This is incredibly wasteful. Back when I had a Kroger I would just play dumb and ask for the discount, even if I get a new card each time, because I refuse to carry their card. Not wanting to hold up their line, cashiers would either scan their own card or scan a new card and give it with a blank application, which I'd promptly trash. For those unfamiliar, they have laughably high prices on a lot of common items, unless you have your card which cuts the price in half.<p>The gas stations would ask you if you had a card, and if you said you didn't want one, they'd scan one and throw it away. I assume it's because some higher up demands x percent new signups...for what?<p>In the end they are just going to track me by my credit card, so what's the whole point of this song and dance?
Tesco give you an effective 1% discount on some future purchases for using their clubcard at the checkout, that's provided you use the coupons they send you periodically before they expire. I prefer to do as little shopping as possible there and instead shop at the far cheaper German discounter Lidl down the road. They don't have any of that loyalty crap.
It's a hugely privileged point of view to think that people could pass up multiple dollars of discounts to preserve the rather abstract notion of their privacy. That's why this shit needs to be regulated with the force of law and not make unreasonable expectations of consumers.
If they can afford to give you a discount coupon, then the 'discount' is already built into the product. Non-compliant customers pay more as a result.
Giving them false information maybe an option.. or even "unintentional" misspellings, off-by-one phone numbers, disposable email addresses and vacant lots.<p>IANAL: Btw, has anyone asked a lawyer if this is a crime in any state or country?
You know? Whith all the ranting here about the pros and cons, maybe you should read about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_tag#History" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_tag#History</a><p>Edit: From my point of view the gathering of data is unnecessary. The shopped items are scanned by their barcodes at the cashiers point. This is enough to plan for restocking, in real time, with datamining considering time, location, events, holidays, whatnot. Everything else is superfluous, and just a lie. That simple.
I nearly exclusively order online and have it delivered, which seems to be much more commonplace in the UK than in North America, I've noticed.<p>It saves me too much time and money, frankly, even though I'm otherwise quite privacy-conscious. (I won't scan my 'myWaitrose' card in-store when asked if I have one, for example, since it's 100% about tracking and gives me no benefit if I'm not claiming a free coffee/newspaper.)<p>Besides, it would be hypocritical of me to shop on Amazon so much and then object to supermarket websites.
The sad thing is they all are doing it and don't even need you to use any of their "discount cards" or whatever, they can just do credit card correlation with third parties and achieve all the same results without you ever agreeing to it. I compromised and got a card but never signed anything or registered it, so I still get discounts but I can't, for example, enter my phone number (I have to have the card for scanning on me). They are correlating the data anyway so I might as well save a buck or two.
There's always the time honored tradition of giving a fake phone number.<p>Giant even has a "Forgot my card" option on the self checkout that just gives you the discount without entering anything.
Depends. I got $360 in free groceries last year at one place so I think that was a fair trade.<p>At the other store in town I got about $150.<p>Better pay than I get for my privacy on the web.
Yes? Between this and my Amex Blue 6% cashback it's pretty good.<p>Also, why on Earth would HN ask for my location <a href="https://imgur.com/a/RMOXa1d" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/RMOXa1d</a><p>That makes less sense.