So I guess you never give them your grocery card to save the extra money on the purchase?
Our local grocery store does it right.
While their regular prices are okay, the prices using the loyalty card are great. Additionally, once a month we receive an envelope in the mail with coupons for stuff we actually use.
To top it all off, we get ten cents off per gallon of gas for every 100 points or $100 we spend. You can also get extra points for bringing your own grocery bags. Since my grocery bags have my company logo on them, I don’t mind at all.
All in all it is a win-win. They get the buying pattern info they want, I get cheaper groceries and gas.
Well, I try to avoid stores that disrespect their customers, yeah. When that’s not feasible, they’ll usually let you enter a phone number in lieu of using the physical card, so I give them a fake one and make sure to pay cash. If you use a debit or credit card, there’s nothing to stop them from tracking on that instead of the loyalty card.