We are what we buy

I’m a regular customer as The Gallery: it’s the closest coffee shop to our house, the coffee and food are good, and the staff are friendly. 

The Gallery uses Square as its point of sale terminal. They use it more vigorously that most restaurants, in that they use the “scan this QR code to order from the table,” which is a feature I use to good effect on grumpy mornings when even interactions with friendly staff would be too much.

The restaurant also uses Square to power its customer loyalty program, and, through receiving an SMS notification about my points, I discovered that I have a “Square Profile,” which has recorded every single merchant I’ve been a customer of with a Square payment system.

Many of these businesses are long-gone, and, comparing archived emailed receipts to businesses, it looks like the trail goes back to 2017.

Here’s the entire list, 112 businesses in all, in reverse chronological order by the date of last payment (simply cut-and-pasted from the Square Profile page, under “Preferences and Settings > Receipt Settings”:

• Fritz Foods Inc.
• Foxy Fox Coffee House
• Farmers Fresh Inc.
• Receiver Coffee Company
• The Kettle Black PEI
• Deus Ex Macina
• Ducks Aren’t Real
• The 5th Wave Espresso & Tea Bar
• Gallant Island Food Inc.
• Helen’s Pastry Co
• Advantage Delivery
• PEI Crafts Council Inc
• Indigenous PEI
• Airport Coffee House Ltd
• Buns from home
• Wenever Pastry Inc
• 10713490 Canada Limited
• Confederation Centre of the Arts
• Budleys Restaurant
• Soika
• Oh Hey PEI
• Rick’s Fish and Chips
• Farmacy + Fermentary
• Knead a Brake
• Blackbush
• Truckin’ Roll Ice Cream Ltd
• W.B. Burke & Son Ltd
• Tide & Tales Bistro Inc
• Icy Scoops
• MARRAM Marketing & Productions
• The Naufrage Snack Shack
• Julio’s Seafood Market
• Dreadnaught Eatery
• Island Lavender Distillery
• Tabali Grillz
• Grams Diner & Bakery
• Weird Harbour Espresso Bar
• Red Island Cider
• Bookmark Charlottetown
• Bar Vela Pizzeria & Mercato
• Seven’s Pinballorama
• JMK Fishmart
• Charlottetown Cheese Company
• Lake View Glamping Inc.
• La Factrie (727256 NB Inc.)
• Clover Food Lab
• North End Creamery
• Parker and Sons Coffee Roasting
• Aesop’s Tables
• Cranewood on Main
• Pappy’s BBQ Joint
• Kimchi&sushi
• Micro Espresso Café
• 1010 Delivery
• Coffee Plus
• Caledonia House
• Voluntary Resource Council
• Alex Bevan-Baker Pottery
• MacFarlane’s
• Pretzel, Pint & Pickle
• Lost & Found
• G&L Investments Ltd
• Tastee Bites
• Los Nopales
• Red Bandana Inc
• LUCKY BAKERY
• Habitat for Humanity Restore
• Seaside Fun Foods
• The Knot
• Souris Thai Food
• Cottage Life Boutique
• Venture Stables
• Bao Shack
• P.E.I. Arts Guild Inc.
• C & B Corner Cafe
• Dal’s Potato Bar
• Cloggeroo the Island Folk Festival
• The Dodo
• Seaside Books
• Tamarack: Twigs & Teas
• The Recovery Studio
• Green Eye Designs PEI
• Chatime PEI
• The Funky Robot - Etched Wallet Art
• AJ’s Kitchen and Catering
• Dave’s Lobster
• KZ SQUARE
• Trish juice Burlington
• Vintage Coffee Roasters
• The Old General
• Stir It Up Vegan Cafe and Market
• Sailor Bup’s Barbershop
• rachel’s ginger beer
• Sarah Bellum’s Bakery + Workshop
• Nuvrei Inc
• Boke Bowl
• Lugano coffee express
• Deadstock Coffee and Sneaker Gallery LLC
• Seattle Bagel Bakery LLC
• Pondercast
• Keene Cinemas 6
• La Sazon de Mexico
• Fancy’s Coffee Counter
• Terry’s Berries
• Pure Kitchen Catering
• Stacey Leunes
• The Walrus Foundation
• Fruition
• breadworks
• The Humble Barber
• The Galley By Chef Norman
• Paddles

If there was any doubt that payment processors like Square are actually in the customer profiling business as much as the collecting-money business, here’s what ChatGPT returned when I gave that list to it, with the prompt “Take this list of businesses, and infer from their names some basic customer profiling information about me, who’s been a customer of all of them.”:

You’re someone who values local, high-quality, and independent businesses, with a strong appreciation for good food, arts, and culture. You have quirky and eclectic tastes, enjoy unique experiences, and support small businesses, sustainability, and social initiatives. You likely enjoy traveling, exploring new flavors, and seeking out interesting places wherever you go.

Yes, that’s me in a nutshell. 

We are what we buy.