Photo by Michael Gonik
Why is Wegmans Suddenly Watching Us?
The Rochester-based grocery chain has begun collecting and storing data on the faces, voices, and eyes of customers in its NYC locations
Those next trips to Wegmans could be coming at a higher cost than ever. The grocery chain has rolled out a program to track, collect, and store the biometric data of any shopper in its stores.
This includes the voices, faces, and eyes of customers, according to a notice spotted at their Brooklyn location on Flushing Avenue (see below) .”This is information that can be used to identify or help identify you. We use facial recognition technology to protect the safety and security of our patrons,” the note reads. It insists the company does “not lease, trade or otherwise profit from the transfer of biometric identifier information,” it collects through eye scans, voiceprints, and facial recognition tech.
Photo by Michael Gonik
But it is a marked, bold, and pretty aggressive expansion of a pilot program the supermarket introduced in 2024, which very clearly collected the data of far more than just the “small group of employees” it claimed the program was for. The company promised to delete the data it had inadvertently collected on any non-employees in its stores, according to Gothamist, but it has made no such assurance this time around. The mechanics of the company’s new scanning policy are a little fuzzy, as well, like where and how it’s capturing these biometric data points in its stores, or who gets targeted by its collection systems, and, of course, why.
It’s also unclear just how much recourse, if any, Wegmans customers have here. Can they opt out? Can they have their data deleted upon request? If the stored data is somehow compromised or lost in a hack, which it’s now glaringly and avoidably vulnerable to, then what?
BKMAG has reached out to Wegmans for comment.
