Krogers new shoppers card

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A couple of weeks ago I stopped in at my local Krogers store, and was asked at the cash register if I had a Krogers plus shopping card so I could get my discount. I told the cashier that I had no idea what she was talking about. So she signed me up. I got a plastic card the size of a credit card, and two little tags to go on key rings (all with the same bar coding on them).

I did have to fill out an information card with my name, mailing address, and phone number. This sounds a lot like a mailing list to me. Then I was able to get the "with card" discount price that was the same as a week ago, while the shelf posted prices were increased as much as 200% from the week before. End result, get the card or get to pay the increased prices. The cash register prints out how much you "saved" on the recipt.

On the back of the tag that goes on the key ring is the address of Krogers main office, with a note stating if the keys are found to drop them in any mail box and Krogers will get them back to you, or you can call Krogers 800#.

Now all of this promotion seems pretty much like it is based on "service" (except for the obvious inflation of the pricing). Every time I go to Krogers now, the computer keeps a running total of "how much I have saved" to date.

Does Krogers, or any food retailer really need to have this much information about me, and my household?

It looks to me like they will know at the stroke of a computer key, just exactly what I buy, what quantity, on what day of the week, and at what time of day.

My community has a lot of retirees, and I am sure that the day that the most retirees do thier shopping can be easily determined, (and even what time of day) then the pricing can be adjusted accordingly.

I live 8 miles from the nearest Krogers, which closes at 11P.M., but 16 miles from a Kroger's super store that is open 24 hours. I am sure that the computer can tell if I go to one or the other, or sometimes both. No doubt they will know how much I spend, and how much I eat.

It is only a little step further to get a coupon for something that I only buy occasally in the mail about when I was thinking about buying it. An example might be if I bought hot dogs about once a month usually between the 10th and the 15th of the month I might receive a coupon for hot dogs on the 8th of the month.

All this seems somehow like pretty good marketing (except for the price changes). I just wonder if it will be that easy when they (Kroger's) want to implant a little chip under my skin for some really fantastic discounts ???

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.come), March 17, 2001

Answers

I've had a Kroger card for years.They have the best fruits and veggies in our area.That's usually all I buy there.So my card doesn't really come in that handy.We mainly shop at a Walmart Superstore. Their prices beat Kroger's in our area.

-- nobrabbit (conlane@prodigy.net), March 17, 2001.

When they first came out, they didn't ask all the personal info that they do now. Still a good deal though, we save 30 to 40 % with it. BTW those cards can be used to track your purchases. Heard of a DUI case where the authorities submitted shoppers club reciept info into evidence to show the defendant had bought 2 cases of beer within 2 hours of an accident. Theres a thread in the archives about it.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 17, 2001.

I've shopped at Kroger for years here in North Alabama.....the card is a marketing tool of course...but I do save money using it and don't care if they know what I buy. The stores here don't mark up their prices 200% and then give the "card" discount.

In fact, you can go to the Kroger web site....www.kroger.com ....what else...and get "Upons"...internet coupons for Kroger brand items mailed to your house and make them cost even less!

I hate Wal-Wart because they don't pay a "living" wage and that "Made in America " line is just that... a line. Just start reading tags and boxes. I would pay extra even if Krogers' produce and store brands weren't twice the quality of Wal-Warts!

-- Jason (AJAMA5@netscape.net), March 18, 2001.


Its not just Froger its almost all of the grocery stores. Its annoying, they advertize specials that you can only get with the card. I don't like to spend the time filling out the card and I don't trust who they might sell the information to. Jason K-Mart don't pay any better than Wal-Mart around here. In fact in this area of AR Wal-Mart starts people out at competitive rates for the area.

-- Wynema Passmore (nemad_72039@yahoo.com), March 18, 2001.

You aren't saving anything by using the Kroger card. By using the card you get the sale price that we used to get anyway just by showing up with money. Also we all pay - the price of making the cards, and keeping up with them is added into the overhead of the corporation. I just don't like having so many cards to keep up with - my wallet is bulging with grocery store cards, video store cards, health insurance cards, and ID cards. I think this is a tool to gather information - they already knew what we were buying, it's just easier to track it now. Seems simple enough - if it disappears off the shelf, it's selling - who cares who bought it? I usually get a new card every couple of weeks - keep them guessing.

-- Linda Al-Sangar (alsangal@brentwood-tn.org), March 18, 2001.


If the info stuff makes you feel uncomfortable, but you like the savings, simply fill out the info sheet with incorrect info. Make up a nam, or change the address, or whatever. It's not like they do a background check on you before you get the card. You'd be suprised how many Elvis Presleys shop at your local MegaMart.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), March 18, 2001.

We have the safeway card out west. Just went there and got 10 lbs of potatoes for free, 6 big rolls of brawny paper towels for 2 bucks. Nobody forces me to shop there. I just take advantage of what helps our food budget. I don't care what they know about my shopping habits, as long as I have free choice.

-- jz (oz49us@yahoo.com), March 18, 2001.

If they can give you such good deals since you filled out the form, why couldnt they have done it before. Since the card isnt suppose to be sold or used for market studies, what is there incentive to give you such great deals? My wife filled one out and has gotten some good deals but what data is being collected and why? I would just fill out the form and make up info. They dont check so who cares.

-- gary (gws@redbird.net), March 19, 2001.

We have had the card here for 3-4 years now and I do use it on the sales..We get a sale paper each week from Kroger in our local papers so if there are enough sale bargains I head on up there to it..is about 23 miles from us but worth the trip if the savings add up... their produce is much higher than the local stores..

-- Lynn(MO) (mscratch1@semo.net), March 19, 2001.

We don't have any such cards down here that I'm aware of but all the grocery stores are fairly close by and I used to hit them all for their sales and buy-one-get-one-free promotions. If Kmart had paper towels on sale and they were cheaper than WalMart, I'd buy the paper towels at Kmart. Living in the city, everything is in close proximity so it's not like you'd be going out of your way for anything or spending alot of money on gas to get your paper towels cheaper someplace else. (Should we be paying to use paper towels anyway? Or should we use cloth and wash them? Hhhhmmmm.......that could be another topic I suppose). Sure it take a little more time (time to look at the ads, time to plan, and time to shop), but in the long run I think you come out on top. My question is what about using a bank debit card? Or what about online purchases or online bill paying? The way I see it, anybody can find out just about anything they want to about you anyway - maybe these methods just make their "research" a little easier on them. They don't have as much "leg-work" or "fishing" (for info) to do. Just a thought. Sometimes when I think too deeply about the subject of how much information is available on each and every one of us and how easy it is to obtain that information, it spooks me.

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), March 19, 2001.


I have so many of those little savers cards that I had to put them on a separate key chain! I don't like it, but I don't like not getting the best prices either.

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), March 19, 2001.

We've had those cards for years and I've never received anything (that I know of) in the mail because of it. And you can always give false info on the application if you're so inclined.

-- Ladybug (sklukas@mail.state.tn.us), March 20, 2001.

I don't shop at stores that play the discount card game. I either buy somewhere else or do without. If everyone did that, the silliness would end pronto.

-- (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), March 20, 2001.

Ed-

You are completely right... They do study you... with a 'fine=toothed comb'. Back in the burbs of Chicago, all the stores do this. Jewel, Dominicks, Kroger, Piggly Wiggly... you can't NOT do it... But, it doesn't save anything, just makes it easier for the store to know which prices to raise (it seems).

If you can - grow your own. If you can't, try to find a place that don't use them. Wait till you see how much mail you are getting in a few weeks!!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 20, 2001.


I shop a Kroger instead of Walmart. Cant stand Walmart!! Size of a small country and crowded too!! Saved 5 cents a gallon on gas at there gas station.

-- PJC (zpjc5_@hotmail.com), March 20, 2001.


Jimminy Princess, if it were not for the Super Wally World a half hour away (which pays as much as ANY unskilled labor around here, if you can GET work), we would have to drive over an hour and a half for a decent sized store that has decent prices! Why slam the guy for being successful, Sam Walton, that is, he achieved the "American Dream", so what are you, jealous, or why the whining about Walmart? Complaints about foreign made goods, look and see where your American made car/truck was REALLY made, for pities sake, like maybe MEXICO?

Sorry for the rant, but someone had to stand up for Wally World, if they don't have it, I don't need it, no overpriced yuppie crap for me!!!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), March 20, 2001.


I have the card too, they don't have "my" name. We are not "saving" anything more than their mark ups. I worked for Wal-Mart when in College and Sam Walton was still in charge. He was a much fairer CEO than his relatives that have taken over. They did have a fair pay and incentives program, but no longer. I would say it beats the heck out of flipping burgers though. I enjoyed working there, but it was a bit "ant-hillish". Any chain-store is going to be guilty of the above complaints as any institution of size would be. You want corruption? Try digging around in the pockets of Universities. Size is all that matters now. I try as much as possible to support local merchants and farmers in my area as well as family businesses whom are fair in price and service. However, I do know of smaller businesses that take advantage "big business" style without a thought to its patrons. I do no business there. What amazes me though, is that Kroger's and the like really think they are fooling people with their ad verbage "Saving YOU Money!" We aren't stupid. Most people aren't THAT easily fooled. Just own up to it in some more honest way. Yet, I don't know that I'd buy from them either if they said, "Just trying to see what your market will bear!" Soon I hope to be growing my own and helping out that part, but I'd be hard pressed to say I am going to be out there pressing my own fibers for TP.

-- Sonya (clb@watervalley.net), March 21, 2001.

It is asinine! Store on the west coast had them years before they started that here, they havbe now started to drop their use. If I go into a store and they ask for a card to get the sale price I just leave the store.I left icecream and others supplies the other day, let them take care of it.

A while ago I heard a story about someone that fell at one of the stores with the card and keeps tracks of your purchases. The person who fell sued for medical payments from the Store's insurance company. At trial the store's insurance company pull out the record of what the person purchased the past year and show how much alcohol was purchased. They implied that the person might have been drunk.

Can't happen? What will they use your buying information for?

-- Rich (pntbeldyk@wirefire.com), March 22, 2001.


When I saw the grand savings plus card at grand union, they wanted your social security number just in case you wanted to cash a check with your card. The chip is coming.

-- Evelyn B. in NY (peontoo@yahoo.com), March 22, 2001.

I got the card last week myself but refused to give my address and the girl said okay, just give my phone number so if I win the prize (lottery thing) they can call me. I shouldn't have but did fill it in. You're right about the chip. I saw an email about them starting that in Italy. Canada is planning on doing it or may already be doing it. Our own Air Force has experimented with volunteers in grocery stores. Stupid cattle. What will we do when they have installed the laser technology on the space station? Very simple matter to locate any "dissenter", any "politically incorrect" person and zap them with a laser beam, giving them a cerebral aneurysm from the chip in their forehead. No more troublemakers. And even if there is not one in the forehead, the hand one will give sufficient targeting information to use the laser to kill. You think me a fanatic, fear-mongering, militia type? Let me ask you a question. Were you around when the Soviet Union was protesting the Star Wars project being started in this country? Not once but twice I heard their protest over the TV. Kind of futile, I thought. But, certainly enough to make you wonder what THEY are afraid of. Laser technology is what it is. The ability to locate and kill somebody from space. The ultimate weapon, the ultimate method to control the stupid sheeple of this country and of the world for, per the GATT treaty, all persons in this country must have a SS#. Read IRS form #8822 which speaks of sharing information with other governments. Duh! Wake up people.

First paragraph of instruction form for IRS Form 8822 (Change of Address) "Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice

We ask for this information to carry out the Internal Revenue Laws of the United States. We may give the information to the Department of Justice and to other Federal agencies, as provided by law. We may also give it to cities, states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. commonwealths or possessions to carry out their tax laws. And we may give it to foreign governments because of tax treaties they have with the United States."

Iron Man

-- Iron Man (lecapra8@centurytel.net), March 22, 2001.


In our area (upstate of S.C.), we have the same system with a chain called "BI-LO" (what a joke!!!) Since they have started the program, their prices went through the roof!!!!! What so pathetic is that they have most of the business, when there are several other stores who have cheaper prices and better quality! Go figure!! Uncle Jake

-- Uncle Jake (lulafred@cs.com), March 23, 2001.

Our Kroger just started this card deal, but I don't have one yet as I usually go to the discount grocery store where I can really save $$. Also, I go to the Farmers Market and get veggies as our local Winn Dixie prices have sky rocketed. This week a pound of tomatoes (baseballs really) were $2.99. That worked out to about 2.5 tomatoes. When the local farmers were growing stuff to sell, I bought from them, but now they have quit growing produce as it is too labor intensive for what they get out of it. They say they can't compete with the big corp. farmers. We try to grow as much as we can, but sometimes we can't grow enough and have to buy. I think the little people knew there was inflation long before the politicans would admit it just by going to the grocery stores. Prices sure have gone up this past year! By the way, here's to all us Wally World shoppers. One day I left the farm and told my sweetie I would be back in a couple of hours as I had to go "shopping". Four hours later I came back and he asked me what happened? cause I was gone so long. Well I did go to the feed store, the discount grocery and the bank too. But the real reason was I got to the Walmart and "got lost in there with all the other hundreds of Wally World shoppers". Sometimes it's just plain nice to get lost at the local Walmart! Ya'll take care, I'm going to go garden awhile.

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), March 24, 2001.

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