Amazon shoppers have spent the summer complaining about order emails that name a category instead of the product, so that an engine air filter turns up as an “automotive item,” according to Alex Bitter at Business Insider. One Reddit thread on the change has drawn 450 comments, including from people who split work and personal orders across two cards and from people whose budgeting apps read those emails. Amazon says the vaguer wording protects privacy by cutting the customer information that leaves its app and website. A customer service message posted to GitHub, which the outlet verified, offered a different reason, saying the change lowers the risk of package theft and keeps gifts and personal purchases hidden from other people in the household, which Amazon declined to comment on.
