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Make Your Wallet Lighter (in a Good Way)
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Wednesday, August 16, 2006
4:05:00 PM EDT
Hearing Sarah McLachlan, Witness
Hi folks -- here's a link that was on Metafilter this morning. It might make your life a little easier -- at the very least, it can make your wallet a little thinner (and not in a bad way).
It involves streamlining the number of buyer discount/loyalty cards that you carry around -- you know, the barcoded cards or keychain tags that you use in stores in order to get the advertised savings.
For example, here are some of mine:
It's basically a glorified bar-code generator -- you pick the company you want from the drop-down menu, type in the number off your card (it won't validate the number to see if it's valid, but it will check to see that you've got the right number of digits), and when you're done, you can print and laminate the card, and carry one card instead of 8 (4 on front, 4 on back):
Now, as usual, if you try this, Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) -- I can't guarantee, for example, that this isn't some elaborate scam to collect discount club account numbers (though I can't see how this would be particularly useful to anyone).
As with most things in life, shopper discount/loyalty cards involve a trade-off -- when you use one, you get a discount or gain credits or whatever... in exchange for a little bit of your privacy: Giving the store information about your purchases, so they can better target their advertising or marketing strategies or what have you.
(This assumes that you're not giving them a fake name or address when you sign up. Not that I would ever advocate doing anything like that.)
Thanks -- Joe
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4:05:00 PM EDT
Hearing Sarah McLachlan, Witness
Make Your Wallet Lighter (in a Good Way)
It involves streamlining the number of buyer discount/loyalty cards that you carry around -- you know, the barcoded cards or keychain tags that you use in stores in order to get the advertised savings.
For example, here are some of mine:
It's basically a glorified bar-code generator -- you pick the company you want from the drop-down menu, type in the number off your card (it won't validate the number to see if it's valid, but it will check to see that you've got the right number of digits), and when you're done, you can print and laminate the card, and carry one card instead of 8 (4 on front, 4 on back):
Now, as usual, if you try this, Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) -- I can't guarantee, for example, that this isn't some elaborate scam to collect discount club account numbers (though I can't see how this would be particularly useful to anyone).
As with most things in life, shopper discount/loyalty cards involve a trade-off -- when you use one, you get a discount or gain credits or whatever... in exchange for a little bit of your privacy: Giving the store information about your purchases, so they can better target their advertising or marketing strategies or what have you.
(This assumes that you're not giving them a fake name or address when you sign up. Not that I would ever advocate doing anything like that.)
Thanks -- Joe
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This entry has 4 comments: (Add your own)
-
Fake name? Well... How do you know I'm not an elderly woman named Joyce who buys a lot of whiskey, frozen pizzas and issues of Soldier of Fortune?
-Dan
http://journals.aol.com/dpoem/TheWisdomofaDistractedMind/ -
Awesome. I can certainly use that! Good find...
- Joseph Manna
Happenings | http://journals.aol.com/josephmaaz/happenings/ -
That is kinda cool!!!! We have a ton of those damn things!!! Tawnya
8/17/06 11:26 PM
Here's how you handle those cards....
When they ask you for one.... make like you have to dig it out of your purse... and give the impression that doing so will take quite some time. It helps if you're French, and are carrying two babies while you do so. The girl will run her own card through every time, guaranteed.
If you're a man and you don't have a purse.... just act drunk. Whatever gets them wanting to move you along as quickly as possible.