I recently decided to try to purge some of the promotional emails I repeated received. One brand that I came across was Orvis, which I do not think I have ever purchased any items from or visited. According to Wikipedia, “Orvis is a family-owned retail and mail-order business specializing in high-end fly fishing, hunting and sporting goods. Founded in Manchester, Vermont, in 1856 by Charles F. Orvis to sell fishing tackle, it is the oldest mail-order retailer in the United States.” I recently did learn to fly fish, but wouldn’t consider buying anything described as “high-end” related to fly fishing. So I unsubscribed.
The line under the link to unsubscribe was a link to their Online Privacy Policy, accompanied by the statement, “Orvis respects your right to privacy.” So I clicked on the privacy policy and read on. [Link here: https://www.orvis.com/s/orvis-privacy-policy/107?cm_mmc=orvisemail-_-spm-_-18_09_17_xcat-_-footer_privacy&adv=619332&et_cid=258014&et_rid=7776344]
It is prefaced with a very plain text paragraph stating how Orvis respects you and your privacy, defines personally identifiable information for consumers, and provides contact information. It is followed by a dozen sections, each with a couple subsections. It is pretty thorough, with a section detailing how they use your email and a section on children using the site (not intended for people under 13 years old — perhaps fly fishing is a 14 and up sport only ???). They also mention that their privacy policy was last updated in 2018. Users also have the opportunity, under the EU GDPR, to request a copy of the personal data they’ve provided to Orvis. I haven’t read too many (read: no other) privacy policies of online retailers, but theirs seems pretty kosher. It’s straightforward, easy to understand (they make good use of bulleted lists), and are consumer-oriented in their accommodations. Overall, it was a good first privacy policy to read. Because a customer’s interaction with orvis.com is unlikely to be particularly intrusive (save for the possibility of stealing credit card information), their privacy policy seems to be standard and not particularly complex.