base to introduce ID scanning at the checkout counter.
Commissary shoppers are used to showing their ID cards to establish their
eligibility to use the commissary. By scanning the ID at checkout, DeCA will
no longer need to maintain any personal information on customers in its
computer systems, such as the system used for customers who write checks.
Scanning will also help improve the commissary benefit for all patrons,
according to Joseph H. Jeu, DeCA director and CEO.
Image Credit: Army.Mil
DECA also goes on to say that by scanning ID’s they will receive useful information on who is patronizing their commissaries and customer demographics which will help them to identify better needs of their shoppers. They claim that the demographic info will only be limited to your ID card number, household size and rank, zip code and duty station.The rollout of this new scanning system continued on November 10th and by January of 2014 will be at every military base worldwide.
I honestly knew it was only a matter of time before they were going to start electronically checking ID’s. For one let’s be honest their are people who abuse the privilege and while DECA may have other reasons such as more accurate reporting of commissary usage, I believe they want to make sure the only folks shopping there are the ones who are supposed to. Truthfully in that stance I don’t have a problem with it.
I do have to wonder how they expect patrons to believe that somehow our privacy is not being invaded when we know full and well that they have access to our database or can get access to it. On the flip side unless I am going to be arrested for buying the crap I choose to buy , go ahead and scan my ID I don’t care.
Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market.
She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries.
Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market.
She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries.
by Army Wife 101 | 2 Comments
2 Comments on To Scan or Not To Scan Your ID at The Commissary …It’s Happening?
I am a privacy nut, so I won’t be shopping at the commissary if they are going to be scanning IDs. And when I say I’m a privacy nut, I mean that I’ve filled out Target’s online form that takes away their right to track my purchases, I don’t use my real information when filling out shopper reward information (I always make my phone number 867-5309 lol), and I even have a program running on my internet browsers to block web trackers (this page has 11). Does it not creep anyone else out when you see advertisements on a webpage using pictures pulled straight from your Pinterest account? It is uncommonly easy for anyone to find out anything about you online, and I’m not going to make someone’s job easier by handing over all of my information to every place I visit.
I’m so glad to see that attention is being given to this new invasion of privacy, and that there are a growing number of us who are concerned about this. We need to be as vocal as we can be in our displeasure with this new practice of mandatory scanning of military ID’s at the point of purchase at the Commissary and having our every purchase there logged and tracked. (If they must do any kind of ID scanning, limit it to scanning our ID’s at the door.) There’s a concept known as ‘the slippery slope’, and the term definetely fits this situation. Hopefully there will be enough people protesting and making our voices heard so that DeCA will end this practice. Otherwise, if we passively accept this, then AAFES outlets and other places where we shop on base may begin to implement this as a practice as well. (Civilian retail stores and supermarkets may be next in the future). I’m not a doomsdayer but some of our wise predecessors cautioned us about a potential future situation where people could be increasingly tracked and monitored. Much of this is already going on but let’s not be passive participants in allowing/facilitating a more drastic scenario to creep up on us, while we still have a choice and a chance to speak up and be heard. Conscientious citizens in a democracy blessed by God have a responsibility to ourselves and our future generations to do our best to defend the basic human right of privacy – which is written into ammendments to our Constitution. I for one plan to do as little shopping at the Commissary as possible until the practice of ‘mandatory scanning of ID’s at the point of sale’ ends. I eat relatively healthy, but I believe there should be no tracking and logging of people’s purchases of junk food, sweets, and cigarettes (and eventually alcohol, once the ID scanning practice is adopted by AAFES). It doesn’t take much forethought to imagine where that could potentially lead, once ‘point of purchase mandatory scanning of ID cards’ is widespread and once someone gets into a position of authority who has ideas of making ‘interventions’ they think are warranted. Recommended action steps for all of us: Consider minimizing shopping at the Commissary; Bring up discussions on base about this, with friends, military members, commanders, and others; Submit comment cards and feedback forms voicing displeasure at this situation. Let’s talk about this and raise awareness about this in public forums and at every opportunity we get – Thanks everyone.
Krystel is the mom of two and an Army Wife. In addition to Army Wife 101 she is the Co-Founder of SoFluential.com a digital media agency that connects brands with the military market.
She has appeared on MSNBC ,FOX LA and formerly was a weekly contributor to HLN's "Raising America". She has written for various outlets including Sheknows and Lifetime and is a big fan of cupcakes and french fries.
I am a privacy nut, so I won’t be shopping at the commissary if they are going to be scanning IDs. And when I say I’m a privacy nut, I mean that I’ve filled out Target’s online form that takes away their right to track my purchases, I don’t use my real information when filling out shopper reward information (I always make my phone number 867-5309 lol), and I even have a program running on my internet browsers to block web trackers (this page has 11). Does it not creep anyone else out when you see advertisements on a webpage using pictures pulled straight from your Pinterest account? It is uncommonly easy for anyone to find out anything about you online, and I’m not going to make someone’s job easier by handing over all of my information to every place I visit.
I’m so glad to see that attention is being given to this new invasion of privacy, and that there are a growing number of us who are concerned about this. We need to be as vocal as we can be in our displeasure with this new practice of mandatory scanning of military ID’s at the point of purchase at the Commissary and having our every purchase there logged and tracked. (If they must do any kind of ID scanning, limit it to scanning our ID’s at the door.) There’s a concept known as ‘the slippery slope’, and the term definetely fits this situation. Hopefully there will be enough people protesting and making our voices heard so that DeCA will end this practice. Otherwise, if we passively accept this, then AAFES outlets and other places where we shop on base may begin to implement this as a practice as well. (Civilian retail stores and supermarkets may be next in the future). I’m not a doomsdayer but some of our wise predecessors cautioned us about a potential future situation where people could be increasingly tracked and monitored. Much of this is already going on but let’s not be passive participants in allowing/facilitating a more drastic scenario to creep up on us, while we still have a choice and a chance to speak up and be heard. Conscientious citizens in a democracy blessed by God have a responsibility to ourselves and our future generations to do our best to defend the basic human right of privacy – which is written into ammendments to our Constitution. I for one plan to do as little shopping at the Commissary as possible until the practice of ‘mandatory scanning of ID’s at the point of sale’ ends. I eat relatively healthy, but I believe there should be no tracking and logging of people’s purchases of junk food, sweets, and cigarettes (and eventually alcohol, once the ID scanning practice is adopted by AAFES). It doesn’t take much forethought to imagine where that could potentially lead, once ‘point of purchase mandatory scanning of ID cards’ is widespread and once someone gets into a position of authority who has ideas of making ‘interventions’ they think are warranted. Recommended action steps for all of us: Consider minimizing shopping at the Commissary; Bring up discussions on base about this, with friends, military members, commanders, and others; Submit comment cards and feedback forms voicing displeasure at this situation. Let’s talk about this and raise awareness about this in public forums and at every opportunity we get – Thanks everyone.