Updated June 2026
This is a straight read of what American Meathead collects, why, and what your options are. No dark patterns, no legalese paragraphs designed to lose you. If something here is unclear, email jim@americanmeathead.com and we’ll fix it.
Who runs this site
American Meathead is operated by Jim Smokehouse Daniels. The site is editorial-first: gear reviews, BBQ recipes, technique guides. We make money from affiliate commissions on the gear we recommend (see Terms Of Use) and from a paid newsletter sponsorship slot. We do not sell, lease, rent, or otherwise share your personal information with third parties for marketing.
What we collect
- Newsletter email. When you submit your email through any of our newsletter forms, we send it to Beehiiv (our email service provider) to deliver the newsletter. We store: your email, the placement on the site you signed up from (hero / buying-guide / etc.), and the timestamp. Nothing else.
- Analytics. We use Google Analytics 4 to count visits, see which posts are read, and measure newsletter signup conversions. GA4 sets cookies and collects approximate location, device type, browser, and the URLs you visit on our site. We do not connect that data to your email.
- Affiliate cookies. When you click an outbound product link, the destination retailer (Amazon, Camp Chef, Traeger, ThermoWorks, etc.) may set a cookie that gives us a small commission if you buy. We don’t see your purchase details — we only see whether the click happened. We mark every affiliate link with
rel="sponsored". - Server logs. Our web host keeps standard access logs (IP address, request URL, user agent) for security and abuse prevention. We don’t use these for tracking.
How we use it
- Send you the newsletter you signed up for.
- Understand which articles, gear reviews, and recipes our readers actually use.
- Earn affiliate commissions that fund the site.
- Keep the site running, fast, and free of bots.
Third parties we use
- Beehiiv — newsletter delivery. Beehiiv privacy policy.
- Google Analytics 4 — site analytics. Google privacy policy.
- Affiliate networks — Amazon Associates, Impact, Pepperjam, Awin, ShareASale. Each retailer has its own cookie and privacy policy.
- WPX Hosting — web hosting and CDN.
Your rights
Unsubscribe: Every newsletter email has a one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom. It works immediately.
Delete your data: Email jim@americanmeathead.com with the email address you want removed. We delete it from Beehiiv within seven days.
GDPR (EU / UK readers): You have the right to access, correct, port, or delete the personal data we hold about you. Same email address handles those requests.
CCPA (California readers): Same. We don’t sell personal data so the “do not sell” opt-out is automatic for everyone.
Cookies
We use functional cookies (to remember you’ve dismissed an alert, for example), analytics cookies (Google Analytics), and affiliate-network cookies (set when you click an outbound gear link). You can block any of these in your browser settings without breaking the editorial experience — the worst that happens is the newsletter form remembers your email less reliably.
Children
American Meathead is written for adults shopping for BBQ gear and cooking BBQ. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16.
Changes to this policy
If we change anything material, we’ll bump the “Updated” date at the top of the page and (for material changes) note it in a newsletter edition. Past versions are kept in our internal records for a year.
Contact
Questions about this policy — or anything else — go to jim@americanmeathead.com.