Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Piedmont Industrial Sales LLC, a South Carolina limited liability company ("we", "us", "our") sells air compressors and air treatment, pressure washers, hydro seeders, oils and lubricants, shop equipment, and related parts and accessories, and ships nationwide. We operate piedmontind.com (the "Site") and are the business responsible for the personal information collected through it. This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, who else sees it, how long we keep it, and what choices you have.

Robinson Labs LLC, a North Carolina limited liability company, built the Site and runs it for us, including the database that holds our order and customer records and the computers that power the Compressor Desk. Robinson Labs handles that information on our behalf and under our instructions.

This policy covers the Site only. It does not cover a manufacturer's website or any other site you reach from a link on ours.

2. What we collect and why

Information you give us directly

Orders and checkout

When you place an order we collect your full name, company (optional), street address, city, state, ZIP code, email address, and phone number (optional), and the items and quantities you order. For orders that ship by freight truck we also ask what kind of delivery address it is: a business with a loading dock or forklift, a business without one, or a residence. We record the order total, the shipping, delivery, and sales tax amounts, any campaign code that brought you to the Site (see "Cookies and browser storage" below), and the PayPal order and payment reference numbers.

We use this to price and ship your order, calculate sales tax, send you a receipt, contact you about delivery, handle returns and warranty questions, and keep the records we need for tax and accounting.

Payment. Payments are processed by PayPal. When you pay by card, the card fields on our checkout page are hosted by PayPal and your card number goes directly to PayPal. We never see, receive, or store your full card number, expiration date, or security code. What we receive back is confirmation that the payment went through, the amount, and PayPal's reference numbers. If you pay with a PayPal account, PayPal may also send us the name and email address on that account, which we use only if you did not enter them on our form. PayPal handles your payment information under its own privacy statement.

Receipts and order notices. When your payment goes through, we email you a receipt at the address you entered, and our shop receives an order notice with your contact details and shipping address. Replies to your receipt come to us.

Order records. Each completed order is saved in our order system so we can fulfill it and look it up later.

Invoice requests

Some orders cannot be paid online, for example orders over the online limit or orders that need a freight quote. For those, the checkout page asks for your name and an email address or phone number. We save that, together with the items in your cart, the delivery type, and the state you are shipping to, as a draft invoice for us to review, and we notify our staff so someone can send you the invoice. Nothing is charged at this step.

Callback requests from the Compressor Desk

When you ask the Compressor Desk for a callback, we collect your name and a phone number, an email address, or both. The questions you typed in that chat window are sent along with the request, so whoever calls you back knows what you were asking about, and the callback form says so before you send it. The assistant's own replies are not included. If you arrived from one of our campaign or ad links, we also record that campaign code.

We use this to call or email you back and to keep a record of your request. Our system also writes a one-line summary of your questions so our staff can scan requests quickly, and indexes the request so our staff tools can search past requests. Both are done on computers Robinson Labs operates for us.

Your phone number

We use a phone number you give us to contact you about the order or request you gave it for. We do not send marketing text messages and we do not use automated dialing. If you ask us to text you about your order or callback, we will text only about that. We do not share your phone number or other mobile information with third parties for their marketing.

Deal emails

If you sign up for deals we collect your name, your email address, the product interests you tick (optional), the page you signed up from, and any campaign code that brought you to the Site.

We send deal emails to people who signed up, and also to our customers and to people who have contacted us with an email address, for example through a callback or invoice request. Every deal email includes an unsubscribe link and supports one-click unsubscribe in email apps that offer it. When you unsubscribe, we put your address on a do-not-email list and stop sending you deal emails. We keep your address on that list so we can keep honoring your request.

For each deal email we record whether it was delivered, bounced, or reported as spam. A bounce or a spam report also puts the address on the do-not-email list. We do not track whether you open our emails or which links you click. Links in our deal emails carry a short code for that email campaign, so if you then place an order or request a callback during that visit, we can tell which campaign brought you.

If our alerts are down

If one of our delivery channels is unavailable, a callback request, invoice request, deal sign-up, order notice, or receipt can instead be written to Cloudflare's function logs for our Site, so that it is not lost.

The Compressor Desk online assistant

The Compressor Desk is an automated AI assistant, not a person, that answers sizing and product questions from our catalog. The chat window labels it as an AI assistant for the whole conversation, and before you send your first message it tells you who runs it and links to this policy and our Terms. When you use it, the messages you type are sent to our systems to produce an answer. Your chat history is kept in your browser tab only while that page is open. We do not keep Compressor Desk conversations ourselves, apart from the questions you choose to send us with a callback request. If our backup provider answers for us, it may keep the text for a limited time, as described below.

To answer you, your messages are processed on computers that Robinson Labs operates for us in the United States. Several steps run there: a check that the question is about something we sell, a search of our catalog, and the answer itself. We can also switch on an automated safety screen of your latest message, which runs on the same computers. If those computers are unavailable or busy, the text of your conversation may be sent to Anthropic's Claude service instead, so you still get an answer. Only the chat text and our product catalog are sent, not the contact details you give in the callback form or your order or payment details. Anything you type into the chat itself is part of the chat text. Anthropic's commercial terms do not permit it to train its models on the content we send, and Anthropic may keep that text for a limited time under those terms, for example to detect misuse.

Please do not enter payment card numbers, government identifiers, or other sensitive personal information into the assistant. Its answers are generated automatically and can be wrong. Our Terms of Sale explain how to treat them.

Information collected automatically

Cloudflare, our hosting provider, processes standard technical information about each visit, such as IP address, browser type, and the pages requested, to deliver the Site and protect it from abuse. Our own code uses your IP address only briefly, in memory, to limit how many chat messages, callback requests, sign-ups, or checkout attempts can come from one address in a short time. It does not store it. When a request is refused for going over those limits, the IP address may appear in Cloudflare's function logs for our Site.

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics on the public pages of the live Site to count page views and visits. It does not set cookies or use similar browser storage, and Cloudflare states that it does not fingerprint visitors or track them across other websites. We also keep daily totals from Cloudflare, such as page views, visits, referring sites, and clicks on our short ad links, in our own database. These are counts, not records about individual visitors.

Cookies and browser storage

Our own code does not set cookies. It uses two kinds of browser storage:

• Your cart (local storage): the products and quantities in your cart, so the cart is still there when you come back. It holds no personal information. It stays in your browser until you check out, remove the items, or clear your browser data.
• Campaign code (session storage): if you arrive from one of our email or ad links, the campaign code in the link is kept for that browser tab only, so an order, callback request, or sign-up from that visit can be credited to the campaign. It is cleared when you close the tab.

Our checkout page loads PayPal's payment and fraud-prevention scripts. As soon as that page opens, PayPal collects information about your device and browser to prevent fraud and sets its own cookies, under PayPal's privacy statement. Cloudflare may set a cookie it uses for security, such as telling people apart from automated traffic.

Tracking across other sites, and Do Not Track

We do not track you across other websites, and we do not allow advertising networks or other third parties to collect information about your activity on our Site over time and across other websites. The only third-party code on the Site is Cloudflare's analytics and security features and PayPal's payment and fraud-prevention scripts on the checkout page, described above. Because we do no cross-site tracking, our Site does not change how it works when your browser sends a Do Not Track signal. We do not sell or share personal information, so there is nothing for a Global Privacy Control signal to opt you out of here.

What we do not collect

We do not ask for and do not want government identifiers, financial account numbers outside the PayPal payment flow, health information, or information about children. If you send us any of these, for example in a chat message, we may delete it.

3. Why we use it

We use personal information to:

• Answer your questions and do what you asked us to do.
• Fulfill, ship, invoice, and support what you bought or asked about.
• Keep the records the law requires for tax, accounting, and warranty purposes.
• Operate, secure, and improve the Site, and prevent fraud and abuse.
• Send deal emails, until you tell us to stop.
• Comply with the law and respond to lawful requests.

4. Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with advertising networks. We share it only with the service providers below, who process it for the purposes named.

Robinson Labs LLC

Built the Site and runs it: hosting setup, the database that holds our orders, invoices, callback requests, and customer records, and the computers that power the Compressor Desk and our staff tools. Robinson Labs also receives a copy of each alert for a new callback request, invoice request, or deal sign-up. Robinson Labs handles this information on our behalf and under our instructions.

Handles: everything the Site collects.

Cloudflare, Inc.

Hosts and delivers the Site, protects it from abuse, provides privacy-first web analytics, and carries traffic securely between the Site and our database and assistant computers.

Handles: technical visit data, and everything you submit, in transit.

PayPal, Inc.

Processes payments. PayPal is an independent controller of your payment information under its own privacy statement.

Handles: payment details, order amounts and items.

Resend

Sends our email: your receipt, our notices of new orders, callback requests, invoice requests, and deal sign-ups, and deal emails. It also tells us whether each deal email was delivered, bounced, or reported as spam.

Handles: name, email address, email content.

Telegram

Delivers alerts for new callback requests, invoice requests, and deal sign-ups to our staff and to Robinson Labs, and carries messages between our staff and our internal assistant.

Handles: name, phone, email, the questions you sent with a callback request, and the items in an invoice request.

Anthropic, PBC

Backup provider that generates Compressor Desk answers when our own computers are unavailable or busy. It can also serve as backup for the internal assistant our staff use to look up orders, quotes, and customer records. Its commercial terms do not permit it to train its models on the content we send. It may keep that content for a limited time under those terms, for example to detect misuse.

Handles: Compressor Desk chat text; for the staff assistant, the business records our staff ask it about.

Manufacturers and distributors that ship for us (for example Emax and Lentus)

Many orders ship directly from the manufacturer or distributor rather than from our location.

Handles: name, shipping address, phone, items ordered.

Freight and parcel carriers

Deliver your order and schedule the delivery appointment.

Handles: name, shipping address, phone.

We may also disclose personal information when required by law or valid legal process, to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims, to protect the rights, property, or safety of our customers, our staff, or the public, or as part of a sale or transfer of all or part of our business, in which case we will require the recipient to honor this policy.

5. How long we keep it

We do not currently delete records automatically on a schedule. This is what we keep and for how long:

Orders, invoices, and payment confirmations

At least six years after the sale, for tax, warranty, and legal reasons.

Callback requests, invoice requests, and customer records

Until you ask us to delete them, or until we decide we no longer need them.

Deal email list

Until you unsubscribe. After that, your address stays on our do-not-email list so we can keep honoring your request.

Compressor Desk conversations

Not kept by us, except the questions you send with a callback request, which are kept with that request. If our backup provider answered for us, it may keep the text for a limited time under its own terms.

Order and callback notices in our staff email and messaging apps

Until our staff delete them.

Daily traffic totals

Kept as counts with no information about individual visitors.

Our database is backed up nightly, and backup copies are kept for up to about 30 days, so a record we delete can remain in a backup for that long before it is overwritten. We may keep information longer where the law requires it or where it is needed for a dispute or legal claim.

6. We do not sell your personal information

We do not sell your personal information, and we have not sold it in the twelve months before the effective date of this policy. We do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

7. Your rights and how to use them

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• Know. Tell you what personal information we hold about you, where we got it, why we have it, and who we have shared it with.
• Get a copy. Give you a copy in a portable format.
• Correct. Fix information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Delete. Remove your contact details and messages from our records, or scrub them so they no longer identify you. We keep completed order records we need for tax, warranty, and legal reasons, and your email address on our do-not-email list so we can keep honoring your opt-out. Copies in our nightly backups are overwritten within about 30 days (Section 5).
• Opt out of deal emails. Use the unsubscribe link in any deal email, or tell us directly.
• Withdraw consent. Withdraw any consent you gave, at any time, without affecting what we did before you withdrew it.

How to make a request. Email shane@piedmontind.com with "Privacy request" in the subject line, or call 803-981-3651. Tell us what you want and give us enough detail to find your records.

Response time. We answer within 45 days.

Verification. We may need to verify your identity before we act, especially on access and deletion requests, and we will ask only for what we need to do that. An authorized agent may make a request for you with your written permission, and we may still contact you to confirm it.

No retaliation. We will not deny you goods or services, charge you a different price, or give you a lower quality of service because you exercised these rights.

If we say no. We will tell you why. You can ask us to look again by replying to our answer.

8. Children

The Site sells industrial equipment, is intended for adults, and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13, and we do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16. The Compressor Desk does not ask your age. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

9. California residents

We do not sell or share personal information, and we do not use sensitive personal information in any way that gives you a right to limit it. California residents can use the rights in Section 7. Sections 2 through 5 describe what we collect, why, who receives it, and how long we keep it.

10. Visitors from the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom

The Site is for customers in the United States. If you contact us from the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, we are the controller of your information, it is processed in the United States, and you may complain to your local data protection regulator.

11. Other state privacy laws

We give everyone the rights in Section 7, wherever they live.

Nevada. We do not sell covered information as Nevada law defines it. Nevada residents may still send a request that we not sell their covered information to shane@piedmontind.com, and we will respond within 60 days.

12. Security

We use encryption in transit, keep card handling with PayPal, limit access to our systems to the people who need it, and rate-limit abuse. No system is perfectly secure. If you think your information has been compromised, contact us right away at shane@piedmontind.com.

13. Links to other sites

The Site links to manufacturer websites, PayPal, and other sites we do not control. Their privacy practices are their own, and we encourage you to read the policy of any site you visit from ours.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the Site, our business, or the law changes. The effective date at the top will change when we do, and for material changes we will post a notice on the Site.

15. Contact us

For privacy requests, put "Privacy request" in the subject line so it reaches the right person quickly.