Deep in my bi-coatiality I went to the Apple Store in SoHo yesterday to pick up a base station. (Yes, I know there are cheaper routers but this one looks cool!) My surprise came when the checkout girl asked if it would be ok if they e-mailed me my receipt.
First thought: ok, I’m environmentally friendly, sounds like a good company policy, why don’t more companies do this?
Second thought: HOLY COW, now Apple can track my purchases to an email address, know how long its been since I purchased something, and cheaply and easily send me coupons and incentives to upgrade, buy adjacent products and deeper entrench myself in MacFandom.
I’m not sure how many consumer brands could get away with this. I wouldn’t give most companies my email address but Apple, sneaky little devil, of course you can have it. Now get to sending me coupons for the iPhone. I’ve gotten over my aversion and now I think they are pretty cool.
thedistillery 
I think I got the MAC bug also, I’m not sure I’m there yet to give them my email address, but I guess my iTunes account already did that, oh wait and my product registration forms did that, and I guess the time I had them send more info for the iPhone from their site did that.
Ok, I guess giving my email address at the time of purchase isn’t such a big deal.
The surprising part for me is that they’ve already sent a survey request based on the email that I gave them. That suggests that they are really gonna use it this time.
Give me a break, when you download iTunes you had already given them your email address.
BTW how many purchases do you make a year with Apple that you feel such importance that have to track your purchases.
A company having your email address and a company using your email is a big deal. A company sending SPAM or not is something most have not learned yet, mainly because they don’t build relationships, they build market share.