# I DON"T WANT another DAMNED card in order to "save money" at your store! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 1, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542 "2013-04-01T16:21:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/81 "2013-04-02T17:52:10Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Jeeze Louise **NitroPress** , did a discount card kill your mother or something? Sorry. Button topic, and I was waiting for some footage to render. 🙂 But yeah, it’s a… focus of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/82 "2013-04-02T17:59:56Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Blah blah blah. Look at the fucking superiority complex on you. Oh, for fuck’s sake, JB, you can disagree or make arguments without resorting to this level of shit-flinging. This is the Dope; I think we can all agree that there are some very smart and aware people among us without having to do the “ain’t nobody smarter than me” bleat. Me, I’m looking at the sheep innards you call brains and wondering how you can think you’re one-tenth as smart as you think you are about the consumer freeway you’re wandering around on, your dim eyes half-closed as you chew on the cud you’re being fed. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/83 "2013-04-02T18:04:13Z")
A man’s purchases on the store card come back to hurt him in court, he was suing the store for falling in store and the store produced records of how much wine he bought to paint him as a drunk. This story was in the media but I can’t find it, if someone else can I remember reading it. Seems there can be a downside to the store knowing all about you. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/84 "2013-04-02T18:05:03Z")
> [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > My town has a Rite Aid, a Walgreens, a CVS and an Osco. We get our prescriptions from one of those places and we have their card. However, if I need to pick up some random health or beauty aid, a greeting card or whatever, I might pull in at whichever one of the four is on my way. So when I walk in and see the item I want with a regular price 50% to 100% higher than their “member price,” I’m upset. In my experience, if I tell them I don’t have their card, they swipe a generic card and I get the discount anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/85 "2013-04-02T18:13:36Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > You can argue specific instances all day long, but the bottom line is - and must be - that cards cost you money, no matter how much bullshit the stores fling to hide the fact. And again, it amazes me how many people buy into the bullshit. It amazes me that **you** don’t understand the concept of mutual benefit through voluntary trade, which is a staple of every economics course taught everywhere on the planet. The fact that Party A benefits from something doesn’t prove that Party B suffers. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/86 "2013-04-02T20:15:38Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Oh, for fuck’s sake, JB, you can disagree or make arguments without resorting to this level of shit-flinging. This is the Dope; I think we can all agree that there are some very smart and aware people among us without having to do the “ain’t nobody smarter than me” bleat. Come off it. A child can understand the concept of a rewards card perfectly well… “These people want to give you a special card. If you show them this card everytime you buy candy, your candy will be slightly cheaper. But, the people who gave you the card will know exactly what candy you like.” So I certainly think there are dozens, maybe even hundreds of adults who can get it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/87 "2013-04-02T20:52:53Z")
Holy shit, it’s true: I’m still buying the same foods I’ve been buying for the last 40 years, so I must be brainwashed. The card conspiracy is working! Wait, no it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/88 "2013-04-02T21:00:23Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > the people who gave you the card will know exactly what candy you like. [NOOOOOOOOO!](http://nooooooooooooooo.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/89 "2013-04-02T21:20:29Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Oh, for fuck’s sake, JB, you can disagree or make arguments without resorting to this level of shit-flinging. > Me, I’m looking at the sheep innards you call brains and wondering how you can think you’re one-tenth as smart as you think you are about the consumer freeway you’re wandering around on, your dim eyes half-closed as you chew on the cud you’re being fed. I have _got_ to stop leaving my irony-ometer on in NP threads. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/90 "2013-04-02T21:33:22Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Oh, for fuck’s sake, JB, you can disagree or make arguments without resorting to this level of shit-flinging. This is the Dope; I think we can all agree that there are some very smart and aware people among us without having to do the “ain’t nobody smarter than me” bleat. > > Me, I’m looking at the sheep innards you call brains and wondering how you can think you’re one-tenth as smart as you think you are about the consumer freeway you’re wandering around on, your dim eyes half-closed as you chew on the cud you’re being fed. sorry, dude, i don’t have any spare change ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/91 "2013-04-02T21:33:58Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > “These people want to give you a special card. If you show them this card everytime you buy candy, your candy will be slightly cheaper. But, the people who gave you the card will know exactly what candy you like.” Limited conclusion. Try: “But, this means the entire marketing industry will know all of your purchasing preferences, individually and in aggregate, at that store, and will use that information to target you more specifically for other purchases.” If you don’t understand the difference, and the downside, I won’t waste any more of your time. Happy shopping. If you wouldn’t permit these institutions to look through your windows and search your house at will, I fail to see why you’re undisturbed by this degree of snooping, especially when it has no benefit for you at all. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/92 "2013-04-02T21:50:23Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Limited conclusion. Try: “But, this means the entire marketing industry will know all of your purchasing preferences, individually and in aggregate, at that store, and will use that information to target you more specifically for other purchases.” > > If you don’t understand the difference, and the downside, I won’t waste any more of your time. Happy shopping. > > If you wouldn’t permit these institutions to look through your windows and search your house at will, I fail to see why you’re undisturbed by this degree of snooping, especially when it has no benefit for you at all. I bet you don’t sleep very well at night. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/93 "2013-04-02T22:12:55Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Holy shit, it’s true: I’m still buying the same foods I’ve been buying for the last 40 years, so I must be brainwashed. The card conspiracy is working! Wait, no it’s not. You aren’t buying the same foods. Oh sure, the foods have the same names, but they’ve been reformulated to be more addictive! ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/94 "2013-04-02T22:23:31Z")
I typically hang out at the same bar a couple of nights a week. Occasionally, one of the bartenders will kick me a free drink, for being a regular. I then throw it back in their face, and yell “DON’T TRACK ME, BIG BRO!” I used to work at a major retailer already mentioned in this thread, and I’ve worked with several major CPG manufacturers as well as the marketing analytics firm that pioneered the retail loyalty concept. I currently work for a company that does similar work farther back in the supply chain. Honestly, nobody gives two shits about tracking you individual purchases (other than occasionally tossing in a “free drink” in the form of some coupons, or maybe Amazon building a recommended reading profile based on your book purchasing habits [which I find immensely valuable]). The real value is in the large, aggregate data sets to eliminate inefficiencies in their replenishment models or more effectively target their marketing promotions. It’s really no more intrusive and creepy than other tracking methods that people voluntarily submit to, like being a Nielsen family or posting every detail about their lives and preferences on Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/95 "2013-04-02T23:20:13Z")
> [@black\_rabbit](#): > > Occasionally, one of the bartenders will kick me a free drink, for being a regular. I then throw it back in their face, and yell “DON’T TRACK ME, BIG BRO!” Did you throw it on the ground? “Maaaan, what do I look like, a charity case?” ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/96 "2013-04-02T23:56:58Z")
> [@black\_rabbit](#): > > I typically hang out at the same bar a couple of nights a week. Occasionally, one of the bartenders will kick me a free drink, for being a regular. I then throw it back in their face, and yell “DON’T TRACK ME, BIG BRO!” > > I used to work at a major retailer already mentioned in this thread, and I’ve worked with several major CPG manufacturers as well as the marketing analytics firm that pioneered the retail loyalty concept. I currently work for a company that does similar work farther back in the supply chain. > > Honestly, nobody gives two shits about tracking you individual purchases (other than occasionally tossing in a “free drink” in the form of some coupons, or maybe Amazon building a recommended reading profile based on your book purchasing habits [which I find immensely valuable]). > > The real value is in the large, aggregate data sets to eliminate inefficiencies in their replenishment models or more effectively target their marketing promotions. It’s really no more intrusive and creepy than other tracking methods that people voluntarily submit to, like being a Nielsen family or posting every detail about their lives and preferences on Facebook. That tinfoil hat looks great on you… 😉 Seriously, don’t you DARE interrupt a good paranoid conspiracy with your marketing facts and all! **shakes fist** ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/97 "2013-04-03T00:19:02Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > \ > It reminds me of the guy who once knocked on my father’s door, selling some book-of-the-month club deal. My dad, who incidentally earned an MBA from Harvard, was actually somewhat interested in the books, until the kid claimed that he was selling them for below his cost. \ It’s the syndicate - everyone has a share. > [@NitroPress](#): > > By reshaping the world around you. > > It’s not about finding what coupons to send you. It’s about limiting your choices until you make the ones that are most beneficial to them. So yes, they are reaching into your wallet, and redirecting your car, and shaping your shopping and purchasing habits, and more… all in ways you clearly haven’t thought about because you’re still convinced the process is all about “making it all a better shopping experience for you.” > > Just because you can still drive across town to buy a flavor of soda sold nowhere else without a card being required doesn’t mean you still have completely free choice. Sooner or later, you’ll stop going to so much effort because you don’t have the time and stamina to do so. And you’ll settle for the choices and the processes left open to you, which were shaped by that endless tracking, which was fostered by the apocalyptic greed underlying modern marketing efforts. I’m finding it hard to believe that people are arguing with you about this - one of the constants of our modern life right up there with death and taxes is corporate greed. > [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > It amazes me that **you** don’t understand the concept of mutual benefit through voluntary trade, which is a staple of every economics course taught everywhere on the planet. The fact that Party A benefits from something doesn’t prove that Party B suffers. I don’t buy this; set in the larger context of capitalism in North America, money goes one way - from people who have less of it to people who have more. Yes, Jane Shopper does get groceries for her money, but things are always set up to increase the profit going to the owners of Safeway and Kroger. If they decide to roll out a loyalty card program, you can bet that it is to increase profits, and no other reason. Any benefits to shoppers are side effects, and not part of their consideration. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/98 "2013-04-03T01:42:36Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Yep. That’s why I get oddball combinations of items to do my little part of corrupting their data. My mom and dad moved to this area first and got the shopper’s card for the local grocery store. They are in their early 60s. When my husband and I moved here, we just would punch in mom’s number for her shopper’s card, and we are in our late 30s/early 40s with young children. Then my grandmother moved to the big city, and mom does her shopping with her. Grandma is in her early 80s. I get a huge kick out of thinking about the store trying to make sense of the shopping record for that card. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/99 "2013-04-03T03:30:25Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > In Canada, we have cards where you can earn bonus points of various kinds, but there’s no punitive pricing for not having one. > [@NitroPress](#): > > They should be outlawed, really. I suspect that’s the case in Canada, where retailers are not allowed to tier pricing by this method and have to use the less effective return-rewards system. Safeway does it. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542/100 "2013-04-03T03:39:39Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Actually, yes. The idea is to change the customer’s buying habits and get her to buy more stuff from Target. The thing with the baby clothes is really fucking creepy. > [@KermitTheFrig](#): > > Um…I really, really wish I had just walked away and let him explain to his manager why he had to go around the store and put $200 worth of stuff back on the shelves. I had a similiar experiance at Borders with their loyalty card. The cashier giving me the hard sell, I really annoyed, and I guess it showed the 3rd time I said no because she reponded “Well, you don’t have to be rude about it.”. _That_ pissed me off, I chewed her out to her manager, and left. The company that took over the local Borders store has it’s own program, but the moment I told the cashier “that’s the reason I stopped shopping at Borders” he shut up. 😉 > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > In my experience, if I tell them I don’t have their card, they swipe a generic card and I get the discount anyway. The person running the register doesn’t really understand or care how the card is supposed to work; they just want the person they’re waiting on not to get upset. Ditto for the local management. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-don-t-want-another-damned-card-in-order-to-save-money-at-your-store/654542.md?page=6)