Loyalty Cards. Why I love…and hate them.

I have a love/hate relationship with loyalty cards. 

The love part?   That one’s easy.  We all love feeling like we got a great deal, right?   Ask any frugal-ista (yeah, I made that one up. Ok, frugal diva.  Better?) where she got her great looking purse and she’ll not only tell you where, but in the same breath how much! Don’t blame her, (er… me) it’s just in our nature.  We got a great deal, and we’re not selfish with the information either.  Loyalty cards give us a form of bargain euphoria.  We’re getting this at a better price or earning some form of a “reward” from the store for our loyalty.  All in this little card.   And not only the card you have in your wallet, but most of the time you get two little “key cards”.   Ahhhh.   Don’t ya just love it?

The “hate” part?  sigh…  those pesky cards!   Yes, the cards I love I have to keep track of.  I have to have either a wallet big enough to house them all and remember to take them out to let the cashier swipe it.  More times that I want to admit, I got in the car and on the way home realized I had forgotten.  (I will say, that the CVS guy always asks if I have a rewards card---thank you CVS guy!)

And, I hate to keep so many of those “key cards” on my key chain too. I did find a really cool gadget at Bed Bath and Beyond for $5.00 that keeps all your key-cards in it.  (picture those old key holders that kept all your keys in one wallet-like thingy).   I would show you a picture of it, but it came loose and I … gulp…  lost all my “key cards” !!!  Needless to say, in my anger, I threw that no-good-worthless-thing away!  (I’m better now, thank you).

Then, I came across an App for my newly-acquired iPhone that lets you either scan the bar code, or enter the code so the next time you’re in the store, you can just show it on your phone and they swipe that.  Which is quite exciting, until you look at the places and there were only 3 local stores that participate.  It may be different in a huge metropolis.   I am finding more apps like that so I’m trying those out to see if they have more places participating. 

I have a question for the “powers that be”...  One that I think is a good one.  Why not just lower your prices and give us the great deal anyway?  Why, I say, Why?!?  (heavy sigh)

So, to you my friends, do you use loyalty cards?  How do you keep track of them?  Do you use an app to keep all the cards on?  I’d love to hear what you use and how it works for you!  Leave a comment and let all of us know!