Those Tiny Little Shopping Discount Cards

While getting my morning cup of *ahem* coffee (I know, I know, I gave it up), I was reading the New York Times that was lying on the counter at the coffee shop. The article was entitled "Failing Home Economics" and you can also read it by clicking here. (And you should, you know it.)

Anyways, the point that I want to make is that we, the consumer, have been giving the grocery stores all the information that they need to screw us by using those little tiny discount cards. I, myself, have no fewer than 7 on my keychain (I know, I just counted), and who wouldn't use them? Why pay $3 for something when you can get this free card and with a magic wave, now it only costs $2. But, what is happening when you wave that card?

First, and foremost, the store is using a computer program to track your spending and your purchasing habits. Don't believe me? Then why, after we stopped shopping at Kroger for a few weeks, did we get a custom printed coupon book from them, filled with coupons of everything that we buy most? No joke. All my favorites, at a custom discount.

In the NY Times article, the woman goes to a different shop to get the cheapest cauliflower, but ends up overpaying on artichoke hearts. You and I both know that the grocery stores can figure that people who buy Pampers always buy coffee, etc., given enough data from those tiny cards. So, they lower the price of Pampers to get you to shop at their store, and then the raise the price of the coffee to make up for the difference. Do you see where this is going?

No wonder that grocery bills are going up. The stores are outsmarting us.