Aaaaurgh! Went to Alberton’s Grocery Store(don’t know if it’s a national chain, but I think everyone gets the idea). Now they’re jumping on the grocery store shoppers card bandwagon.
For several years, they’ve advertised “Great saving… no card needed!”, taking pot-shots at Kroger’s and Tom Thumb’s programs that make you carry a “membership card” for their grocery store for no good fucking reason. If you don’t have a shopping card,(or if Joe Cashier forgets to ask for it), you get ass-fucked to the tune of $3.99 for a 12-pack of Coke, etc.
Some people (myself included) start BBQ Pit thread for an ego-stroke. This time I’m actually REALLY PISSED OFF!!!
Fuck you Albertson’s (and Kroger and Tom Thumb, while I’m at it). Shove your shoppers cards up your asses. And I mean this both metaphorically for your whole organization, and literally for all the dick wrinkles in your organization that made this decision.
The beauty of marketing information is that you can always fuck with it.
For example, you don’t really believe I am going to reveal my actual salary on a registration card do you? No way! I’ll make something up to make me seem independently wealthy or dirt poor (depending on my mood).
Most savings cards (like Kroger) do not verify your name and address. You can stop by the customer service desk and fill out a card with a completely bogus name and address. You still have the card and still get the savings. However I wouldn’t try this for movie rentals or check cashing, that could get you into trouble.
Another tactic is to keep forgetting your card and fill out a new one each trip to the market. It costs them money to print up those cards, and to keep track of each card id you purchase with. The more money it costs them to maintain the marketing information, the less lucrative it is for them to harvest data in this manner.
You don’t like their business decision. And well you shouldn’t, because the corporate charter for Albertson’s is quite clear: the corporation was formed to ensure your happiness, Macro Man. Yes, unlike other corporations, in which stockholders invest capital to earn a profit, and managers are held accountable for increasing revenue, the stockholders of Albertson’s have jointly decided that they don’t care about profitability. No, no - to the contrary, they exist merely to serve you.
With this as a backdrop, you are absolutely right to be enraged. Why - they are acting like any other chain grocery store, realizing the marketing benefits from such card programs appar to outweight the costs. How dare they? Those self-righteous pricks - putting their own profits above your happiness! My God - what will those bastards do next?
The situation is made even more tragic by your state legislature’s decision to pass laws forbidding you from taking your business elsewhere. I wondered about those laws when they were passed, and I see now that my concern was justified.
Well, I wish I could help, but I can only commiserate.
Macro Man, I don’t know where you are, but I shop at Albertsons, here in AZ. They have not implemented the stupid card crap here, which is one of the reasons I shop there. They are the last store in this burg that doesn’t have the F***ing things, and I haven’t seen or heard that they are going to provide this benefit. :rolleyes:
I hate dealing with the cards and will be writing to Albertsons’ home office to complain. I suggest you do the same.
Hey Bricker, bite my ass. I have probably forgotten more things about business than you’ll ever know! And no, I don’t like their business decision, but that’s besides the point.
I never said they didn’t have the right to introduce any fucking program they wanted. Please reread my OP. They could say I have to blow the store manager with any purchase under $50. I just won’t shop there. I’m pissed because it’s the most convenient grocery store to me. Plus, they advertised the fact they didn’t have a card for several years as a benefit to shopping there. Besides, the Pit is the place to vent your frustrations at seemingly stupid, insignificant events and situations, and commiserate about them with other Dopers. It’s not the end of the world; if it were, the Pit is not the place I’d bring it up.
And I’d be willing to bet that they’ll see their profits are indeed impacted by this bonehead decision. They now look like hypocrits in their advertising campaign.
And DaToad, try calling them. I did, and was told they are inundated with calls from (former) customers. All are being forwarded on to the (new)
Macro Man, I don’t know where you are, but I shop at Albertsons, here in AZ. They have not implemented the stupid card crap here, which is one of the reasons I shop there. They are the last store in this burg that doesn’t have the F***ing things, and I haven’t seen or heard that they are going to provide this benefit. :rolleyes:
I hate dealing with the cards and will be writing to Albertsons’ home office to complain. I suggest you do the same.
Thanks for the ass-biting invitation, but can I decline if I spend more than $50?
Look, I know you didn’t question Albertson’s “right” to implement this program, but your whole rant is dedicated to the proposition that it’s a bad idea.
Now, I know you’ve forgotten more business acumen than I’ll ever have… but was one of the things you forgot the fact that if all the grocery stores are doing this, there’s probably a sound business reason behind it? This goes double for a chain that has already advertised itself into a bit of a corner by touting themselves as the guys that don’t have such cards. I’m sure they’re aware of the appearance of hypocrisy… and also sure that the perceived cost benefit outweighs the loss of good will.
Yes, the Pit is the place to rant – it’s also the place for other posters to call the ranter on his rant. In this case, you blame Albertson’s for making a decision that is most likely a profitable one for them. The clear implication is that you’d prefer they remain less profitable in this area, for your convenience - they being the closest store to you and all.
Frankly, that’s an unrealistic expectation. The stores are doing this because they can make money at it. Were I an Albertson’s stockholder, I’d be furious if management failed to implement a system like this.
I hate those crappy little cards too, but I know I don’t have to use one if I don’t want to. They offer extra savings for those willing to follow the party line, but it’s not like they won’t sell groceries – at almost the same prices – to those who aren’t willing to do it. So it’s save 20 cents on Progresso soup and join the Collective, or be gloriously independent and pay the extra 20 cents. But the choice is mine.
Bricker, we could go back and forth about whether or not this is a good business idea. I acknowledge someone in the company thinks it’s a good idea. I, however, think of this move as one based more on desperation than logic. Look at Albertson’s stock price in the last three years. Pitiful, especially for a historically stable industry. Time will tell, but that’s not really the crux of my rant.
I do think that people (including myself) have reached their saturation point with these stupid cards. That is my main point.
BTW, Texas appears to be a test market for the card. We’ll see if it goes nationwide.
Screw the stockholders. Profit and the public good are not necessarily the same thing. While customers who use the cards are voluntarily relinquishing their fundamental right to privacy to save a few bucks, the fact that the company is willing to suggest such a devil’s bargain makes them no better than shady third-world baby brokers.
I don’t like having my purchases tracked, so I don’t use the things, myself. I refuse to shop at Amazon for the same reason.
For those of you that don’t like it when the checker uses your name when they are done, you could fill out the card application with fake information and a fake name!
That way, when you leave, they look at the name on the card and wonder how to pronounce the name Harry Paratestys.
P.S. Yes I do work as a grocery store checker, and thank god we don’t have those cards or have to uses peoples names.
Misread the title. I thought you were telling them to shove their shopping cart up their ass.
Bricker-There may be a sound business reason for doing it, but they also had a sound reason for introducing New Coke.
I hate the flipping things, too. I don’t want them knowing what I buy, and I think that “many prices for the same item” pricing that they encourage is somehow unethical.
I “forget” my card every time I go shopping. At almost all the stores around me (and there are a lot) they have a “store card” they can use. It’s a pain in the ass to ask every time, but it’s worked oday up until now.
They just opened a brandy-spanking new and very very nice Shop-Rite very close to my house. But for some reason, they don’t allow a “store card” to be used. The first time I had to argue with some head cashier for 10 minutes before he would even call a manager. The second time I had just applied for a card in my dog’s name with a phony address, so I used that. Of course I didn’t bother to keep it in my purse. The third time, I was told that there was no card available, but I could go to the customer service booth, which had a long line, and apply for a new one. I didn’t want to wait around for a manager to save .50 on some ice cream, which was all that I was buying, so I asked some other customer who let me borrow hers.
I guess I’ll go to the grungy old Shop-Rite where they have a “store card” for me to use.
Jodi: Sadly, if Albertsons follows suit with Kroger and Tom Thumb, they will raise their prices to an intolerable amount (not just 20 cents on soup), making it unfeasible to shop there without one. And the artificially inflated prices extend not to just the advertised specials, but to many other things in the store. I have a Kroger card I use only when being beer and wine. The non-card difference can be several dollars.
And in my experience, TT and Kr. both check IDs when filling out the application, making it impossible to give a fake name, address, etc. That’s just what I’ve seen, though.
I will be the first to admit I have other (dwindling)options for grocery stores if I do not wish to have a private company track my purchases. I will exercise those options in all but a few limited circumstances of convenience. It just sucks, thats all.
:: Shrug :: I just don’t get the outrage. I don’t care if Safeway knows I eat Honey-Nut Cheerios by the truckload and that I don’t like beets. I can see why tracking purchases makes sense for marketing and inventory.
But to each their own foible. Myself, I can’t stand being called my first name by some sullen sixteen year old checker, as if we’re dear old friends. (And she doesn’t like it either, I’m sure.) Some people aren’t bugged by this at all.
They have shopping cards at the Price Chopper supermarkets in upstate New York (I’m not sure how widespread the chain is). My mom had one. They gave out these little stick-em-on-your-keychain dealies, plus Mom had a new one and an old one, both of which worked, so I ended up carrying around her old full-size one and one of the keychains. I used them all the time - I think they’re stupid, because if you don’t have the card you get ripped off with high prices, but I understand why the store wants to use them - market tracking and all.
I see a lot of people on the boards complaining about the cashiers calling them by their proper names. I have never been called by my first name by any cashier anywhere, except for the few at the local supermarket who went to high school with me. I don’t know why. I’ve paid with checks that had my name on them, I’ve used the store card with “my name” on it (my mom’s really, of course, but they couldn’t know that)… never had my name used.
It matters because privacy is a prerequisite to freedom. The individual case may not be that bad, but the concept, that anyone can demand, and expect to recieve, private information, is unsettling. Of course, this only works (for now) with the consent of consumers. So venting and raising awareness is the perfect response to it.
Geez, I could have started this thread about a year ago.
I used to shop at Smiths, because it was the closest to my house. They started a card program. I thought it was cool, because I remembered reading about card programs in Wired and anticipated that I would get direct mail offering coupons that were based on my shopping habits/purchases. Didn’t happen. I’d get coupons on my receipt, but I just paid for this stuff and now you tell me the next time I buy it I can get a buck off? Fuck you, I want my discount now.
I don’t carry my card. I don’t carry a wallet. My pockets usually contain a $7, one credit card and my car keys. Why should I have to bring <that piece of fucking plastic> in to get a discount? I went through too many times when I’d buy groceries and the checker would say, “Do you have a Smith’s card?”, “Yeah, but it’s not on me?” SIGH, look at me like I’m an idiot, “Well, I guess I can use the store card.” Even if I was just buying a six pack of beer.
I started going to Safeway. They have the card program, BUT, they have a keypad at the checkout where you can enter your card number (phone number) if you don’t have your card number on you. So you don’t HAVE TO HAVE that piece of plastic.
Works like a charm except:
3a: You can’t speed dial on the keypad. A small thing, but I can do my 64 digit calling card for work in just under 3 seconds. I can do my first four entries on an ATM in 2 seconds. Dammit, it’s a keypad. I want to speed dial.
3b: You can NEVER change your name. Ever. My ex-girlfriend got the original card/account to our (still my) phone number. I have filed three change thingies, but still, when I buy groceries, the checker looks at the receipt and says, “Thank you, Mr. Smith.” Smith is the ex’s name, not mine. Some days it’s funny, some days it’s a knife in the heart.
And I can hardly wait till I’m taking the next possible future Mrs. Whistlepig through the checkout line and she asks, “Why did they call you Mr. Smith?”
You have the right to keep your private information private; just don’t get the card. And I don’t personally agree that total privacy in every detail of life is “a prerequisite to freedom” – and I’m pretty much a zealot for privacy. Like I said, I don’t like the cards either; tha’ts why I don’t use one.
What can I say? Different people are “unsettled” by different things.
Sure, if it pisses you off. Or, in the alternative, you could refuse to participate and patronize a store that doesn’t make you carry a card.