Thanks for that! Of course, as I read it, in my head I was hearing it in a thick Baltimore accent. Damn, ah miss em accents, hon.
Tim, ex-Baltimoron
Those cards are bothersome to carry. I have a whole stack of them. It’s very annoying if I want to dash out to the store and not take my purse to have to grab all my market savings cards just in case I need to swing by one of them. I’m sure as shit not going to put those tacky smaller ones on my keys.
I hate those cards with a passion. If a nicer, full-service, middle-of-the-road store (Giant, Super Fresh, Safeway, Wegmans) abandoned them altogether, I’d shop there exclusively.
I think it’s clear from the context that pobes is a typo; Balthisar obviously meant popes.
So, the pope’s on welfare? Hmph. That damn hat and robe have better come from the Goodwill, then.
Reading this thread carelessly, I have formed the opinion that “pobe” is a slang term for a retired Eskimo general.
Please, don’t anybody sully the delicate bloom of my ignorance.
I fear that my favorite grocery chain is goin the way of the “loyalty card” as well. HEB has held out lo these many years without such nonsense, providing the best prices and good service, not to mention innovating premium outlets like Central Market. Alas, now their back is against the wall, with the Wal-Mart behemoth moving in with their megastores that sell everything from steak to Playstations. There are now pilot Super HEBs that follow the trend toward ginormousness. In these grand follies of retail they have begun a Smart Card program that, judging by the new credit card terminals at my local store, is set for rapid expansion. The end is nigh! Doom. DOOM. DOOOOOOOOM!!!eleventyone!!1!!
Nice rant, with which I have some sympathy. And I like the philosophical poser at the end. Why indeed is Farmer Jackass? 
It doesn’t matter if you give them false demographic information. They figure it out from your purchase habits, at least to the extent that they need to. The card doesn’t just track what you bought with the discount, it tracks everything you buy. The discounts are to get you to use it every time you check out, so you record all of your purchasing habits. That way they can look at all the people who buy OB Tampons regularly (80-year old Eskimo generals, mostly) and see if they respond to lower prices on cabbage rolls in the bakery.
What does it matter? Well if you got a new new car, and your old one was still worth a couple grand, would you just take it down to the junkyard and give it to them? How about if they promised you discounts on auto parts?
Hoo boy. The great Grocery Store Loyalty Card Debate, one of the most polarizing and emotional issues on the boards. Forget Republican vs Democrat or Fat People vs SUV Drivers, this is the one that really stirs up the anger.
I’m firmly on the anti side myself. I drive past two stores that use the damn cards to shop at one that doesn’t. I’ve detailed my reasons several times in other threads, so I won’t bother doing it again, but I will say it has nothing to do with Big Brother style paranoia.
See, in a way this whole thing is why the census is outdated.
The good people at (fill in fast food restaurant here) already know exactly how many Hispanics, White, Blacks, etc. live in which neighborhood, and drive their menu accordingly.
And those cits don’t back up your point, in fact. True “According to one privacy expert, at least one national grocery chain voluntarily handed over to the government records from its customer loyalty card database in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks”, but that’s “According to one UNNAMED privacy expert”, and that’s freaken FOX NEWS. :rolleyes: :dubious: But so far, no terrorism arrests, eh?
Next, the "Lyons’ arrest came after detectives learned a grocery store card in his name showed he had purchased several fire starters. "- but that wasn’t a random search- they knew the fire was at his house and they knew the type of firestarter, so they were on a specific hunt. And, if grocery store records DO catch some loon who is trying to kill his own family… then that’s a GOOD thing.
In order for your crazy paranoid idea to have some validty you’d have to pint where a random search of databases came up with something like "So you show your shopping card as you make your purchase of bleach , potassium chloride’ Vaseline , and a hot plate. (my snipping)
Then a week later, someone who read the anarchist’s cookbook explodes a school bus full of children with homemade plastic explosive, but since they were making plans to do something illegal, they bought their stuff in a store without a card. And now the FBI is interested to know where the supplies were purchased and obtain a warrant for the supermarket’s database. Guess who shows up?"
And, you haven’t, and it hasn’t happened, and your paranoid delusions have came up with a lame rant.
My apologies to you, DrDeth and BiblioCat (whose post I quoted), but I’m going to withdraw from this thread; I do not feel capable of adequately defending my point.
Besides, the government is reading my thoughts through my computer speakers, and I need to find my tinfoil hat.
There’s a reason I usually stick to MPSIMS and CS. I understand cats and computer games.
Ok, I didn’t mean to pick on you, but you’re right in a way- this is the PIT, and things are hwayyyyy different here than MPSIMS.
How are they paying less? With a card? If so you have no leg to stand on if you refuse the card. That would make them smarter than you for doing what needs to be done to pay less.
A “Premium” shopper? A little full of ousrselves, no? Og forbid you should purchase commodities from the same place as a welfare recipient. They must have an awesome Deli worthy of exclusion of the lesser folk.
Why did they go bankrupt? With all that quality food for quality folk like you, there is no excuse for not turning a handsome profit. After all, the clientele had more cash than sense. That’s a goldmine right there.
I agree with you on the bullshit cards/clubs. But based on your OP you’re a douchebag of the highest order.
Though I’m not as upset as I’d normally be. Kroger’s had a sale on douches. Fate smiled on me today. 
Am I the only one who has no idea what you twats are going on about in this thread?
You go to a store. Mac & Cheese is a dollar/box. If you have their little card, it’s $.90 per box. So you go get the damn card.
I don’t get what the big deal is. For a few years now, whenever I forget my Safeway card, I just give them the bogus phone number I originally gave them. The bored complacent cashier looks at me and goes, 'uh, you’re Mr. Garcia?" and I’m all, “yeah, so?”
And that’s about all the demographic data they have on me.
Am I missing something?
A real premium shopper buys their beef tenderloins from a butcher, not a farmer!
CMC fnord!
Then you should get a look at This
Do I hear hoofbeats?
Just droping into drop a couple of links for those who think the cards are no big deal …
When you’re through with that one, go scare the hell out of yourself with this one.
Then, if you please, Join Us in the Fight.
Lucy
So are we ever going to find out what the FSCK a pobe is??? 
Speaking of shit, what would your reaction would be if Ole’ Jack showed up on your doorstep with a bundle of expensive groceries or premium cookies and asked to use your facilities?
I don’t know how it is in the rest of the country, but in my area, for the (non-check cashing) member discount card you can put the name Adolf Bin Laden & the city of Atlantis on your 4 line application and no one will even notice.