So either join their loyalty program or give up your change. Wow. That’s just a bit coercive, isn’t it?
Not even half the customers at my store have joined the “loyalty program”, even among the regulars.
Every time you use your card you’re putting that change you got last time toward your payment. You’ll never have more than a dollar on your card.
Or pay with a card, or pay with exact change, or use your alchemy skills to get blood from a stone. 
FFS stop it with the stone blood. That stuff gets everywhere and it stains.
And Food4Less in So Cal.
I do not understand the hatred for loyalty cards. So you don’t want the store where you usually shop to carry the stuff you want to buy there? And here in Beijing, loyalty cards get you the lower member price and over time you earn points which you can use to purchase items during the periodic “prize sales” throughout the year. My wife and I save a lot at the grocery store using the loyalty cards/WeChat membership accounts.
As far as I know, that’s all store cards around here (CT) do.
Whose privacy do these loyalty card users invade, and why?
Yeah. I cannot care less that my grocery store knows I prefer Crest toothpaste to Colgate, or Raspberry jelly to Strawberry. What, they’re going to sell my info to the Raspberry Growers Cartel?
I like targeted marketing. If I’m buying cat food, a random coupon for baby formula will get tossed. A coupon for cat food will be looked at (and probably tossed as well, because it will be something that our picky beasts will snub).
Due to the coin shortage, I counted out 5 bucks of assorted change and took it with me to pay for food at the Sonic in Prescott Valley. The person taking the change seemed less than happy about it and there were only 20 pennies in the bag.
I guess I won’t waste my time counting change again.
I do have a “loyalty card” (it’s not actually a physical card at that store) for the store where I do most of my shopping. However, there are many other stores I shop at infrequently that I do NOT have loyalty cards for and do not want them because I would need to carry around a shoebox instead of a wallet if I did so. In fact, one store I stopped going to entirely due to the heavy-handed hard-sell of the loyalty cards, where it would take me longer to get through the mandated selling speech than to go in and pick out an item. When 2/3 of my time is spent saying “no, I don’t want that” it’s time to go. In other cases, when I’m traveling and stopping to buy something in another state no, I don’t want a loyalty card/account for a store that doesn’t exist where I live and that I will likely never use again.
There are also concerns about the amount of data on the cards/accounts, data breeches, and identity theft. Identity theft can be expensive to remedy and the cost of doing so is all on the victim here so of course people want to avoid that. I think it might be more likely that ID theft occurs when you pay by credit card or debit than with the loyalty cards (unless your method of payment is linked to them - something I know one store did years ago, don’t know if it is still done these days) but that doesn’t stop kneejerk reactions.
Also, a lot of Americans are paranoid.
Hard to pay with exact change when no one is giving out any! Can’t give what you don’t get.
All that change is somewhere though. I picked up a handle of vodka yesterday and paid with exact change. If I didn’t have it, I’d have empathized with the liquor store and paid a few cents extra for my booze.
Years ago I had the idea that it would be great to have all the various cards people use (credit cards, loyalty cards, transit cards, etc.) all slammed into one card. I really wish I had patented or trademarked that idea. The loyalty cards here are all connected to one’s WeChat or QQ account. There are very few physical cards in use for shopping. You can even have your credit card attached to the loyalty account.
At my store the “loyalty card” is an electronic account that can be accessed through a phone app. Even if you don’t have your phone (I know, I know - that’s like being naked these days but not everyone has a smartphone, still), if you have your phone number and a pin you can access it manually at the checkout.
That’s where the problem comes in. In the US there have been MANY data breaches of store (and other) databases resulting in widespread identity theft and just plain theft when customers’ card/bank information is stolen. Maybe China (and other countries) do not have such a problem with this, but as long as the US can not get it’s collective crap together over this it will continue to be a significant obstacle to more futuristic payment/loyalty options.
Yes, the change is still out there - it’s just not where it’s wanted/needed. That’s the problem, distribution.
If you don’t register the card and always pay in cash, there’s no link to the individual. Hell, get a new card every few months or whenever.
I’m assuming a lot of people don’t have and don’t want loyalty cards or are going to think this is some kind of hoax to force them into getting one. My WAG is that they’ll use your loyalty card if you have one since most people with a loyalty card will see it as the most convenient option. Of the rest, that don’t want one, it seems just as easy to put it on a store gift card and then you can use the gift card next time. That seems to me to a be a good compromise.
Even if it annoyed the cashier, I’m sure who ever manages the place was happy. A few of our customers have dropped off their spare change and while it means we have to count it all out, it’s a hell of a lot better than not having any change.
That seems like a potential security issue. If someone gets their card stolen, instead of losing a loyalty card or debit card, they lose everything. OTOH, one thing it could help with is freezing your cards. Logging onto the website would likely provide an easy way to deactivate the card, and you’d have a list of everything on it so you can get replacements. One problem that some people have when their purse or wallet is stolen is not being able to remember all the various cards in there that need to be dealt with.
In any case, now Apple/Samsung pay have filled the void. At least with my Samsung, I can load all my cards into it, and in some cases, loyalty cards as well and use that at the checkout.
The stores my mother shops at give out small, key-sized versions of the loyalty cards, so she has an entire keychain of them from various stores. Much easier to handle than a bunch of credit-card-sized wallet cards. And of course lots of stores let you type in your phone number instead of showing the card.
^ This.
We have some cashiers who really don’t get with the program. Others understand and have patiently put up with all the craziness this year.
And then there is me, who spent 3 hours counting up over $2k in loose change one afternoon because the store needed the job done.
I went grocery shopping this morning ('cause you gotta do that even when you’re on vacation) and bumped into the other cash officer person. We didn’t get any coin from the bank, but we did get our CoinStar delivery so we should be good through the weekend and into early next week. Assuming no other weird things happen.