Metropol

I know lots of people who work with their disposable income entirely in cash - so that they can withdraw cash at the start of the week and say quite firmly "this is what I can spend" - seems to work for them.

On a completely unrelated note but vaguely along the lines of:

Gavin Scott wrote:So are you one of those people who faffs about with a card to pay for three quid worth of groceries? That'll be me in the queue behind glaring at you.

The only thing marginally worse are women who don't think to get their bloody purse out of their handbag, and then go rummaging for their Visa after their sale has been rung up.

Tesco, particularly Metros, are a high-pressure rapid-packing environment, and the one thing that I hate which usually incurs the glaring wrath of the people behind me, is when I'm asked for my Clubcard at the start of the transaction, instead of waiting to hand it over when I pay, because it completely throws off my perfected packing speed as I try to simultaneously stuff a Clubcard into my wallet, enter my PIN, and crush a pack of mushrooms into the top of a bag. It's fascinating, really.

lukey wrote:Tesco, particularly Metros, are a high-pressure rapid-packing environment, and the one thing that I hate which usually incurs the glaring wrath of the people behind me, is when I'm asked for my Clubcard at the start of the transaction, instead of waiting to hand it over when I pay, because it completely throws off my perfected packing speed as I try to simultaneously stuff a Clubcard into my wallet, enter my PIN, and crush a pack of mushrooms into the top of a bag. It's fascinating, really.

Why don't you say, "I'll pass it to you at the end, thanks". Or hold it in your teeth while you pack.

Or don't use one at all.

I don't want to get into the loyalty card thing because it would make me feel compelled to shop in one particular place - and if there's one piece of useful advice to give in light of this impending recession, its not to be loyal to any one supermarket. Its just a fact of life that where they are cheap on some things they will make up for it on others - so you really ought to shop around to get the best price on everything.

That's my view, anyway.

Gavin Scott wrote:So are you one of those people who faffs about with a card to pay for three quid worth of groceries? That'll be me in the queue behind glaring at you.

I'll have you know I am lightning fast when paying by card. I'm faster than most people are when paying by cash.

I only have about 147 Clubcard points - which means I've spent at least £147 at Tesco within the past year (well, I've spent more but forgotten to use the card...) and I only have a colossal... £1 in Clubcard vouchers.

Get in.

Gavin Scott wrote:Why don't you say, "I'll pass it to you at the end, thanks". Or hold it in your teeth while you pack.

Because that would be the most logical thing to do, and the idea of doing something logically would shake my identity to its core.

I don't want to get into the loyalty card thing because it would make me feel compelled to shop in one particular place - and if there's one piece of useful advice to give in light of this impending recession, its not to be loyal to any one supermarket. Its just a fact of life that where they are cheap on some things they will make up for it on others - so you really ought to shop around to get the best price on everything.

I do agree with that in principle - and although I have a Clubcard, I don't surrender myself to Tesco entirely because of it. My approach to loyalty cards is very much "if I'm buying it anyway, I might as well get the points", but it wouldn't stop me from stocking up on cheap frozen tat from Farmfoods instead (though the rate at which the once £1 Fray Bentos pies go up in price is currently my sole inflation barometer). Likewise I have an Advantage Card, despite probably only venturing into Boots once a month or so to pick up some shampoo.

Well the main problem with me and any kind of loyalty card is that if I did have one, I would become completely obsessed with it and would be forever trying to keep tabs on points and not being able to shop without it and so on.

cdd wrote:Well the main problem with me and any kind of loyalty card is that if I did have one, I would become completely obsessed with it and would be forever trying to keep tabs on points and not being able to shop without it and so on.

That is indeed worryingly obsessive, cdd. The best idea is to have one for every shop, and then the loyalty aspect becomes irrelevant.

I only find out how many points I have with Sainsburys, Boots, Tesco et al when they send me a statement either in the post with vouchers or by email.

StuartPlymouth wrote:That is indeed worryingly obsessive, cdd. The best idea is to have one for every shop, and then the loyalty aspect becomes irrelevant.

Oh no, that really is only the tip of the iceberg of problems. Here are a select extra few that would seriously trouble me (and these are just the things I have foreseen, and a partial list at that):

I would have to take different cards with me on each trip since I should know in advance whether I am going to Sainsbury's or Tesco etc. I already do this with things like driver's license and railcards, but this is a less frequent eventuality.

In the supermarket I would have to worry about whether the points made it sufficiently more worthwhile to buy a more expensive version of a product I liked because I would be in net gain (complexified even more with 2 for 3 offers etc). At least at the moment I can see the best product immediately.

I would have to keep all my receipts like a sad pathetic person and reconcile them against my statement to make sure I wasn't missing points.

I would also have to make notes of items that are on special clubcard point offers.

I would have to deal with coupons offering discounts/xtra points on products I don't want/like and work out where the thershold is between "dislike enough" and "net discount". These would only be one-time purchases too since it wouldn't remain the rational decision, meaning I would have products that would only stick around for a while. So I might end up with two sandwiches made of different bread. Of course this eventuality will come around twice, at each end of the replacement.

See, after all this fretting about point values, my statement would arrive and I would have to think very carefully about the highest value conversion from points into cash or needed item, which would be a whole differnet set of calcuations including if there was anything I wanted, the liquidity of items on offer, etc.

And I would keep having to decide whether it was more worthwhile buying something or waiting for a larger purchase that may be more liquid or wanted at the cost of losing interest.

And I would have to have a loyalty card for every shop I shop at, even only once, and I would then have to let myself be guided by the points, even though as you say it makes more sense to view them as an opportune accumulation - since my thoughts would only be rational toward the goal of gaining more points.

As you can see my life would slowly but surely be taken over by loyalty cards and other faux-currency coupon schemes. I would turn into a quivering wreck. But, I am able to quite easily ignore the whole business, which eliminates the problem.

Ever considered a career in science, cdd?

Sput wrote:Ever considered a career in science, cdd?

Well, philosophy would be better for me; since I could be as wrong as I like, yet nobody could say I'm wrong!

cdd wrote:I would have to take different cards with me on each trip since I should know in advance whether I am going to Sainsbury's or Tesco etc. I already do this with things like driver's license and railcards, but this is a less frequent eventuality.

It's called a wallet. The cleverly designed 'credit card sized' driving licence can be slotted in for daily use if you require age verification. You will also find that it holds your credit/debit card, loyalty cards and some cash too! They come in handy for shopping.

cdd wrote:In the supermarket I would have to worry about whether the points made it sufficiently more worthwhile to buy ...........blah!...............

That sort of attitude is just wrong, cdd. Are you mad?