I am sick to death of this whole concept that I have to ‘join the club’ just to buy cat food, toliet paper, office supplies or groceries at a decent price. Why do I have to givel you my name and address and phone number? What the hell are you doing with it? What if I don’t want you tracking my every purchase and designing evil and insidious ad campaigns with me in mind? What if I object to having even more junk mail in my mailbox and more spam? Not to mention telemarketers. Don’t you realize that if I got one of these damned pieces of plastic for every place I shop that I would need a wallet the size of an unabridged dictionary just to carry them, and I’d waste my time and yours at the register hunting down the proper one? To hell with your paltry discounts. I’ll take my business elsewhere if you won’t give me the same price as other shoppers.
Publix eliminated their card. Shop there.
You could always say “Oh, I forgot it at home.” Sometimes they’ll swipe a spare for you so you can get the discount.
I generally agree with you, but let me offer one positive experience. For some reason, I joined the PetSmart PetPerks club. Sign-up took about 30 seconds, the card came with two credit card size options, plus two of the little key chain fob types (much easier on the wallet), the only marketing is a catalog/ad thing every couple of weeks and an email about once a week, and (most importantly) I regularly save $2-4 per visit (occasionally more). Overall it’s been a great deal for me. I have no idea what other clubs are like.
I never have my card on me, since my wife usually calls me to pick up something on my home from work. I keep a very thin wallet. At one store, they can key in my phone numbers. In the other, they are usually nice enough to swipe one of their cards for me. One time, the cashier refused. I just left the groceries on the conveyor and went to another store.
Preach it, brother (sister?). I have no desire to have my information tracked in yet another database. I have no desire to clutter up my wallet and/or keychain with one more piece of plastic. Not gonna happen. So I just suck it up and pay the non-discounted price. Harumph.
Are there really people who give correct info for these cards? I make up stuff, including the phone number. I am consistant, however. I’ve used the same alias for years.
Frankly, it really doesn’t bother me that the grocery store knows that I bought a 12-pack of diet ginger ale and a loaf of bread yesterday. And on the form I filled out to get the card, there was a place to indicate I did not want anything sent to me in the mail or to be called on the phone. I didn’t give them my email address. Once in a while I get some extra few cents off the price. And I can pay by check, writing the check for more than the order if I want to. What’s the big deal? What’s the privacy issue? I’m buying the dog food, toilet paper and lettuce out in the open for all to see, anyway.
I am so confused as to why anyone gets all worked up over this.
Because by the time you frequent half a dozen stores, you have half a dozen cards to fumble with at the register. With my wallet at least, that always means pulling stuff out and dropping stuff on the floor. It’s not wrecking my life, mind you, and I’m not going into therapy over it, but it’s still an annoyance. My attitude is, if they’re giving the discount to people with the card, why the hell don’t they give it to anybody? Plus I don’t really understand the purpose. The store knows what it’s selling, after all.
Sure, you’re alright with it now. But when your health insurance gets your monthly grocery shopping habbits and breaks them down into fats and carbs and sugars and decides you’re at higher risk of heart disease or diabetes thereby raising your rates or cancelling your policy, then you’ll be sorry you provided your real name and address.
Well crap, you pretty much said what I was going to.
I don’t do much of anything that I mind other people knowing I’m doing. If someone is keeping track of what groceries I buy, then best of luck to them. If you’re buying the giant sized K-Y, the July Cosmo and a couple of cucumbers and you don’t want to have it 'tracked", don’t give them your card that one time.
I checked the box that said don’t send me e-mails. Once in a while I get a flyer that offers me some deals on things they know I buy anyway. Come to think of it, you’re right - that whole saving money business does suck.
It’s great fun at the stores where they are required to say “Thank you Mr -----, have a nice say” as a customer service policy.
Sign up for a half dozen cards under silly names, and smile at the awkwardness of the tellers.
Thank you Mr Hanzinmahpants
Thank you Mr Toadlicker
Thank you Mr Bengayhuffer
etc.
Where’s that tin-foil hat smilie when we need it? Who says the health insurance companies are getting this info? Since when? What a massive invasion of privacy that would be. I honestly can’t see that happening.
I’m with MLS - who gives a shit if “They” know how much cat litter and lettuce and tuna and jalapeno poppers and milk and Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs I buy?
At the last grocery store I got one of these stupid cards at, they had to check my information against my driver’s license.
Except then you can’t write checks under your own name.
Honestly, I’ve had “check cashing” cards at supermarkets for decades.
Quicksilver, I can’t really believe that anybody would take the time to check through all my supermarket purchases to see if I eat healthy food or not. Besides, just because I buy it, that doesn’t mean I use it. For example, I buy lactose-free milk for my daughter. I often buy things for my very elderly mother-in-law. I could be buying all that butter and candy and steak for, um, uh, to contribute to the homeless shelter downtown. Yeah, that’s it. :dubious:
That would take a HUGE logical leap on the part of my insurance company to decide that everything I buy is for my own consumption. It could be for my family, I might be shopping for a shut-in relative, or I’m the one that has to stock the Pop-Tarts for the office.
They do it to collect marketing info, sure, and they offer the savings as an incentive.
Wow it’s deja-vu all over again!
We go through this rant once a month now. It’s getting really tiring. yawn
The last time I had to sign up for a card, I told them I couldn’t fill out the form right then and there because I had just moved into my apartment and didn’t know all the necessary information. So I took the paperwork and left, and pretty much forgot about it.
Quit siding with the pobes, you spoil sport. 
Check? What is this “check” you speak of? Oh yes, those annoying oversized extra wallets I used to pack around. They replaced those with a little plastic card I hear…
But seriously, I get your point. I still use an occaisonal check, but I refuse to patronize places that now insist on crazy extra forms of ID, when for the last 30 years of my life a driver’s license has been all I’ve needed.
Take your customer dollars elsewhere, but also let the manager personally know that you are no longer shopping there because of their membership/ID policy. Believe it or not, I’m finding many places are relaxing or abandoning the silly membership card schemes that were supposed to revolutionize their profit margins.
I just fill out real information, or, in the case of Saefway, any information at all. When I got my little card, I asked if I could fit out the form later. They said, “ok, sure – but your card will expire if you don’t send in the form.”
Never sent in the form.
Three years later, the card still gives me the discount.
Otherwise I fill it out something like this:
Eat Myshorts
12345 Road Street
Biteme, ID 12345
Works just fine.
Of course, if they correlate my member card with my debit card, they could probably get the real info.