Grocery store loyalty cards

[eunny jang]

There was an interesting article some time ago in the Washington Post about a potential legitimate use for all the intrusive information stores gather with loyalty cards: If a product has a recall on it, people who bought it could be contacted. But none of the stores in our area with cards used it for this purpose - it hadn't even occurred to most of them.

[fifi]

There was an interesting article some time ago in the Washington Post about a potential legitimate use for all the intrusive information stores gather with loyalty cards: If a product has a recall on it, people who bought it could be contacted.  But none of the stores in our area with cards used it for this purpose - it hadn't even occurred to most of them.

I never thought of that one. That could be useful.

I do know of one that paid off for my son. He had a "loyalty key" for our local wine and liquor emporium on his key ring. One Saturday, he lost his keys. He called me in a franitc fit to come pick him up since his car key was on that ring. By the time he called me, some nice soul had found them in the parking lot, turned them in to the local coffee house, they called the store. The store called me to tell me that the good samaratin had left his keys at the nearby coffee shop.

In response to his call... "Dear, Brazil has your keys and they are holding them for you at the register." His response... "Mothers are just too spooky."

It took a while for him to figure out the loyalty key connection. I didn't encourage his discovery.

[Arey]

at the supermarket I go to, I have to have a loyalty card so I can pay by check. And, I did get a "customer reward" of three $5.00 off coupons, although I was only able to use two of them within the time limit since I don't buy meat or fish in supermarkets, or much produce. However, since my current cat Bryn, and his predecessor and great-great-uncle Chips' favorite treat was Gerber's 2nd Foods beef and lamb flavors, I have the largest accumulation of Baby Club Bonus Dollars in South Jersey. What I would like to know is, since they are tracking my purchases, and since they know what I regularly buy, why, at the check out counter counter do I regularly get long strips of those coupons for things I don't buy. Do the Fresh Step people know that Acme is repeatedly trying to get me to buy Johnny Cat? Do the Bounty people know that Acme is trying to get me to switch to Brawny. Do the Puffs people know that ACME would prefer that I buy Kleenex. And, do all the above think I don't know that they're all owned by one giant conglomerate headquartered in Switzerland?

I'll get off my soapbox now, my Arm & Hammer soapbox in case any customer loyalty checkers are reading this.

[jschyun]

At Ralph's in SoCal, unless I am totally misremembering this, I believe they asked me for my driver's license to verify I was the person that I said I was. I think I later signed up with a fake name and address. There is every reason to be paranoid about them selling your info, because they do.

Unless I'm mistaken, they even try to get your SSN from you. WTF? If you question it, the checker will say, "oh you don't need to fill that out", but people like my mom fill every single box.

Strangely, most everyone I know uses their real name, number and address. They encourage you to use your real number so that if you lose your card they can find you in the computer (pfft, just get another card).

[hjshorter]

What I would like to know is, since they are tracking my purchases, and since they know what I regularly buy, why, at the check out counter counter do I regularly get long strips of those coupons for things I don't buy. Do the Fresh Step people know that Acme is repeatedly trying to get me to buy Johnny Cat?

The coupons are generated automatically based on your purchases and it's almost always a competing product. My grocery mixes those with some store specific coupons like $5 or $10 off your next purchase. Do the corporations pay the grocery store to offer checkout coupons for their products?

Joe, prepare for a junk mail deluge once peanut leaves the shell. Once the marketers figure out you're having a baby...

[JennotJenn]

While I'm too paranoid to like the idea of the conglomerate grocery store cards, our local gourmet shop has started a loyalty program, which I actually like. No money off at the register, but for every $1 you spend, they give you a nickel credit, which comes in the form of a coupon once every couple of months. Not a TON of money, but they have a great selection of reasonably priced beer, and they're only 5 blocks from my house, so I spend enough $$$ there to make that five cents add up pretty quickly. Besides, getting anything back is nice. They have to have your address so they can send you the coupon, which normally would bug me, but with these guys, I don't mind at all.

For anyone wondering, it's Fowler's in Durham, and I'm constantly shocked that their beer is as reasonably priced as it is (cheaper than Whole Foods, anyway, with a better selection than the WF on Broad has). They sell Kinder Bueno, too, which is also helping those bonus points add up

[Stone]

Don't you all realize that credit card companies track your every purchase and have been doing it for years? And your privacy remains intact. (But for the Ashcroft Abomination, but that's a different story.)

Edited August 13, 2004 by Stone (log)

[deibu]

Strangely, most everyone I know uses their real name, number and address. They encourage you to use your real number so that if you lose your card they can find you in the computer (pfft, just get another card).

The only supermarket here I can see any value in keeping the same card is Piggly Wiggly... The old "greenbax stamps" are now incorporated into their PFC card. So everytime you spend you earn a certain number of "books". Every week they have specials and "free" items - frequently, a 5 lb. bag of sugar, roll of paper towels or a dozen eggs are "free" with 1 or 2 "books". So if you start with a new card you lose all those books you've earned.

Of course, everything else in there is overpriced. Thank God Publix still has a "no card" policy.

[Toliver]

Costco tracks your purchases.

This last Spring, they sent me a notice in the mail stating that the Kirkland almonds I bought in January (and served at a SuperBowl party) were possibly contaminated so I should bring them back to the store for a refund.

[HOMER] DOH! [/HOMER]

[sequim]

That still wouldn't convince me to tell the truth if I HAVE to get the damn card.

Lie, Lie Lie all the way. Well I'll use my real name, what the heck, give them a bone.