A few years ago I was enticed into joining a program by AC Nielsen called Homescan, it's basically a big brother kinda thing where you provide them with details of your household purchases in return for points which can be redeemed for rewards. Their website states "Once we receive your household information, you will be placed on a Reserve Status Waiting List. Homescan will then randomly select households to join the panel. This ensures that the panel truly reflects the country's diverse population." Along time passed, must have been 18 months, but I finally was accepted into the fold. I'm all about reward programs and really could care less about who knows how much peanut butter I buy or what kind of magazines I read, besides they give you a bar code scanner! Apparently ours is one of 270,000 homes in 27 countries around the world that is participating.
The rechargeable scanner connects to your PC via USB or serial connection. You download a list of retailers for your area and scan each purchase you make. Some retailers provide AC Nielsen with price data so you are not required to enter prices while others do not which makes the scanning process a little slow and tedious. Thankfully the grocery store that I shop at does and that's where the bulk of my purchases are anyway. The scanning is a bit time consuming and I sometimes forget but once you get used to it and get in the habit it's not that difficult. From time to time they send surveys in the mail and I must say that scanning surveys is much easier and I definitely respond better to these than those annoying phone surveys. I've not yet earned enough points to get any of the interesting rewards but I'll continue to scan until I have. If you are a coupon clipper or participate in rewards programs Homescan might just be for you. Check them out, but be patient...
The rechargeable scanner connects to your PC via USB or serial connection. You download a list of retailers for your area and scan each purchase you make. Some retailers provide AC Nielsen with price data so you are not required to enter prices while others do not which makes the scanning process a little slow and tedious. Thankfully the grocery store that I shop at does and that's where the bulk of my purchases are anyway. The scanning is a bit time consuming and I sometimes forget but once you get used to it and get in the habit it's not that difficult. From time to time they send surveys in the mail and I must say that scanning surveys is much easier and I definitely respond better to these than those annoying phone surveys. I've not yet earned enough points to get any of the interesting rewards but I'll continue to scan until I have. If you are a coupon clipper or participate in rewards programs Homescan might just be for you. Check them out, but be patient...
