If you still think there’s no real down side to providing your location or associating it with your profile, see if you still feel that way after reading the Wall Street Journal‘s findings that online retailers are adjusting their prices depending on where they think you’re located. Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Jeremy Singer-Vine, and Ashkan Soltani recently reported:
It was the same Swingline stapler, on the same Staples.com website. But for Kim Wamble, the price was $15.79, while the price on Trude Frizzell’s screen, just a few miles away, was $14.29.
A key difference: where Staples seemed to think they were located.
A Wall Street Journal investigation found that the Staples Inc. website displays different prices to people after estimating their locations. More than that, Staples appeared to consider the person’s distance from a rival brick-and-mortar store, either OfficeMax Inc. or Office Depot Inc. If rival stores were within 20 miles or so, Staples.com usually showed a discounted price.
Read more on WSJ. It’s not just Staples that does this, of course.
h/t, Paul Bernal whose tweet just made me aware that I’d missed this story