Fujisan wrote:

dddane wrote:But what's even worse from these corporate greedmongers is the employees at actual Alberton's stores. I've been shopping at Albertson's in the Orlando area several times and they never allow you to "share" cards. its really annoying, and a perfect reminder that the card isn't for OUR benefit, rather for theirs. one time I was in line and asked for a card.. the bagger reached over to hand the cashier his card. the cashier says "i'm sorry, you can't do that" and gave him his card back. i said some choice words to the uptight cashier and walked out, leaving my hours worth of grocery shopping sitting in her belt and went across the street to Publix.

Well, the reason they give you the discounts for having a preferred card is because they use the data they collect from it, so I can see from the store's standpoint why they don't want you to share cards. Shared cards can skew or invalidate the data collected.

Hacking the System

Has anyone else noticed that you can scan your Dominicks card on a Jewel self-checkout and get the same deal as if you'd scanned a Jewel card? I'd suggest being a bit surreptitious when you try this.

Interesting, but not surprising.

I would assume industry giant First Data Corp. runs both loyalty card programs. I would further assume the store location, time, date, etc. are all included...perhaps Domminiks is even more interested in what you are purchasing at Jewel rather than Domminiks. I, of course, have no idea what confidentiality agreements exist between the vendors and suppliers of the information.

pd

This evening I was in a major grocery store (not stated to protect the innocent) to buy salt and a bag of ice. In my sincere effort to keep some level of personal contact in the store, I stood in line instead of checking myself out.

The elderly gentleman in front of me I sensed was a widower by his selections. While processing his order the cashier had a chirpy dialogue that I found rather surprising. "Oh I see you bought the cherries. These are really great tasting cherries. I bought them last week myself when they were on sale. They were priced at $2.99 a pound until yesterday. Too bad you didn't buy them earlier." I really could not understand why it was important to inform the guy he missed the great sale.

When it was my turn, I initiated the dialogue: "How much are cherries selling for this week?" "(approximately) $5.49 a pound." Just to rub it in a bit, I said, "Hmmm I paid $1.99 at a Korean grocery store last week for some really good cherries." "Actually I buy all my fruits and vegetables from Garden Fresh, because it is much cheaper than here. Those cherries were an exception because they were just so good." The lady is unabashedly honest in her opinions, she may be my new favorite checkout girl.

Anything is better than the dim wit cashier who once saw my Costco card launching him into an anti-Costco rant. He offered lots of unconvincing propoganda intended to change my habits. I kept thinking how I was trying to preserve his job by not checking myself out. I was beginning to regret not scanning my own food items.

Oh the joys of idiosyncratic cashiers!

Regards,

About two years ago the Wall Street Journal ran a story on loyalty cards: they shopped an identical full grocery list in five or six cities, once at a loyalty card market and again at a no-card market.

In every case the shopping basket was more expensive at the card market, despite the "bargains" offered for using the card. So, if the "bargains" seduce you into doing most of your shopping at that store, you're gonna pay more.

In Chicago, it was Dominick's and Cub.

How to Pick the Fastest Line at the Supermarket

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/busin ... -ipad&_r=0

Dave148 wrote:

How to Pick the Fastest Line at the Supermarket

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/busin ... -ipad&_r=0

Fast path - look for me, then go into any line that I'm NOT in.

I like the way my local Mariano's works - there's a "pre-line" that everyone q's up in and then you are directed to the next available cashier. Of course last week my cashier was under 21 and couldn't ring up the whiskey and beer I had so had to page for someone to do it. A woman came over, scanned the whiskey and immediately walked away. My cashier tried to get her to return but she had already tuned her out. Finally the cashier had to place another page and the same woman returned and loudly challenged her "What is it now, <cashier's name>?" I quickly interjected "Well you didn't scan the beer! Why did you come over here and NOT scan all the items and why are you giving HER a hard time about it?" She looked at me for a bit, said nothing, scanned the beer and walked away. Quite atypical for most of the Mariano's staff I've ever dealt with but I guess there's one in every crowd.

So, like I said, just pick any line I'm not in.

Kman,

I greatly appreciate your standing up for the cashier. Putting the blame where it belongs instead of shoved onto someone else.

You might have taken one extra step: talking to the store manager. If this floor person has it out for this cashier, the store manager may not be aware of the floor person's contribution. In addition, these tensions should not be played out in front of the customer.

Regards,
Cathy2