Another major grocery store has decided to say goodbye to its Preferred Card. Albertson’s has done it. Now, Jewel-Osco has done the same thing. Does your family shop for groceries at one of these stores? If so, you won’t have to dig through your purse for the Preferred Card anymore.
Loyalty cards were once a hot item. I cannot recall exactly when, but all of a sudden, it seemed like every grocery store had its own, special, loyalty card. The purpose of it was to reward customers who were frequent shoppers by giving them exclusive deals.
In general, loyalty cards enabled customers to access certain special offers and deals that were unobtainable by shoppers who didn’t have the card. Want to get those deals? You had to sign up for the card. Often, this involved giving the grocery store some of your personal information. Not everyone was comfortable with this idea, but many were.
Today, we know that the loyalty cards collect data about what each customer shops for. It was never a secret, but it may not have been specifically pointed out. Some recent news events have made many people a bit more concerned about their data – no matter what the contents are.
For whatever reason, Jewel-Osco has ended its Preferred Card program. You can no longer sign up for one. This does not mean that shoppers will miss out on the great savings that the card provided them with. Instead, it means that Jewel-Osco is going to give everyone the same deals – no card required.
There are a couple of things you need to know about what happens next. You need to use of the Fuel Rewards that are on your Jewel-Osco Preferred Card really soon.
Once you have depleted the Fuel Rewards, you can turn in your Jewel-Osco Preferred Card at any Jewel-Osco store. Doing so will enter you into a sweepstakes for a Jewel-Osco gift card. Make sure you use up the Fuel Rewards first, because you can’t use them after you turn in your Preferred Card.
What if your Preferred Card is attached to your UPromise/SavingStar account? Don’t worry! Keep your Preferred Card and have it scanned at any register when you check out. The register will automatically update your account activity when you make your purchase. In short, you won’t lose access to your Upromise/ SavingStar account just because the Preferred Card program has ended.
Image by Payton Chung on Flickr