"Can I have your e-mail address, please?" "Um, No!"

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Now these stores have these so-called "rewards" programs in which participation requires your email address. My favorite bread store Panera keeps trying to shove a "card" at me and telling me to sign up online. My answer every time, "No, you want my email address, and I'm not going to give it out." My favorite bookstore, Borders -- same thing. What gets me is that some of these so-called "rewards" programs don't give you any real advantages anyway yet they've now plundered my email address and deluge your my box with various hyped-up programs and offers -- none of which are really all that valuable either. I mean come on! Today with inflation as horrible as it has become and a trip to the grocery store costing $150 or better for just a few items, what is .10 cents off really going to give me? The point is, I should not have to give these big corporations access to my private email just to get a minuscule discount. The exchange is nothing more than a clogged-up in box. And since I use my email for business, I am completely uninterested in having a deluge of offers for more makeup, online dating site discounts (I'm married and that's called bad target marketing), vacation offers to exotic locations I have no time to visit, updates on news in San Diego (no idea how that got there), and constant chatter from any number of unknown and irrelevant business owners. All I'm suggesting is that if you're going to offer a rewards program, don't make it a requirement for me to give out my email address. Do a true rewards system like Safeway where, hey, you're just pilfering information on my buying habits.

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