From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Big Brother in your grocery cart?
Date: Sat, 3 Aug 2002 14:15:58 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

----- Original Message -----
From: <ronkean at juno.com>
To: <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 5:09 AM
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Big Brother in your grocery cart?

>
> On Fri, 02 Aug 2002 15:15:17 -0400 "Michael Walsh"
> <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu> writes:
> > Ron Kean put forth the proposition . . .
> >  >A website for those worried about shopper cards.
> > >http://www.nocards.org/
> >
>
> > I suspect most folks really don't give a hoot about the
privacy
> > issue - if Safeway gets excited over surges in sales of
mazola oil and
> > weasel wax  . . fine.
> >
> > But most of us are concerned about cost.  Most of us
will purchase
> > the sale item over the non sale item.
> >
> > mjw
> >
>
> The website referenced has a study which purports to show
that list
> prices are higher at stores which offer the cards, which
leads one to
> suspect that the cards might not save customers money, in
the aggregate.
> But a shopper who aggressively seeks out the discount
prices would might
> have an advantage over a shopper who does not.  Also, the
study
> apparently ignores the fact that grocery stores have
offered discount
> prices on some items from time to time, long before the
cards were
> introduced.

When the Dutch company bought Giant, changes began to occur
in Giant stores in terms of both price and quality which put
it far closer to Safeway than it had been before.  And, if
that's too neutral-sounding, let me amplify:  prices have
gone up and quality (of store brands) has gone down
significantly.  (Giant now buys its store-brand paper
goods -- tissues, towels -- from the same supplier used by
Wal*Mart, but charges as much as 50% more than Wal*Mart for
those identical goods.)

For years, I found that those brand-name items I used were
cheaper at Giant than at Safeway.  One item cost $5.98 at
Giant and $6.29 at Safeway.  But now it costs $6.98 at
Giant -- and is still $6.29 at Safeway.    For nearly 30
years I ate a container of Giant-brand cherry yogurt a day.
I enjoyed its tart flavor.   A few years ago they changed
the flavor to black cherry (which I dislike) and made all
their yogurts very sweet-tasting.  And the price has gone
from $.49 a container to $.69 a container -- an enormous
increase.  These days I eat the boysenberry flavor after
adding four cap-fulls of lemon juice to tarten it up and
give it more of a blackberry flavor.

For many years I was a devoted Giant customer and rarely
shopped elsewhere except for items on sale (like Pepsi/Diet
Pepsi).  These days I shop at Food Lion, Shoppers
Club/Warehouse, Safeway and Harris-Teeter.  Only Shoppers
does not offer/require a card for specified discounts.  But
Shoppers has many items cheaper than the other stores --
including Afghan flat bread.  (Tip:  Shoppers Food
Warehouse's prices on some items are cheaper than Shoppers
Food Club's.  Smart Balance spread is $.20 cheaper, for
example -- $1.59 vs. $1.79 -- which in turn is still cheaper
than at Giant....)
>
> The cards could be used to track a shopper's habits, which
some would
> consider a violation of privacy, but only if the card is
associated with
> the shopper's true identity.  If the cards were really
only being used
> for market research, one wonders why the store even needs
the name and
> address of the shopper.  The cards could be issued with
anonymous ID
> numbers.  Of course if one applied for a card under a
false name, the
> information collected would not be easily associated with
their real
> name.  I suppose the store would issue a card to Xandar
the Magnificent
> from Franistan, if that was the information filled in on
the application
> form.

If they're tracking me they're due for disappointments:  I
buy the same things every time, and only specific things at
each store, except when a sale is on.  To put together a
profile of my actual buying habits they'd have to look at
the data from *all* the store cards -- and even then there
would be this big gap representing my purchases at Shoppers.

--Ted White