We sell things made by people we can name. We collect what it takes to sell you one and get it to your door, and not much else. This page says what that is, who helps us handle it, and what we never do with it.
When you browse
We count visits the way a shopkeeper counts people through the door. Each visit is recorded against a scrambled code made from your connection and browser, and the code changes every day, so we can tell how many people came by but not who. No third-party ad trackers, no outside analytics scripts, no profiles. Your cart lives in your own browser until you check out.
What we keep
- When you buy: what you bought, your name, shipping address and email, so we can send it and tell you about it. Your card number goes to Stripe and never reaches us.
- When you join the list or ask to hear when something is ready: your email address and which piece you asked about. Every letter has a link that takes you off the list at once.
- When you write to us: your letter and your address, so we can answer. Some replies are drafted by Max, our AI, and say so.
- When you call us: calls to and from our phone line are recorded and transcribed, and we say so at the start of the call. Max answers the line and says he is an AI.
- When you text our number: your number, your words, and any picture you send, which Twilio holds for us.
- When you write a review: your name as you give it, your words, and your email, which we use only to check you bought the piece. The email is never shown.
- When you send a Wear It photo: your email, your code, and a one-line note of what the check saw. Our AI checks the photo for the tee. We keep the photo only if you tick the share box, and never one that looks like a child.
- When you leave a message on a trail page: the name you give and your words. Our AI reads it before it shows, and a message that shows is public, with that name.
Who helps us handle it
We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with anybody for their own advertising. A few companies do work for us and see what that work needs, and only that:
- Stripe takes payment and works out sales tax.
- The carrier and the postage service (UPS or USPS, and the label service we buy postage through) get your name and shipping address.
- Printify and its print partners get your name and shipping address when a piece is printed to order and ships from them.
- Microsoft runs our email.
- Twilio carries our phone calls and texts, makes the call recordings, and sends sign-in codes by text.
- AI model providers (Anthropic, Google and OpenAI) process what our AI reads or hears: the words of a letter, a call or a trail message, a Wear It photo, and a voice chat with Max on the press page. They process it for us under their business terms.
- DigitalOcean hosts the server all of this runs on.
We would also hand information over if the law required it.
Cookies
No advertising cookies and nothing cross-site. Browsing the shop sets none. These are the ones we do set, and when:
| Cookie | Set when | For | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| log_member | You join the letter list | Remembers this browser is on the list, so member pages open for you | A year |
| __Host-log_signin | You ask for a sign-in code for your account | Makes the code work only in the browser that asked for it | 15 minutes |
| log_acct | You sign in to your account | Keeps you signed in | Two weeks |
| log_cart_client | You go to checkout | Lets one browser hold only a couple of checkouts at once, so nobody can tie up the shelf | A day |
| log_pt_voter | You vote on a Pattern Table design | Counts one vote per browser | A year |
| log_kid, log_family, log_room, log_maker | A family member, a maker or a guest opens their own door with a link or a code we gave them | Keeps that door open for them | Until it expires or they sign out |
| log_den | A family member opens the family's own page with a saved link we gave them | Keeps that page open on that one device | 400 days from the last visit, or until it is switched off |
| log_family_code, log_room_code | A family member or an invited guest asks for a sign-in code | Makes the texted code work only in the browser that asked for it | 15 minutes |
| lug_trail_device | Our walker pairs his own phone to a trail page with a link we made | Lets that phone post where he is from the trail | 60 days |
| lug_admin_session, lug_admin_mfa, lug_seen, lug_since | Our own staff sign in | The staff dashboard | Staff only |
| log_staging | Anyone opens our preview site, dev.thelumberoutletgroup.com | Shows the "Staging: not live" bar. It opens nothing | Until you close the browser |
AI assistants
Our catalog is open to AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and friends) at /api/mcp. It serves the same public product information you see on this site and holds no customer data.
Separately, you can connect an assistant to your own account at /api/mcp/account. It works only after you sign in and approve it, and it sees only your own account: your orders, their tracking, and whether you are on the letter list. If you gave it permission to make changes, it can ask to update a shipping address, ask for a cancellation or a return, or change your list setting, each one only when you say yes. It cannot see or use your card. You can disconnect it any time from your account page, and it stops working at once.
Children
Some of our pages, the Build Log, Log Labs and the flight school among them, are written for kids. They ask nobody for an email or anything else, and the flight game keeps its logbook in your own browser and sends us nothing. The shop itself is for grown-ups. Wear It asks for 13 and up, or a parent sending the photo, and we never keep a photo that looks like a child. If you think a child has given us personal information, write to us and we will delete it.
Seeing, fixing or deleting yours
Write to help@thelumberoutletgroup.com and we will tell you what we hold about you, correct it, or delete it. We keep order records as long as the tax and accounting rules require.
Do Not Track
We do not track you across other sites, so a browser's Do Not Track signal changes nothing here: we already behave as it asks.
Text messages
We send no marketing texts and no order texts. If you text our number, we keep your number and your words. The people who run this place, our family and invited guests get their sign-in codes by text.
When this page changes
We change the words and the date at the top, and the date tells you when. The rest of our terms are on the terms page.
Who we are
The Lumber Outlet Group is a trade name of QUALITYENGINEERAI LLC, a Wisconsin limited liability company. Questions go to help@thelumberoutletgroup.com.