Kevin Drum really, really doesn’t like those retail loyalty programs:
LOYALTY CARDS….I really loathe retail loyalty card programs. Really really really. Just wanted to get that off my chest.
Coyote Blog links to Drum’s screed, and then to this post from back in 2005:
I HATE most new loyalty programs at stores. When loyalty programs really came in vogue with airlines, they made sense. Airlines gave their best customers bonuses for spending lots of money with them. Today, though, every store I go into has a loyalty program. I have a Fry’s card, an Albertson’s card, and a Safeway card (grocery stores); I have a Borders and a Barnes and Noble card; I have an Ace Hardware card and a Best Buy card; For god sakes, I have a TGI Friday’s card. Not to mention the cards from American, America West, Southwest, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, National, Hertz and probably 20 others I can’t remember off-hand. I carry a stack of the travel related ones in a big rubber band in the bottom of my briefcase. The rest bulge my wallet up to about an inch thick, even when it is (all too often) devoid of cash.
Did I mention I hate all these programs? Most of them have no real reward for purchase volume, you just have to have their card in your pocket to qualify for the best deal. What is the point of this –its not like they are rewarding purchase volume (in fact, grocery stores do just the opposite, by rewarding the people who buy the least with better service via the express lane). Why do I need to fatten up my wallet to unmanageable proportions just to get a store’s best price?
Of the loyalty cards that we have signed up for — off the top of my head I count five — there are really only three of them that offer anything of value. For more than a year now, our local Safeway has been running a promotion giving you ten cents off each gallon of gas for each time you spend $ 50 or more using the loyalty card. In these days of $ 3.60 gas going into a tank that holds almost 20 gallons, that’s at least worth something. And, our Petco card allows us a free bag of dog food for each ten purchased. Not major purchases, but at least something.
As for the others, the real purpose behind the cards is clear. To get you in the store because of the benefit of “lower” prices in the hope that you’ll spend more money. And, since they keep offering these programs, I’ve got to think it’s working.
As for the worries about loss of privacy. There are ways around it. You can opt out of the marketing side of many of these programs and, when they ask for a phone number, use an old one from your former residence.
