With the Walmart Savings Catcher program, you can go to theirLog In and have their program look for 'better deals available on what you just purchased'---putting the savings you could have found into your Savings Catcher account. You activate their program by registering your latest receipts "TC#' (Ticket Code number, I guess). But when I get a receipt for 'adding money to my credit-card,' that receipt ALSO has a TC#! What else are TCs for?
I don't know, because I've never noticed this, or if I did, it's been a while, and I've forgotten. I used to use Savings Catcher all of the time, but then they started limiting the number and types of stores they compared prices with, so I ended up only having one or two items qualify, and ultimately got a few cents back, if that. I've seen the TC numbers, but never really thought about what TC stood for, figuring it was just some internal way of capturing data. I'm wondering now if it stands for transaction code, which is why each transaction would have one associated with it.
That code could be used for more broader tracking methods. Many businesses try to track a consumers entire buying process, both online and offline. With online sales, it's pretty easy to track a person's buying path - how many times they visited your site before ultimately making a purchase, for example. But the buying process can get trickier to track if they come to your web site via some online advertising channel you are paying for, but later decide to go to your physical store to make a purchase for a specific item instead. By providing them the tracking numbers on your receipts, that helps them connect the dots. In other words, if you were looking for Bread Machines online on their site, but then later went to their store and bought one directly - they would then know that was the same consumer. Of course they have to give you some incentive to give them those tracking codes on your receipts, hence things like discounts and rewards programs.
