Club Card

I’ve had a Safeway Club Card for practically as long I’ve been shopping at Safeway–which I do primarily because it is the only grocery store in the neighborhood. It is not, however, my card: the card belongs to Safeway Inc.The Club Card provides me with savings on certain items. The price I pay is that every purchase I make goes into a database, and I reckon Safeway Inc. will sell that information to anyone if the price is right (and provide it to the National Security Agency for free).

Several months ago, Safeway rolled out a digital coupon program called “just for u.” For some time, I resisted signing on, despite the claim of extra savings. I theorized that there was something other than benign in having to visit the Safeway Inc. Web-site to download the digital coupons onto the Club Card. Maybe it was a way to get me to buy more food or spend more money (or both). Maybe it was a way to put products in front of my eyeballs–something the food companies would pay for.

In any case, I just relented and joined the “just for u” program. I need laundry detergent, and the digital coupon knocks an extra dollar off the Club Card price.

I suppose one could say that the Tide has turned.