Do you have Flybys?
by ZombieSkittles on September 5, 2009
in Opinion, Random
Rubenerd’s latest post about getting a Woolworths “Everyday Rewards” card got me thinking about the way people are so adverse to loyalty and reward cards in general. I’ve never quite understood it.
I’ve always loved the idea of the cards; I’m going to buy the thing regardless, so why NOT get something as a bonus. I have quite a few cards of this nature, and they all give me a little something extra without seemingly any downside.
I’ve heard a few excuses for not wanting them, the most popular of which being that they create clutter, and that their primary use is to track you tin hat style. Both excuses are rather foolish.
The idea that they cause clutter just says to me that person has no skills with organization. You don’t need to keep every card in your wallet at all times. Keep them all in a drawer or something, and when you plan to use the services attached to it, grab it for the trip. It’s that simple.
As for the tracking idea, a fun fact is that for a few of them, they do, but not always in the negative way people perceive it. The stats they collect isn’t just so they can simply send a heap of advertising your way, but so they can improve as a company and make more money. By collecting basic statistics they learn where they earn more money, and where they lack. It’s like an ever-present customer service survey. People use the card for the “rewards”, and companies get the information they used to rarely get when someone might by chance decide to fill out a questionnaire. Sure, some companies use the information for the wrong thing, but I for one haven’t had any trouble with the programs I’ve joined, and the benefits of some of the cards are unmistakably good.
Hudsons Coffee’s card takes ten percent of every purchase and turns it into credit of sorts. Essentially this rewards me with one free drink for every ten I buy. Joining the program, I had to give basic details including my email address, and the card came with enough starter credit for a free drink initially. Since then I’ve only gotten one email from them. Isn’t a bad trade for some free coffee.
I remember when I worked at BP, and I’d offer people who filled up on LPG to join the “Autogas Rewards Program”, which gives anyone with a card two cents off the litre. The worst thing was how suspicious people got over such an offer. The reason was the obvious “you never get something for nothing” paranoia, but if people thought, they’d realize they aren’t, and that it’s not a bad thing. The person would join the program, and get the card, allowing them to get the discount on LPG for their car. In turn, BP gets a loyal customer who will keep coming back BECAUSE of the discount. There’s your reward, and there’s your cost. The reward outweighs the “cost”.
Basically, with so much crapping on about how tight money is these days for everyone, I constantly wonder why so many people will turn down free things like this. There is no major downside to such great deals. I mean, we’re talking about guaranteed discounts and rewards for simply being a loyal shopper; it could be worse.
Why do you avoid the cards?
My primary concern has always been that companies don’t give things away for free. Often when they claim to they’re doing something else; in this case it’s most common for them to add you to some sort of database and keep track of what you buy. For something like coffee shops that’s fine by me, I’ve got cards for Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Dome and Hudsons, but for something like Woolworths where they can track a disparate range of things it’s a bit scarier.
For example, imagine you were having a BBQ and you bought some kerosene. The next day the police start interrogating you because you there was an arsonist in your neighbourhood and they used kerosene. Seems far fetched, but it could happen.
Then again it works both ways. I’ve already started of thinking ways to game the system; like doing shopping for someone else to throw off their data on me, or doing something random like buying nine trolleys of toilet paper with chewing gum, then TP someone’s house.
See, that’s a sort of paranoia that suggests that the police have ties in all those things. I’m no expert in police tactics or anything, as my only experience really is TV shows, but it seems to me that the information wouldn’t be public and the authorities would need a warrant or some such thing before accessing information about you.
They most likely DO track such information, but more so they can see exactly where their sales are most popular in what location, and build a database to improve themselves, you know?
For me it’s just a matter of if I think I’ll get use out of it. If it’s a buy 5 get 1 free coffee card at a place I go to often it’s a no-brainer. On the other hand, I used to work for Coles and did the math on the Fly-Buys deal and worked out (I can’t remember even the ball park figures so I’m making it up) that on the level of groceries I was buying at the time I’d have to use the Fly-Buys card every shop without fail for three years. But the redemption time was 12 months (or something like that). It just wasn’t actually possible for me to use it and get any benefit so I just didn’t bother. Might have changed now, and I buy more now than I did then as a poor student, but I just can’t be fucked any more.