Vox Humana > wrote in message
...
> Ohio grocer "segments" shoppers with personalized
> prices
> Shopper card data being put to discriminatory uses,
> [..] Dorothy Lane Market, an upscale grocery chain
> in Ohio, has implemented Customer Specific Pricing
> (CSP), a practice where different prices are charged
> to each group of customers. Now the majority of all
> discounts available in the store only go to the identified
> top 30% of Dorothy Lane shoppers.
>
> After starting their card program, Dorothy Lane eliminated
> newspaper advertising and switched to an "in-store ad-sheet".
[snip remaining paranoia]

Ah. I understand. Customer loyalty -- beyond price -- is an E-V-I-L
concept and implementing a rewards system for those customers that do
more than shop the sales is wrong. Got it.

As has been said oft enough but ingored before the sentence is
finished, if you don't like the store and it's cards, don't shop
there. There _are_ alternatives in every major city across the world.
Many of these same alternatives offer cheaper prices and a
more-specific set of merchandize to their clientele than any of the
larger chains.

Fer example: I do little shopping at Safeway anymore because of three
basic reasons. 1) The Safeway customer card (for me-and-mine) doesn't
work -- even on a limited basis nowadays; I don't find the items
offered any cheaper than I can get them in bulk at several other
retailers. 2) Corporate goes in [too often] and changes the
merchandize on the aisles. I am a creature of habit; do not muck with
my Habitrail. 3) I have six (that I'm aware) other stores (only one
with a card system) that offer superior pricing on almost everything I
was buying at Safeway. It was minor to adjust my weekly route
accordingly and exclude Safeway. The 4th reason was a bonus; I started
shopping the neighborhood ethnic groceries (an Indian, a Pakistani,
two Mexican, one <I think> Portuguese).

Paranoia has its place but not with this particular marketing
"secret."

The Ranger
--
"Everyone is subject to the laws of Darwinism whether or not they
believe in them, agree with them, or accept them. There is no trial,
no jury, no argument, and no appeal."
-- Anonymous