Shaws Discontinuing Loyalty Cards

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

When I was in Shaws earlier this evening, I learned that they're discontinuing the loyalty card (ostensibly to lower prices universally, who knows if that'll happen.) The upside of this is that if you actually turn in your physical card (before Thursday, I believe) you get a coupon granting you a 12-pack of coke* for a dollar.

So, you know. That.


*or any other coke product, including non-carbonated things like fresca and minute maid

Comments

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

Realistically, I think their cashiers have made their cards a joke; about once a year the management cracks down on them just punching in a card for you, but ~90% of the time, I just say "oops, forgot it" and they punch it in without even asking.

Might also be that they feel like they can track people equally accurately by just looking at your credit card number instead. :p

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I believe your latter possibility is becoming a standard practice throughout retail.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

PCI (Payment Card Industry) standards forbid tracking credit numbers, however, retailers have apparently found loopholes. At least according to this email from Home Depot, they are storing them what sounds like some sort of one-way hash, perhaps?

http://consumerist.com/2013/01/16/home-depot-sort-of-explains-how-an-in-store-purchase-can-result-in-e-mails-from-its-website/

Relevant quote: "The IT systems that make this possible do not track credit card numbers. They do, however, recognize a credit card through a unique identifier that matches up with purchases online or in the store."

[samcoren.livejournal.com]

I definitely have "reward/loyalty card fatigue" to the point where by default I ask if they can scan the store card, even if I already have one. If they say they can't (rarely) I ask them to just look it up by my phone number. I can't stand being hounded about having a card for every grocery store, pharmacy, and pet store I go to. My wallet and keychain have enough junk as it is. I get that it's nice not to have to worry about coupon clipping to get deals, but enough is enough.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that the cause is that enough people are paying with credit cards that they can get good statistics on people's buying patterns. And the goal of all that is not to identify the buying pattern of any individual shopper (they'll give you an explciitly anonymous card if you ask) but to understand the overall buying patterns of the public.

[ron_newman]

Maybe not Shaw's, but CVS is certainly interested in my buying patterns, and uses them to decide what coupons to give me. Sometimes by e-mail, sometimes printed at the bottom of my receipt or from the red coupon machine.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

They have gotten a decent amount of flak for high prices, including a recent Globe article about falling sales at Shaw's. Shaw's can't compete with Market Basket and Hannaford, both of which have better prices and a better selection of products. Or with Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, for that matter. I'm now living in an area that's almost completely devoid of Shaw's and even Stop & Shop (there's a lot to like about Lowell!), and I don't miss Shaw's a bit. After living in Porter Square for six years, I feel like I put in my time, if you know what I mean.

Guess I'll have to seek out a Shaw's to turn in my card, though. I could really go for a cheap case of Diet Coke.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

Not that this comment adds anything constructive to the conversation, but Fresca is also carbonated.