A couple of years ago the Wall Street Journal ran an extensive survey of loyalty-card supermarkets and one that didn't have cards in five or six cities across the country.
They compiled a representative family shopping list and priced it in every store. In
every comparison, the tab at the loyalty-card store was more expensive that the non-card store, if you were gulled into doing most of your grocery shopping at that one store because of the "deals" the card offered you.
It's a sucker's game, entirely apart from the snooping they accomplish with the cards.
Mike
