Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for August 2018.

Google Now Tracks Your Offline Credit Card Purchases and Ties Those to Online Ad Clicks

by Gary Leff

credit card wallet
Aug 31 2018

A couple of weeks ago we learned that if you have an Android phone, Google tracks you even when you turn location history off. Although Google says that when you turn location history off “the places you go are no longer stored” an Associated Press investigation found that isn’t true and “turning off your Location History only stops Google from creating a timeline of your location that you can view. Some apps will still track you and store time-stamped location data from your devices.” Now we know that Google has a deal with Mastercard – and possibly with other payment networks – to track retail purchases and compare those to online ad clicks in order to help determine the effectiveness of online advertising beyond immediate online purchases. Google then shares date with a test group…

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American Airlines Says They Love Unionization, But Unions Don’t Love Them

by Gary Leff

american airlines hangar
Aug 31 2018

As we enter Labor Day weekend, it’s important to remember that union shop or not management cannot abdicate its responsibility to select and retain the best talent while transitioning out employees who aren’t a good fit for the company — ensuring that everyone inside the business is able to respect the contributions of their colleagues. And management has to set a vision that inspires employees to be their best.

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Coca Cola is Buying Costa Coffee for $5 Billion – and That Means a Lot More Premier Inns

by Gary Leff

costa coffee
Aug 31 2018

Costa Coffee is a UK coffee shop chain, with over 2100 locations in there and over 1200 internationally about a third of which are in China. They began expanding outside the UK 20 years ago, with their first international location in Dubai which probably explains why I know them mostly from the Mideast.

The company that owns Costa Coffee also owns Premier Inns. I never realized the connection though it makes sense why I’ve always gotten my morning coffee from a Costa when staying at a Premier Inn.

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United Shares Member Info With Other Airlines to Combat Status Match Fraud

by Gary Leff

united plane docked
Aug 30 2018

You might want to defect from United to American or from Delta to Alaska, but it’s pretty tough to do that and start from scratch with a new airline. You’re well treated as an elite, and it’s rough out there flying without any status (although bottom tier of status can be approximated in many cases with the airline’s co-branded credit card). It’s hard to move your business when you’re used to getting upgrades!

So airlines came up first with status matches. That can be helpful but – from the perspective of the loyalty program – it can also be abused.

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How Much Money the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program Makes and What That Tells Us About US Airlines

by Gary Leff

planes on runway
Aug 30 2018

Earlier in the month I wrote about how much money US frequent flyer programs have earned so far this year.

There’s no need to do back of the envelope with Qantas, in fact Qantas shares real numbers about its frequent flyer program. It’s not hard to extrapolate to the US market, or to pinpoint devaluation of existing points as well as reduction in points-earn.

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Does Earning Credit Card Rewards Take Advantage of Other Consumers?

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Aug 30 2018

I don’t think interest, or credit card interest is evil. I believe that consumers generally understand the choices they’re making, even if you or I might make different choices. And people do need credit. If you didn’t have credit cards, the need for credit would still be there, and consumers would be left with the next best option.

If you need to fix a car to get to work, or pay a medical bill, credit cards are a better way to do that than payday loans which are better than having your legs broken. You’re paying interest, but you’re also getting something of value in return.

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