Grocery store loyalty cards
May 29, 2009 0:57:12 GMT -6
Post by CAwasinNJ on May 29, 2009 0:57:12 GMT -6
You know the ones. You get a special card that entitles you to "members only" discounts if you use it. Well, I've got a few secrets you might not know about.
The first I figured out a long time ago. You don't really need to sign up. You just need the card. The "application" just ties your personal information in with use of the card. I understand that sometimes there will be special mailings and whatnot that get sent to you if you actually fill out the card, but I don't care enough.
The second one is a lot more interesting. I was at a store that uses these cards yesterday (it shall remain nameless, but the name starts and ends with S) and I was checking out at the self serve register. I have two of those cards, one for the S store and one for a different store (starts with A and ends with S). Both of those cards are stored in my wallet in the same little plastic pouch. I tried to take out the S card that was on top, but the A card came out instead. I wasn't looking at it while I waved the card at the scanner, but as I was putting it back I noticed my error. Now here's the weird part. The cash register didn't raise a fuss. It didn't scold me for giving it an invalid card (which is weird since it scolds me for looking at it funny sometimes.) It just happily accepted the card (from the competitor mind you) and said it was happy that preferred customer blah-blah-blah was back. I mean, ok even if I had put the correct card in front of the scanner it STILL wouldn't know any more than it did now, but there's just something incredibly bizarre about that. If I was conspiracy minded I might think that both companies share their data behind the scenes somewhere. I doubt that, but you never know.
And now I'm sure I'll be banned for life from both stores.
The first I figured out a long time ago. You don't really need to sign up. You just need the card. The "application" just ties your personal information in with use of the card. I understand that sometimes there will be special mailings and whatnot that get sent to you if you actually fill out the card, but I don't care enough.
The second one is a lot more interesting. I was at a store that uses these cards yesterday (it shall remain nameless, but the name starts and ends with S) and I was checking out at the self serve register. I have two of those cards, one for the S store and one for a different store (starts with A and ends with S). Both of those cards are stored in my wallet in the same little plastic pouch. I tried to take out the S card that was on top, but the A card came out instead. I wasn't looking at it while I waved the card at the scanner, but as I was putting it back I noticed my error. Now here's the weird part. The cash register didn't raise a fuss. It didn't scold me for giving it an invalid card (which is weird since it scolds me for looking at it funny sometimes.) It just happily accepted the card (from the competitor mind you) and said it was happy that preferred customer blah-blah-blah was back. I mean, ok even if I had put the correct card in front of the scanner it STILL wouldn't know any more than it did now, but there's just something incredibly bizarre about that. If I was conspiracy minded I might think that both companies share their data behind the scenes somewhere. I doubt that, but you never know.
And now I'm sure I'll be banned for life from both stores.
