On 1/22/2014 2:13 PM, mike wrote:

There's evidence that the strategy may be crumbling under its own weight.
Local Albertsons food chain has discontinued their loyalty/card programs.
Probably cuz too many people, like me, only bought the loss leaders.

It would be very rare for me to buy anything at Safeway or Walgreen's or
CVS that was not heavily discounted with "card price." The regular
prices have been jacked up so high that I just automatically assume
everything non-card item is rip-off.

For some reason, Walgreen's has decided to have the lowest milk prices
in the area, without the requirement that you buy two gallons to get a
good price. And in my area, the brand of milk that they sell is the best
brand, much better than the store brands of the supermarkets or of
Trader Joe's.

But that said, the whole idea that if you don't use a loyalty card that
they can't track you is ridiculous. You have to both pay cash _and_ not
use a loyalty card for that to work. If you give out bogus information
on the loyalty card the store probably isn't going to track you no
matter which way you pay. But the credit card company may sell your
purchase history to other companies.