How is it done?

[ChrisGreaves]

Please note that I only use the Magic Jack number as a decoy and backup.

OK, so I think I got confused.
Is the MJ a convenience so you can give a real phone number to sales clerks?

(I used to carry a roofing/driveway contractor's number in my head for such tasks for a while, but got out of the habit)

[BobH]

To give to the many online retailers who require a phone number.

To save argument with retail clerks.

To give to all companies with whom I do business. (MEMO TO SELF: Change phone numbers at bank, Apple computer, Time Warner Cable, et al)

etc.

[ChrisGreaves]

So yesterday, I surfed for golf DVDs ...

Here's an example that leaves me unsettled.

TVO is our local (Toronto) PBS station; nice enough folks.
Registration involves an email address, a name and a postal code.
Why do they need my postal code? Marketing?
Maybe.
But what can it really tell them?
In the first place they assume I'm not lying, and statisticians can account for that.
Assuming I don't lie, and give my real name and postal code, they can easily track me down "4340 Bloor West ...", but really all that that tells them is that here is someone with some spare time on their hands, enough to register for online discussions.
I suppose that might be useful, but it surely doesn't tell them much about their true viewing audience.

I could lie (but I won't; at TVO they are nice people after all)

But if within a month or two I start getting begging letters by mail, I'll assume that TVO's dastardly outsourced marketing team were the ones who insisted on the old postal-code trick.

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[Leif]

I'd guess it's to do with demographics - if your area code gives an indication of what 'consumer class' you fall into, they can use this when selling advertising (assuming it is a commercial station).

There again, they may just use it to try and flog you organic cat food, wall shelves, routers....

[ChrisGreaves]

I'd guess it's to do with demographics ...

My guess, too. Even though they aren't "commercial" they need to sell to corporate sponsors.

... flog you organic cat food ...

How would they know I have organic cats?
And who told them I have plans to turn them into food?

[ChrisGreaves]

So yesterday, I surfed for golf DVDs ...

Now Skitterbug, you'll probably appreciate this more than anyone else:
I was not ten minutes ago surfing the web looking for "the highest elevation in Ontario". I found a site with a table of elevations. At the foot of the site was a link to a canoeing outfit.
Being an amateur paddler I clicked on the link, saw nothing of interest, and close the tab.
Now this:

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Of more than passing interest to me is that I bicycle some of the cycle-paths in Etobicoke, so if the email is NOT a direct result of me reading a web-page, perhaps it is a relic of an email made one or two years previously to someone who deals with trails.
The phone number "877-668-7245" points to a "Guelph Hiking" site. Guelph is about 45 minutes West of me and could be considered well within range for canoeing/hiking/bicycling day-trips.

[Skitterbug]

So yesterday, I surfed for golf DVDs ...

Now Skitterbug, you'll probably appreciate this more than anyone else:
I was not ten minutes ago surfing the web looking for "the highest elevation in Ontario". I found a site with a table of elevations. At the foot of the site was a link to a canoeing outfit.
Being an amateur paddler I clicked on the link, saw nothing of interest, and close the tab.
Now this:

3.JPG

Of more than passing interest to me is that I bicycle some of the cycle-paths in Etobicoke, so if the email is NOT a direct result of me reading a web-page, perhaps it is a relic of an email made one or two years previously to someone who deals with trails.
The phone number "877-668-7245" points to a "Guelph Hiking" site. Guelph is about 45 minutes West of me and could be considered well within range for canoeing/hiking/bicycling day-trips.

Even if you did make contact with them a few years back, it seems rather unnerving that the company would direct email to you after a visit to their website. I probably won't do business with anyone who contacts me in this manner! Fortunately, I've only had the one happenstance which I listed earlier in this thread.
Thanks for sharing!