As I was organizing my wallet today (actually, kicking out the moths that live there instead of money), I noticed why the thing was getting uncomfortable to sit on. Too darn many shopping loyalty cards were living in there. In the interest of saving space, I use the keytag-sized cards instead of the full-size credit card ones but hate to carry them on my keyring. So they had been floating around in a little pouch in my wallet, ready to drop on the floor whenever I had to dig around for the one I needed for whatever store I was in. It's unfortunate that in order to get the best price on things, especially at Kroger, you've got to have your loyalty card.
I get why these things exist - mostly to help with marketing - but what I can't figure out is why someone hasn't come up with a system where one card could serve all.
Set up an online system where you would get a universal loyalty card sent to you in the mail. The "Mike Loyalty System" would create a standard way of identifying customers, so one number would be assigned to one person and be used across every retailer. Joining specific loyalty programs would be done by the consumer via the web site. When shopping, just present your Mike Loyalty System card and just like when using a credit card, the product information from your transaction is transmitted to Mike Loyalty system computers. The retailer then gets a download of that transaction data into their own system. After the download is complete, the data is forever purged from the Mike Loyalty System computers.
Who pays for this system? Retailers- who could then off-load some of the work they currently have in keeping their loyalty systems going, like issuing new cards, etc. And with a safe, secure universal system, more people would sign up for these programs and retailers would be able to capture even more of the data they crave. The Mike Loyalty System web site would contain targeted advertising to help make it a profitable thing to establish.
Heck maybe the credit card companies (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover) should be the ones to get involved in this ... their systems are already in place, how much harder would it be to eliminate the loyalty cards and yet still be able to capture the data they want? Of course, those paying cash would still need some other solution.
I know I'm not the only person that's really starting to get annoyed with the number of loyalty cards that you seemingly have to carry with you at all times. It's time for a better system that makes it easier for everyone. And makes my wallet more comfortable.
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