I'm guessing this is why many grocery stores don't allow NFC payments, except for (in my area at least) Safeway, whose non-club pricing is so punitive that most people just knuckle under and get the card.
Though I just use 867-5309 anyway. Works in every area code, AFAICT.
I was at a self-checkout recently that required a store rewards membership to checkout at. I tried 867-5309 but form validation required both a phone number and a last name.
I know it's not exactly a last name, but... did you try the "standard" name for that number? I can't imagine nobody else thought of signing up like that, so unless the store explicitly blacklisted certain numbers, I'd think it worth a shot.
That's good to know. Another trick I used to use was just to tell the cashier that I forgot my card, and she'd grab a spare and swipe it. Then they started doing phone numbers, so that probably doesn't work as well now.
Though I just use 867-5309 anyway. Works in every area code, AFAICT.