Boycotting grocery store

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I've been doing most of my grocery shopping at Shaw's since we've lived here -- it's convenient and generally has as good prices as anywhere around here. But the other day when I went in, I discovered that, due to their having bought out Jackson Star supermarkets and adopted some of their policies, now in order to get the sale price on anything I have to have the store card. In order to get the store card, I have to fill out a form with my address, phone number, and even my e-mail address (optional, and I didn't give it). Okay. Now the girl slaps a bar code sticker on the form I just filled out, and hands me a card with matching bar code. Now, I'm a little slow, but at this point I realized that any time I used this card, they were going to be tracking my purchases in their computer system. I had already told her that the reason I hadn't shopped at Jackson Star was because of their idiotic policy re: having to have their card in order to get sale prices. But I don't think they had the bar codes on the Jackson Star cards -- I didn't have one, so I may be wrong on that. I also won't purchase a BJ's or Sam's club card, on general principles, because I don't like the idea of paying someone for the *priviledge* of shopping in their store!! Now, maybe BJ's and Sam's Club (and all the similar membership *bulk* stores) are already tracking everything you purchase. I hadn't thought about that before my encounter with the new Shaw's card. And of course those of you who use credit cards are probably having your purchases tracked in a computer somewhere. Am I alone in feeling that 1. this is a major invasion of privacy, and 2. it's another step closer to the cashless economy of the Tribulation? How do the rest of you feel about these store cards?

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 22, 2000

Answers

We went into Safeway and put all these wonderfully sale priced items in our cart, only to find out we didn't get the sale prices when we tried to check out, unless we wanted to sign up for their card. We signed up using a very old address and gave the info operators # as our phone #.

They must have received a lot of complaints or most likely, their sales dropped, because now, they send out a coupon book for those who won't use the card, they can instead use the coupons to get the sale prices.

Amber in WA

-- Amber Quillen (mikeandamberq@hotmail.com), October 22, 2000.


I haven't had the card problem, personally, but it is an invasion of privacy, and if you know anything at all about prophecy, you'll see just how many steps are already in place, taking us closer to fulfilling all those prophecies.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), October 22, 2000.

We have one for Kroger---but we hardly ever go to Kroger. Just needed some stuff that was on mega sale there at the time. But I sure do understand your concern. It isn't anyone's buisness just what I buy at the grocery store. Didn't the gov't pass some kinda law that said that it was illegal to have more than 6 months or a years' food? Some kinda executive order or something....makes you wonder if this is the way that they are trying to keep track of it. And it is one of the reasons I like Aldi's so much!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), October 22, 2000.

Kathleen, you are absolutely right in not getting their card!!!!!!!!! Not too long ago a man was convicted near here of D.W.I., and part of the evidence came from beer purchases he made with his card. Now I don't drink, and he was guilty, he needs to do his time. I don't believe however that this should have been brought up as the evidence was circumstantial. (They built their case around his having a drinking problem based on the number of purchases.) It was even stated that this particular evidence was not needed, but that the new ground broken was more important! They delight in finding new ways to subjugate us, don't be a part of it.

-- Edward G. Weaver (edzreal@postmaster.co.uk), October 22, 2000.

Kathleen- the solution to these pesky card programs is to lie. I don't care to have my name and number all over the place but do want the sale prices on goods so I have an alternate shopping ego. There is no laws saying you have to tell them your real name etc. So become George Washington if you want! I like to make it an obvious lie like jane doe at 123 4th st, Anytown. It's my way of getting around it while voicing my opinion over privacy issues. Hope this helps.

-- Terri (terri@tallships.ca), October 22, 2000.


Terri,

Do they still actually give you a store card when you put down information like that? What about if you write a check there? I'm surprised they don't ask to see your I.D. when you fill out one of these forms. That will probably come next.

Just curious.

Greenthumbelina

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 22, 2000.


Kathleen,

As far as the prophecy thing goes, I got spooked when the stores all went to scanners and bar codes many, many years ago.

How can you escape this though? This is the "way of the future".

I think the Amish are on the right track!!

And just the other night I saw somethng on TV about something else they are going to be doing which will bring us closer to a "moneyless society"

Pretty eerie - but inevitible.

Greenthumbelina

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 22, 2000.


Terri beat me to it, but the answer is: make yourself up! Big brother is indeed watching, and "we" are letting him! Every time you use a credit/debit/grocery card/go online/vote/answer a survey/use your SS#/DL#/connect a 'cookie', you give 'someone' information about yourself that is sold to someone else, etc. etc. I choose to auto connect to this forum,(a cookie) that lets Greenspun track every move I make on the internet. Since I don't do much, I don't care-but-it's the point! When we return an item to say, Walmart, you have to fill out a form-right? Even if you paid cash. They want to know name, address, etc. I am: Jane Doe, 123 Main St, Anywhere USA. Phone: 123- 456-7890. Call me a liar, and duck! I have never shopped in a store that won't let you get the 'bonus' discount-just say you forgot your card at home. If they won't play-then you don't pay! Oh well, I don't need these 10 bags of grocerys that bad.....see ya! Guess what? You'll get the discount. Trust me.

-- Kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), October 22, 2000.

Geeze if they want to keep tract of my purchases at Sams, bulk tampons, and such have at it. If you really think the mark of the beast is a mark on your forehead or hand than you really need reasearch this aspect of your religion better. Your head only refers to believing in and your hands are doing the work of, do you think anyone in this day and age is going to be fooled into putting a tattoo or microchip on or in them now? Satan is much more intelligent than this. The real secret is to find the deception that Jesus talks so much about in the bible.

Not a real John 3:16 type of person but read Ezekiel 13, vs. 20 "I will tear them from your arms, and will let the soul go, even the soul that ye hunt to make them fly." God despises those who teach his children to fly. Think your going to fly away? Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), October 22, 2000.


I've got a card for the local grocery store, but I don't shop there all that much. There is a Wal-Mart (ducking as I type!) on the way home from work that does ad-match pricing - no card required. If they ran a check on my card, they would discover that I live on Coca-Cola products and sugar and flour - as I buy those things when they are loss leaders. Gee, I wonder if Wal-Mart does have a print out on me - think they'd let me have a copy? Sure would help in knowing what I need to stock for a year or two of eating and etc... Don't let hubby see those fabric purchases though!!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), October 23, 2000.


Deception-sums it up quite well.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), October 23, 2000.

The answer to why those of us believe the "mark of the beast" shall be in the forehead or right hand is because this is what the Bible teaches and in today's high technological age it really isn't too hard to fathom.I think this thread indicates how easy it will be for some to take the mark...grocery stores giving discounts is just a small step. Of course satan is too smart to all of a sudden inflict the mark upon us, he has been getting us used to the idea for a number of years now...Dumbing us down, that cannot be denied.Someone mentioned their surprise and the eeriness they felt over the bar codes and scanners when they were first introduced...now we hardly think of them. Same with "info pet", credit cards,t.v. etc. When people begin to get hungry and cannot buy or sell without the mark, it WILL be taken.Of course, there will be some who holdout, even those who are not Christians, but by and large, society will accept this as another advance in technology, one that "protects and feeds"themselves and their children.Those who oppose this will be persecuted for not wanting "the greater good"...time is short. Today is the day of salvation!

-- Tammy~Gladheart Acres (AK) (heritgae@mtaonline.net), October 23, 2000.

I can understand some of your concerns over somebody tracking your purchases, but it's never bothered me. My three main stores, Brookshires, HEB, and Wallyworld, don't use cards. If they did, it wouldn't bother me. I can't imagine anything evil being perpetrated on my for buying generic flour, salt, sugar...nothing illegal, immoral...nothing to corrupt others, or bomb making supplies, etc.

If I "were" to buy something I "shouldn't" be buying, I'd pay cash. Frankly, all the couponed stuff I see is frivolous, and once couponed, equals the amount the generic product sells for. I'm sure the stores hate me, the only stuff besides essentials are their loss leaders.

-- phil briggs (phillipbriggs@thenett.com), October 23, 2000.


Don't flame me, but the answer to your concerns is that yes, they are tracking your purchases! However, I don't think with anything nefarious in mind! (not to say that someday the info couldn't somehow fall into the "wrong" hands, tho). They are tracking this information so they can target specific groups of people to provide specialized marketing to YOU.

Advertising costs and direct mail pieces, not to mention big ads in newspapers, are getting incredibly expensive. Savvy retailers are understanding that the next wave in direct marketing is to targeted audiences. SO...as an example: they don't want to send out a direct mail piece about Pampers to a home that doesn't have kids (apparently...no purchases of Fruit Loops cereal, Pokemon cards, or whatever they use as a profile.) They accumulate this information based on a database that collects and then colates information about your purchasing habits. I find it intrusive, too, but it may ultimately save us all money by enabling purchasing agents to buy more accurately. How do I know this? I guess because I used to be a buyer. Nobody in any organization that I ever worked for had a smidgeon of time to analyze anything about an individual's purchasing habits. That doesn't say that it couldn't happen in the future, of course. I for one, don't think I'm quite important enough that Safeway would use my data to entrap me! If I wanted to purchase tons of alcohol, condoms, or whatever, I would SURELY pay cash.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), October 23, 2000.


Wal-Mart does track your purchases or at least how much your spending in a certain amt. of time, a friend from Church owns a Cafe and was informed by the checker "are you aware you've spent $5000.00 so far this month, my friend responded, why yes I am ! " How do all of you feel about having to put your thumb on the thingy for your drivers license, it made me very uneasy ! At first that is, what's our choice if we want a drivers license, in Texas, do the other states do this now? I've been using the envelope system for budgeting groceries so, haven't been writing checks anyway lately.

-- Carol (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), October 23, 2000.


Gee, after I posted, I got to thinking about what you must all think of the internet "cookies" you get. I would be much more concerned about them! Do you delete your .temp files every time you go online? Because those DO track where you go....

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), October 23, 2000.

Sheepish, I have been thinking about that quite a bit lately. I only take cookies where I have to...at my email or I don't go to the site. I do know that isn't foolproof, but it's about the best I can do. The weird thing is that all of the programmers I know set their browsers to accept all cookies.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), October 24, 2000.

Kathleen, I have thought about the same thing. Krogers is almost a monopoly here, they have bought out almost every other chain in the area and you have to have one of their cards to get sale prices. I resisted at first when they started the cards but finally gave in when I saw I would never get a sale price without them. I saw through what they were doing. How stupid do they think we are? It very much goes against my grain and the whole prophecy thing has gone through my mind also. There is a new Meijers opening closer to me soon and I don't think they use the cards. I think I will quit shopping at Krogers and start going to Meijers. Or maybe I'll get a new Krogers card and use a fictitious name and address. The Quality Farm store has started the same thing!!! Believe I'll do my business with TSC. Perhaps if enough people boycott the card users, they'll get the hint.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), October 24, 2000.

I'm not for sure if they are using the tracking ability for any "bad" right now. But, the ability is there! What if they pass legislation on mandatory gun registration. If they wont to crack down on an area, they can pull up the ammo purchases and track you down! Cash purchases are the way to go and you cant wait until you hear about the problem to start doing it, cause then it will be too late.

-- Kashaa (kashaa@ipa.net), October 24, 2000.

Hey Folks - I have no problem letting the grocery stores know what I buy. I always look for organic products or items that have not been processed with artificial junk. I avoid companies like Nestle's, Kraft, Kellogg & Campbell and I am proud of it. No Cokes or Pringles in my fridge. I consider my purchases a vote for better food products on supermarket shelves. To your health....

-- diane greene (fgroeters@ulster.net), October 24, 2000.

Sheepish, and others like her/him.....delete the "history" files from your server. Each program/server is different. But deleting the history helps get rid of old site info, including those you accidently wandered into. Try it, it also speeds you up when you have less baggage.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), October 24, 2000.

Anne, I much prefer "her"! :)

I usually delete my internet temp files frequently. I used to not accept any cookies, but I got tired of dealing with the process...esp. at Amazon, etc. I know there's other ways around it, but I am mostly lazy, I guess.

Interesting that I know some folks who combine the internet with grocery shopping...via Homegrocer.com. Order it up, and they deliver. My, my, my.....within hours even.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), October 25, 2000.


I don't like using the cards either. I hate digging around in my pocket book looking for the right one. So now, I throw them out and each time I go to the store, I go up and get a new one. Kinda like having multiple personality disorder. Sometimes I swap cards with other people in line or leave mine in a buggy for someone else to use.

-- Linda Al-Sangar (alsangal@brentwood-tn.org), October 26, 2000.

Most stores that I know that have this tracking, establish the key sort on their database by using your home telephone number. If you don't have your card to swipe through the scanner, you can key in your home number to identify you (on a dial pad on their scanner) then get the discount, or whatever.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), October 26, 2000.

I'm not really worried about the grocery store using information about my purchases for nefarious purposes -- at least, not yet! It just struck me as the last straw in invasion of privacy. (I do know about the cookies on the computer, and would like to get rid of them, but haven't had enough ambition yet to learn how. There's quite a steep learning curve for this little toy . . .) I just think it stinks that they won't let you get the sale prices without having their card, just like it stinks that the membership stores make you buy a membership for the dubious priviledge of shopping in their stores. I will be so glad when we are growing most of our food again, and I can tell them all to go fly a kite!! If enough people did that, maybe some things would change. It used to be that you were doing the store a favor by shopping there, but now they are doing you a favor by *letting* you shop there!!! They are putting all sorts of conditions on you having the *priviledge* of shopping there, and in general people are just going right along with it, like dumb little sheep. I hadn't thought about using a false name, but would prefer not to. Someone said "deception" above, I'm not sure what they were referring to, but using a false name would certainly qualify as deception, and I would be very uncomfortable with that.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 26, 2000.

i never stop at laerge chain stores. period. i don't care what kind of a sale their having. i shop at local stores where they know me. i pay cash. sometimes a debit card. but all the talk about cards and privacy and such.... unless you are biologically identified (iris scan, retina prints, voice scan, fingerprints) you are still free to change identity at will and f*ck with the system anyway you see fit. you can only be enslaved if you let it happen. the minute the ATM starts scanning my iris instead of using a password is the day i change banks. or stop using them all together. i can always sign over checks to someone else to cash, someone who doesn't mind being tagged like a sheep. if the Oregon DMV starts fingerprinting i guess i'll do like scott savage and walk to the capitol, turn in my license. of course i'll be wearing a fake mustache...:) people submit to this stuff because of supposed "savings" or convenience. only you can decide the real cost. i'd rather pay more for my flour and catfood than leave a piece of me at the corporate table everytime i need supplies. YMMV

-- juno redleaf (gofish@presys.com), October 27, 2000.

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