I was in Rite-Aid the other day to quickly - emphasize quickly buy envelopes. Obviously I was in a hurry.  You don't go into a drug store to buy envelopes if you have a leisurely block of time on your hands, you go to an office supply store for that. Or perhaps even Target. But not Rite Aid.
On the way in, I got behind a slow-moving man with a walker who shuffled into the store.  I lingered behind him, wanting to be empathetic and taking a moment to give thanks for my more robust health.  But as soon as he was into the store, I did an end-run around him, taking a short-cut through cosmetics, and straight for the envelopes where I found a customer with a cart blocking the one section of the shelf I needed while she perused glitter.   She grabbed a small glass bottle off the shelf, shook it, put it back.  I stood there hoping she'd move her cart so I could just grab my envelopes and leave.  She slowly reaches for another bottle and shakes.  Why shake glitter? I take action.
I squeeze myself between her cart and the shelf and snatch a box of business size envelopes.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll move my cart," the woman says after watching me twist like a contortionist to reach them   I told her not to bother, with one acrobatic move I had reached I had my box.  I race to the register, trying to beat a woman I see with her cart filled to the top with candy, kleenex and other sundries that would take 20 minutes to ring up.
"Be just a minute," I hear a cashier's voice from somewhere in the photo department.
I stand at the register tapping my fingers for what seems an eternity.
The cashier finally appears and then asks a question that almost always sends my blood pressure north.
"Do you have your Wellness Card?"
"No" Â I said crisply and tersely. More tersely than I probably should have sounded. Â But I was in a hurry and I just wanted my envelopes.
"Do you have a Wellness Card?"
"Yes."
"Then can I please have it?"
"I don't have it with me," I said, my blood -pressure beginning to creep up. Â I'd need the Wellness Card to buy something to calm me down if the conversation continued. Â Even if I had my Wellness Card there is no law that says I have to use it? Â Using it adds a few precious seconds to the transaction, seconds I didn't have.
"Then how about a phone number so I can look it up?"
Hoping that would appease her, I gave her my digits and she rang up the purchase, which produced no savings and a coupon for some cream I'll probably never use.
I think what was off-putting was the assumption that I had their card in the first place.  She'd didn't say "Do you have A Wellness Card?"  No, she said  "Do you have YOUR Wellness Card" as if having a Wellness Card was a foregone fact.  That's the same tactic other retailers apply when they say at the check out:
"Are you using your (enter department store name: Kohl's, Macy's, Belk)Â charge?"
As if I have one of their cards in the first place. Even if I do, the question phrased like that is a presumptive intrusion.
The only store rewards card I can really stomach is our Kroger card. Â At least we get some of the money we spend on groceries back in the form of gas which we can put in our tank to drive back to the grocery store when we need groceries. Â These reward cards used to seem kind of neat, but now everyone has them and I can't keep track of them and the last thing I want is a wallet stuffed with reward cards I'll never use. Â Having a phone number to look it up is handy, but it slows down the transaction.
Here are some other reward cards I have or don't have:
STAPLES:  This is a big let-down. Since I'm self-employed I buy a lot of office supplies over the course of a year (when I am not stupidly running into Rite-Aid to buy them). I always give them my phone numbers so they can look up my "rewards card", but I'm not sure I've ever received a reward for anything.  Maybe $5 off a $100 printing job once.
WALGREENS: Â They seemed to come to the rewards card carnival late in the game but I really don't find any great savings. Â How about this? If there's a way to make the product less expensive, why not just lower the price to begin with? Â Why make the customer swear a loyalty oath?
CVS:  I don't even know if I have one of their cards or not.  But I learned a long time ago not to get into a cash register kabuki dance over this one.  When the clerk even brings up the card - and believe me, he/s she will - I just have them enter my mother-in-law's phone number.  It's not an act of spite,  I adore my MIL, I just know she has a CVS card and her phone number rolls off the tongue quickly and easily but I'm sure she might be puzzled if she is getting coupons for any shaving items or other male products.
Are there any store reward cards or loyalty cards that you actually use and like? Â If so, I'd sure like to hear about them....
farmhousebarb
The only card I have is the Rite Aid wellness card,which is rarely used. I think the whole card idea is just a way to track what people do. The so-called savings never amount to much..of course,this is just my opinion.
shirley dejean
I quit going to CVS. They are rude in both FL and OH. I shop Walgreen's cause its close. But tho I use the card, I've never gotten anything as a reward in 4 yrs. of using it. Bealls in FL is another card deal that yields very little or nothing in rewards. Its a department store. I agree. Kroger is the best. But there are none in FL. Keep up the good work. Enjoying your writings.
Kevin
Thanks, Shirley!
Becky
I agree that Kroger is the best card. I have a Kmart card that can save you some money when the points add up. Cards can also be a nuisance, I agree.
PJ
I like our Giant Eagle card because of the fuel perks. If you play the drug store game well, you can save lots and not spend much...all three (CVS, Rite Aid and WalGreens) will give you cash back in various forms that have to be used in two weeks...there are FaceBook groups devoted to finding the best deals too....I'm lazy and just like going to Giant Eagle or Walmart...I hate having too many stops...
Rebekah
I have CVS, Kroger, Office Max, Kmart, and they are all a pain to use. Kroger is certainly the easiest, but I only shop there for specials, not regularly. Office max is good and useful because I earn rewards money at the end of the year. But I quit using CVS and Kmart because I rarely shop there. My favorite by far is Meijer MPerks because I don't need to carry a card. I just need to sign up online and then enter my phone number and pin number at the store. The perks online will be customized to my shopping habits too. This is the best marketing trick yet. My daughter has a Walgreens and has never received any rewards in the 3 or 4 years she has had it. When Kroger came out with it they were a novelty, but now they are a nuisance. My husband refuses to use them.
Tracyb
You need to check your staples reward card. I am also a small business and use Staples for lots of things (printing,paper,ink , I even bought my cell phone there) anyway I get rewards 4 times a year. Large dollar amounts that can be used to buy more stuff at Staples. I know it is a viscous circle but I just got one for $26 and hey, 26 bucks worth of stuff is okay by me. You can check by logging in at their website and checking your account. You can also print your certificate there to take with you shopping. They also work online with their free delivery. I know I sound like an ad for Staples but I do not work for them just spreading the news about the rewards. Good luck.
Cam
Speedway card is great! We get a free bottled soda, fountain drink, or coffee quite literally every time we go. Have also earned enough points to get a couple hundred dollars of free gas, free restaurant cards and free itunes cards among other things.
Tedde
I only use Kroger's and Staples. I get a lot back from Staples!! I never go to CVS anymore due to the owners being such Liberals. Won't support that. Stores just want too much info as far as I'm concerned to get a rewards card. We all have to be so careful with personal info any more.
Mary
The grocery store cards, save me a lot on groceries, we live in a small town, & its 20 miles to the nearest small town, 40 miles to a city, so I don't use a lot of the cards. I do have CVS, & have never received anything from it that I know of, I have a Wakgreens , & I hadn't had it very long, & was checking out & the cashier told me I had 10.00 dollars in rewards, if I wanted to take it off the bill, so I did, Not long ago, the Pharmacy Tech, told me I had ?? dollars on my rewards card, so when I checked out I asked the clerk, & she said yes. I don't think the clerks tell you or pay any attention to it. I guess you have to ask.
J
Do not like them. Do not have them. I seriously try to avoid shopping (getting harder all the time) anywhere that issue them.
These programs have nothing to do with savings to the customer, rather they are methods of capturing data and information about YOU !!
Companies that want to offer their customers a deal need to make it available to everyone period, no strings attached.
Why, why, why do we have to make life so difficult.....We have much more important things to tend to while on this earth.
Kevin
I do agree with this, if there's a savings to be had just give it to everyone
brenda
I am like Tedde and think they require way too much personal info for a card to shop in their store ??? how about my name and give me the card. I am spending a lot of cash in your establishment so why do you need to know all this info. My hsb is great about bringing home the brochure for filling out because of all the money we can save but has absolutely no patience with using them. I am very mixed with just how much reward is there.
Kevin
Well said, Brenda
Patti
I have several cards Rite Aid being one of them and it has saved
me good bit. Also have Kroger's, K-Mart, Food Lion it too has saved me
good bit. I like my cards
Wendy P
Coupons are my pet peeve. I never remember to use them in time, and they are rarely for the products I use. Like you said - I just wish they would lower the price.
Diane W
I wait until they ask for the card. Then I go through my whole stack of every card I have. I purposely pass by it and keep doing it for a while until I finally find it. I want it to be annoying for them to have to have this card system. I don't know of anyone who likes having all these cards.
Kevin
Oh that is good Diane, i like that!-)
Tracyb
The only people you are annoying are the people in the check out line behind you while you do that.
Kevin
Agreed, Tracy. Only do that if no one is in line behind you. On another note, I will take your advice and check my Staples reward card stuff. I asked my wife about it this evening, because we do have one, and she says we do get coupons, etc in the mail, I just usually disregard as junk...
sheri culver robinson
I like my Giant Eagle card for the saving on gas even though I seldom shop there because they are so overpriced,it actually belongs to a friend of mine and she insists that I use it (she is retired and says she doesn`t need the savings) but she shops there all the time so the gas points add up quickly and at 4.00 a gallon I loved getting 90 cents of a gallon of gas ( did I say she shops there a lot )
Pam
I have saved lots of $$$ with my CVS card ...the store I go to the staff is very friendly and helpful. When I am forced to move slowly thru a store....or traffic I always figure the Lord is protecting me from something......I had a flat tire once on a very busy 6 lane highway........getting it changed and back on the road took about an hour........as I headed back home I learned there was a terrible six car accident that killed 2 people......if I had been "On Time" I would have been right in the middle of that.....thank you Jesus.
Pam
If you don't like using the cards .....just say NO THANK YOU.......it's not the clerks fault .....they are just doing what they are instructed to do........I don't care if they know what toilet paper I use.
Cathy Tyler
Love my Walgreens card, gives me $$ in return for points! That and Kroger.....the rest are pretty useless.
cynthia
I have Kroger's that I love; yes they track my purchases and monthly I receive coupons thru the mail from them on the items that I normally purchase on a regular basis as well as others trying to get me to try items and if I buy x amount from produce I get $2 off that section and if I buy more than $5 in meat I get $3 off that department so it does save me, being on budget normally a great deal of monies...this is the only card that I have that I love. I have food lion but to get any benefit from that one I have to buy $60 a week and that's not within my budget to do it every single week but I do get a few pennies off some things. I have CVS which gives away things I don't really need or use but I get them and give to friends and family. I also have others but for the most part the one I never leave home without is my Kroger's.
Debbie
I love my restaurant cards. They are the only ones that really give me rewards! The rest are a waste, although I have a ton of them. :/
Carol Crowe Phillips
We have cards for sooo many stores and use most of them. Some give rewards...others, not so much. Walgreens after we get points gives good discounts. We used our points last Christmas to get a great deal on a gift they had on sale for our children. Krogers we always use the gas points. Here we have Food City grocery stores and they also give fuel points. We use them too. Around here most of the time, the cashiers are very polite and friendly about it. Most ask and don't mind if you don't have time or want to use the card. It usually goes something like "Do you have a rewards card?" If you say no, they ask if you want to sign up for one. If not they move right along. If you say you do but don't have it they offer to look it up using ph #. The times we have said not today, they simply continue the transaction. Perhaps they are a bit puzzled as to why but they have not asked us. I don't like having all the cards to carry nor do I like that they are collecting info on us but they just find other ways to get it if we don't do the cards. Before we had a Walgreens card they sent us coupons in the mail based on the prescriptions we had filled and on our shopping trips using our checking account/debit card. Don't like the keychain cards though.
Kevin
Agree with you on the keychain cards, Carole!
Susan MacDonald
I think someone needs a nap!!! Calm down, Kevin. If someone is in your way, say, "Excuse me, I need to get some.......behind your cart". I'm sure she would move her cart for you if you would just pleasantly ask her. And remember that someday, you will be "slowing down in your steps" the older you get, and someone behind you will want you to move faster. Chill!
I have a Rite-Aid Wellness card because my husband and I get our many prescriptions from them, and using the Wellness card saves us some money...not much, but every penny counts! I also have collected a lot of reward points for various store items that I haven't used yet. I also have an Amazon rewards card and get a $1 discount for every point I accumulate. And since I buy a lot of Kindle ebooks, I collect points for which I use on items I buy through Amazon (ie: presents for the grandkids, items for myself, etc). I also have a Kroger card when I DO shop at Kroger, for their specials. I keep their card on my key ring for easy access. I don't mind the discount cards at all if they will save me even a little bit of money. If you are asked if you have a rewards or discount card, just say, No, I don't, and carry on. It's that easy! Give your baby a hug for me, Kevin. You have a beautiful family and a great newsletter. Thank you!
Kevin
LOL, okay, Susan, maybe it's the caffeine...maybe I need to cut back on the Cokes, I'll be a bit less tightly wound!