JUST RING UP THE SALE. Some time ago, I invoked Mike Royko's singlehanded victory over Radio Shack's practice of asking customers for contact information. (The column, from the late 1980s or early 1990s, wasn't archived then and it isn't archived now.) Perhaps what the company did was wait Mr Royko out. He's dead, and the last time I made a purchase at Radio Shack, the clerk asked me for an e-mail address. (You don't need to know that.) And Farm and Fleet, not, as far as I know, a business serving tourists, has its clerks asking customers for zip codes. (You don't need to know that.)

I have neither Mr Royko's writing style nor his readership, but in a small way I want to continue his tradition of businesses engaging in practices not directly related to serving consumers.