Albertons owns Jewel and Jewel has used its “Preferred Card” for a long time now. Anyone in the Chicago area know when?
The only other major store we have here is Dominick’s (owned by Safeway) and they use “Fresh Value Card”
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*Originally posted by Jodi *
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Yep. Some folks are unsettled by online tracking systems that collect information on which sites you visit. Various diminutions of privacy evoke a range of responses.
Either having a supermarket chain collect information on your buying habits or paying a penalty (hint to card users: you’re not “saving” money) is the the sort of choice that leads naturally and appropriately to a Pit rant.
We’ll see if corporations that make a commitment to consumer privacy turn out to be the ones that fail in the marketplace.
{Thumbs through wallet}
Let’s see, I’ve got my Ralph’s Club, my Von’s Club… do I have room for another card? 
I hope the stores in San Diego don’t go that route.
Esprix
They’ve had it as far back as I can remember. Dominick’s has had it slightly less long. Cub Foods (which I always considered a major chain) doesn’t have a card, neither do Sentry (smaller chain) or Aldi (discount chain).
I gotta go with Jodi on this one. I recently moved, and hence had to fill out applications for things like club cards all over again. As I recall, they asked for my name, address and phone number–nothing that they couldn’t have gotten from a three-minute call to my local phone company. Of course, they now have the option to track my buying habits, from which they’ll learn the shocking fact that I tend to buy whatever’s cheapest.
(And whistlepig, all of the club cards in New Jersey seem to come in keytag form as well. So you don’t have to have a wallet.)
The only thing I see to gripe about regarding club cards, if anything, are that these stores are trying to use their computer databases to replace the kind of customer service that used to be available. 'Cause when you think about it, none of this information they’re collecting is more than what the owner of a small independant market would presumably know about his/her steady customers.
If you could tell me where one is, I’ll be happy to go there. (p.s. I live in Central NJ)
C’mon, guys, I normally abhor ‘slippery slope’ arguments, but this one just cries out 'cause it’s going on in double-time.
Anyone hear on the news that while all 19 alleged (hate that stupid lawyer’s word) hijackers had SS numbers, only 5 had obtained them legally? The suggestion was that the SS admin had sold numbers belonging to deceased persons, which the hijackers had acquired in some manner. This is where these stupid grocery store cards come in. Sure Safeway wants to help their customers by providing better product selections, prices, what have you. That’s what they might say. And? Then they sell your purchase info, which gets matched with the credit company info, which gets matched with your video store rentals, which gets matched with records from the state DOL, and on and on. No. I don’t want Dick Less to have all my personal information with the touch of a button. I don’t want anyone to have that information without my knowing and explicitly approving it. And I don’t want it sold, traded, borrowed, folded, mutilated, spindled, or otherwise altered, either. Damn! Throw in the cops using cameras to issue traffic tickets, stores using closed circuit cameras, cameras in public areas, face recognition software, and yes, I know we’re all being watched. And I really, I mean really, hate it.
I noticed the new cards the other day when I was at the store. According to the person I was talking to, they aren’t discontinuing the old program (Bonus Buy). They are adding an additional savings thing which is this new card program thing. They’ve also gone the way of Exxon/Mobil in that instead of carrying a card you can put that little mini-thing on your keychain.
I don’t mind the new program really. As long as they aren’t upping the price of stuff so that I’m forced to use the card, I don’t really care if they follow the trend of other stores.
Sure, but with the shopping card you can get a discount for all the aluminum foil you need to keep out the mind rays.
It bothers me so much that I actually wrote Safeway a letter about it. Safeway does in fact have a policy requiring the cashier to call you by your last name. If you use the Safeway card, your last name prints out on the receipt. I have a Slavic last name, and it is invariably mangled by the salesdroid working the cashier. Also, I hate the over-familiarity of being called by name by someone I DON’T KNOW.
So anyway, I wrote Safeway this nice, long, polite letter in which I informed them that I truly detest this policy, etc., etc., and that it’s making me want to shop elsewhere, because I hate having my last name mangled so much. They sent me a very nice reply back explaining that their research has shown that many customers appreciate the policy (really? I’ve never met any) but that if I really don’t want the cashiers to call me by name, I should just write to Safeway and ask them to remove my name from my club card register receipts. So I did, and it worked like a charm. The cashiers don’t call me by name anymore, because they don’t see my name on the receipt.
Just thought I’d pass that along.
That must be a new way to solve the problem MsWhatsit, because when my friend Rob wrote them about it a couple years ago (“Thanks, Robert” – he never goes by Robert – "Thanks, Bob – he never ever goes by Bob), then wrote him back and said “We think the customers like it, and if you don’t then we suggest you pay cash, so the cashier won’t know your name.” He wrote them back and said “I have a better idea; I’m shopping at Albertson’s.” And he still does AFAIK. Not sure where he stands on the club card issue, though. 
Cripes, Jodi. Maybe they’ve received enough letters bitching about it in the meantime that they’ve changed their policy. Frankly, I was expecting to get a letter similar to the one “Robert” got, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they were actually willing to do something about my complaint.
Or maybe it’s just a regional thing. (I live in Seattle.)
Doubt it was regional, MsWhatsit, I’m in Seattle too.
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*Originally posted by Math Geek *
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(And whistlepig, all of the club cards in New Jersey seem to come in keytag form as well. So you don’t have to have a wallet.)
I want a grocery store piece of plastic on my keychain like I want a barcode tattoo on the back of my neck. Neither one is necessary for me to go through my day to day life.
I agree, Green Bean, on the extreme usefulness of the store card. A few years ago I worked at a lovely Grand Union (the chain is now bankrupt, alas) and at every register, we’d have a card of our own. It got to the point where it was ever so much easier to just swipe the card that belonged to Register 2 than to watch someone fumble around trying to look for theirs. Most of the time, you’d do it right at the start of the order, as sort of a reflex. And, since the only things our cards were really useful for were for check-cashing (and you didn’t need it to scan, you only needed the number on the back), if someone was going to write a check, they’d usually have theirs out already anyway. It made for a much speedier line, but I’d hate to have seen the gathered data from those cards.
Don’t shop at Cub or Aldi’s, but Sentry in Madison has had cards for the last several years. They always have a store card available. I usually shop at Kohl’s (formerly owned by our illustrious Senator-for-Life Herb Kohl) and they have the cards and don’t offer a store card. I got the card who knows how long ago, so I have no idea what address if any they have on file for me. I only use the card when something I’m buying has the markdown, and I never buy anything just because it’s marked down and I never use it if there are no marked down items in my cart. I don’t like the invasion of privacy, but it’s minor compared to other invasions I’ve suffered (I refused to give my SSN at a video store once and they refused to issue me a rental card. Screw you, I only came in here because I won a gift certificate on the radio anyway, prick), and since I buy a lot of their meager vegetarian stock I want to let them know that it’s actually being purchased when they “discount” it, to encourage them to keep it in stock.
I would like to further specify that Kroger needs to shove their Kroger Kard up their ass sideways, and then take it out and lick the shit off of it. At Kroger, if you don’t have one of their stupid cards, the cheapest bottle of aspirin in the store costs six dollars. The same bottle, at a store without any stupid cards, costs one dollar. But how much does it cost at Kroger with your Kroger Kard? Only three dollars! That’s a fifty percent savings!
The Giant Foods and Weis stores near me (Baltimore) will take off the register coupons immediately. Sometimes the Safeway will do it, too, but it depends on the checker.
**Count me in. Mine is a long Italian name and I either get it mangled, or the checker says, while shaking her head, “How do you say your last name?”, I say it, and she replies, “Oh, okay” with a rolling of the eyes. I would prefer she not even try.
I guess my main gripes with these stupid store cards are:
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I have no room in my wallet for 3-4 store cards that do me little good, other than getting reasonable prices that I should be getting anyway, without a card.
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I shouldn’t have to carry around 3-4 keychain thingies just to get aforementioned reasonable prices. My keychain has TWO keys on it: my house key and my car key. This is so they fit into my pocket easier. It may be different if you carry a purse, but for those of us who carry our keys in our pocket, space matters.
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They never, ever have a store card for me to use. Ever. Ever. Ever. I have gotten into fights with the Kroger store manager about this when I have forgotten the stupid thing. At the very least, there needs to be a card at every register for when people forget/refuse to get a card. They ask me for my card, I say I forgot or don’t like my purchases tracked, they reach over and scan the store card. In fact, there should be two: one for when you forget, and one for when you refuse to participate. If anything, this may provide them with valuable information on their customers. More information than me just refusing to shop there, at any rate. And definitely more productive than me taking up ten minutes of the store manager’s time.
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Most importantly, I get asked for the card maybe 50% of the time around here. I have plenty to think about, and they shouldn’t pile one more one. If the fucking cashier forgets (and again, it happens regularly) I get screwed on the prices. WTF? I find out after I get home (or never)!.
I really don’t mind them even tracking my purchases, especially if they used it to tailor their services to my personal tastes. It’s not really Big Brother, in that it is voluntary. I think there is even a place to check off on the applications refusing junk mail, etc.
The folks at the store hate these cards as much as the customers do, so its no sense complaining to them. Call Albertsons, Kroger, TT, etc Corporate offices directly and lodge a complaint. Or don’t, if you’re not mad at this.
I don’t know about your area supermarkets, but ours in Ohio (home of Kroger) have never required any form of identification for a simple shopper’s card. A check cashing or video rental card is a different story.
If you refused them identification, or told them you didn’t have identification on you, do they refuse you a shopping card?
Yes, the costs of marketing inevitably come down to the consumer. Kroger has to raise its prices in order to pay for marketing, shoplifters, and all the spoilage from people who leave carts full of frozen food in the middle of the store. All these costs filter down to the consumer.
However if Kroger is smart, they realize that marketing in this manner is more expensive than the money they make from the program. They then stop the program.
Does anyone believe that grocery prices have gone down as a result of shopping cards? All they did was restrict sales once open to the public to a select few who have grocery cards.