McDonalds is tracking customers wit 515-page Minority Report-style dossier to track spending habits

McDonald’s compiled a 515-page dossier on one of its loyalty-program customers — using years of fast-food purchases to predict how often he would return, how much he would spend and even what he was likely to order.Reece Rogers, a journalist for Condé Nast-owned Wired magazine, discovered the extensive digital profile after requesting the personal data McDonald’s had stored about him.The file revealed a “Minority Report”-style trove of predictions about his future behavior, including that he would visit McDonald’s 2.16 times over the next six weeks and spend an average of $13.49 per order.The fast-food giant calculated Rogers would spend a total of $29.15 over that six-week stretch, according to the report.The dossier ranked a Large Diet Coke as Rogers’ most relevant product based on his past behavior, followed by a Spicy Snack Wrap and The Grinch McShaker Fry Large.It also slotted his eating habits into oddly specific behavioral categories, including “Food-Led Afternoon Snack” and “On the Go Lunch in a Rush.”McDonald’s also assigned Rogers a “Customer Attrition Likelihood” of zero — suggesting the company’s algorithm saw little chance that he would stop patronizing the Golden Arches.The massive file contained a detailed history of Rogers’ transactions, the offers McDonald’s sent him and the loyalty points he accumulated.It even kept track of every time he scanned a code while participating in the chain’s Monopoly sweepstakes — along with the prize he received.“McDonald’s takes data privacy and security seriously, and we take robust steps to safeguard customer information,” a McDonald’s spokesperson told Wired.“Like many digital loyalty programs, we use information such as past purchases to provide a more engaging, personal customer experience—like delivering the most relevant deals, offers and messages,” the spokesperson added.“Our customers continue to have privacy choices available to them as outlined in ou...