Fortezza, Umilitade, e Largo Core - Courage, Humility, and Largeness of Heart.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Why does UPS have access to this information?

While attempting to reroute a package I came across an alarming discovery...
I had received an automated email with my tracking number and noticed my package was accidentally being shipped to my billing address instead of my home address. Embedded in the email was a handy link to reroute the package. I clicked the link and was taken to UPS My Choice. I wasn't surprised when they required me to verify my identity before rerouting the package but what did shock me was the information they knew about me.
I have been previously married, moved across country several times, changed email addresses, phone numbers and have even changed my name a couple of times over the past 20 years... and UPS knew ALL of it!! They knew my ex-husband's birthday. They knew my addresses in Seattle from more than 15 years ago and three name changes ago. To log into the website I gave them my current name, address, phone number, and email address. The information they had access to should ONLY be available via my social security number (which I did not provide).
I called their toll free number and after 20 minutes couldn't get past the first level of customer service, so I took to Twitter:
Their response was to blame a third party provider: 
 Dear UPS, this is NOT cool. I would seriously reconsider this business practice.
 
I'm left wondering: what other companies are engaging in this level of data mining? What do you all think of this business practice?