I remember when Shirley and I were in Victoria, Canada back in 2014. We had a hotel room on the waterfront - complete with cooking facilities. One night, rather than going out to eat, we decided to purchase some provisions from a nearby, moderately-sized supermarket.
When we reached the checkout, it immediately became clear that the various prices we had spotted around the store were only available to customers with loyalty cards. Of course, being tourists, we did not have a loyalty card and so our bill more or less doubled. Thankfully, there was a nice Canadian lady behind us in the checkout queue and she offered to buy our items using her loyalty card and then we could reimburse her at the ATM. It saved us a substantial amount of money.
In 2014, such loyalty schemes were not that advanced in England. However, during the past ten years the age of the loyalty card has truly arrived and without loyalty cards you effectively end up paying penalties.
My favoured budget supermarket was Lidl. I shopped there twice a week - spending thousands of pounds in the course of a decade. However, they brought in a loyalty scheme called "Lidl Plus" which has gradually increased its customer benefits. Unfortunately, no physical loyalty cards were ever issued. The only way you could access the scheme was through having the "Lidl Plus" app on a smartphone.
In spite of protests, letters and critical reviews, I was ostracized. Clearly, Lidl didn't give a fig about me - nor other genuinely loyal customers who do not possess smartphones. Yes folks - I am not the only one!
Finally, I decided that enough was enough and so a month ago I stopped shopping at Lidl. Nowadays, I instead go to Aldi which does not have a loyalty scheme and I very much hope that that remains the case in future months and years.
After all, nobody likes to be a victim of discriminatory business practice.
Curious why you don't have a smart phone. All the oldies into their 90's I know have one, and most have a smart watch too.
ReplyDeleteTo me it's curious why you have a smartphone J and it is even more curious why those old people would waste money on smartwatches.
DeleteSome smart watches are linked/set up to call for assistance if the wearer falls or passes out.
DeleteHere many stores used to have these loyalty cards. Very few of them offered instant discounts at the checkout counter. Most of them let you accumulate points for the purchases you made, and then those points could be redeemed before a particular date.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, these cards were clearly meant to entrap customers into buying from those stores. But, there there was always a fineprint as well.
But, I don't find these cards now.
I think it's because the number of people coming into these physical stores has dwindled with most people preferring to buy online where you get heavy discounts.
I don't have a smartphone either, so I miss out on anything that requires scanning a QR code. As for loyalty cards, I have one for the grocery store I use the most, and get quite a good return on it. I don't mind them tracking my purchasing habits because I have nothing to hide. (Except those chocolate bars and chips (British: crisps) I used to buy regularly . . .) But I get your point, and using your wallet to make your point is the only way I know of to fight back.
ReplyDeleteI loathe all of those loyalty cards. Not only do they add up, in weight and room, just give me good service and a good price, then I'll be loyal. The cards also track your spending and gives the store even more data on you and your spending habits.
ReplyDeleteLoyalty schemes were about "incentivising" customers to be loyal. Now they are data mining and i stopped using mine
ReplyDeleteThe loyalty people also have your name to spread around to your friends and get them to buy stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's gotten way out of hand in my opinion. I do earn points for shopping at my local store and use them to get cheaper gas.
ReplyDeleteYou can imagine that in my line of work, I am often confronted with issues around loyalty schemes. Personal data is collected with every transaction, often without the card holder being made aware of it, and the only one who really benefits is the company - not the customer, even though it may appear so because of the reduced prices and special offers. It won't surprise you to know that I don't have any loyalty cards myself, and since ALDI is the supermarket closest to me plus has a good range of organic products, I have been shopping there for well over 20 years.
ReplyDeleteThe cartoon at the bottom made me grin - but in countries like China, I'm afraid it's not too far from the truth!
I am proud to say that I have zero loyalty cards and will never get one. You have to spend far too much to accumulate points which can then be used to get a few dollars off. No thank you. I'm not getting into debt to earn a future $5 bonus.
ReplyDeleteSince the mighty Tesco took over our island we have been obliged to have their Clubcard to avoid paying the inflated prices for non cardholders. At least we have a physical card to swipe at the checkout.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in a post about why you don't want a smartphone...oh ,and another quiz is overdue methinks!!
ReplyDeleteEach to their own. I have a smart phone and a smart watch. The thing that annoys me about Lidl is I cannot load the loyalty “card” onto my watch. My Tesco card is on my watch.
ReplyDeletePeter Mandelson is facing gaol time.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're writing about loyalty cards and shopping at Lidl !
Where's your compassion, Mr Yorky ? Where's your outrage ?
Haggerty knows about menus in British prisons on Monday night.
Curry and potato wedges is what Peter will be eating if he gets banged up.
Or he has a choice of cold tuna with potato wedges ...
It is not what our former Lord and Labour Party trickster is used to.
Peter doesn't do his own shopping but he likes to drop into Harrods or
Fortnum and Mason for a glass of Champagne or a cup of Duchess Grey.
Spare a thought for this noble humanitarian's descent into Hell !
I'd ask for your prayers but you're a card carrying atheist like old Mandy.
Have the card by app only is stupid. Amazon and Whole Foods loyalty card is virtual, but can also be accessed by entering the phone number associated with the account. That works for me. I don't want to stand there unlocking my phone screen and hunting for one of the dozens of apps, and then waiting for it to open, often asking for a user name and password.
ReplyDeleteWe shop at a store where you can get a card that gives you discounts on items that are unavailable if you don't have the card.
ReplyDeleteMost checkers, if you don't have the card, will use their store card to discount your purchases.
The moment you feel your age, when you can't click your phone at Lidl. I can't. We are in the middle of a transferring of cash use to digital use. Some of us say sod it but change is presumably inevitable.
ReplyDeleteI think all shops here have abandoned physical loyalty cards now. The term membership is usually used, and if you admit to being a member, they just blip your allround ID card. The super/mega market chain where I make most of my food purchases (nowadays mostly with home delivery) also owns a bank, and if you use one of their own bank cards it's all automatic. They also have a chain of pharmacies attached. - When I think about it, though, I'm also "member" at quite a few other stores/chains, where I shop (or used to shop) frequently enough to sometimes make it worth while. Two more pharmacies, at least two clothes chains, the town's only book shop, and at least two "technology" chains... And possibly a few more that I've forgotten about. (But I know I also quit one or two, for various reasons.) I think with most of them, I'd not be prepared to download a separate app, though. (My own post today sort of touched on this topic as well.)
ReplyDeleteI do all of my grocery shopping at one store near to me and I don't shop all over. I figure I save money on gas by not driving all over for different bargains.
ReplyDeleteThey also discriminate against under 18s who aren't allowed to even have the app. I have many issues with loyalty cards (but I do have some because I want cheap food). I too favour the Aldi mainly because it's no fuss and not far from my house.
ReplyDelete