Warranty Registration Cards too Much?

From the New York Daily News

“Warranty or product registration cards often have more to do with marketing and mailing lists than documenting ownership of a product. For warranty purposes, the only information a manufacturer needs is your name, the date you purchased the product, its model and serial numbers, and a way to contact you in the event of a product recall.

But the registration cards usually ask you to provide much more, including marital status, the size of your household, frequency of travel and favorite activities. There’s no good reason why a company that makes microwaves is interested in knowing you like to ski – except one.

Profit. Companies use warranty registration forms to compile buyer profiles, which they sell to other companies for marketing purposes. Much of the data end up at companies like Equifax, a credit-reporting agency that counts warranty registration forms among the sources of information it uses to compile information on about 400 million consumers and businesses worldwide…”