Bravo to Juergen Kneifel for his clever evaluation of loyalty cards (Monday column, “Loyalty cards: It’s time for something new”).
It is definitely time for a new approach. I don’t know anyone, including store employees, who likes those ridiculous cards.
Safeway was one of the first stores in this area to use loyalty cards many years ago. I blame them for starting the annoying trend (in which I now reluctantly participate) of every store asking for my card or phone number, so I haven’t shopped at Safeway since then. Albertsons deserves our thanks for getting rid of their cards recently.
Stores should try something simple to encourage and reward loyalty. Don’t ask consumers to spend hours searching websites to find coupons that we then have to print out or load onto our smart phones. Don’t ask consumers to provide our personal information that you will sell to the highest bidder. Instead, for every $100 spent by a customer, just print a $5 coupon on the receipt that will be good on anything in that store during the next month. Or offer really good sales with no strings attached.
Lynn Price
Everett
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.