Too Much Plastic

One aspect of living in DC that I hope doesn't spread is that most of the stores and grocery stores here require shoppers to have a "loyalty card" to take advantage of their sales. If shoppers don't have these creditcard-like pieces of plastic they have to pay a much higher price. The cards are free but the result is that one has to have a bag full of plastic to go shopping. At CVS you need your CVS card, At Giant you need your Giant card, etc etc. Carrying it all is a hassle.

When novice shoppers see the sale signs they don't notice the tiny script on the price that says "with your Giant (etc) Bonus Card" so they load up and get quite a surprise at the checkout. The first time this happened to me I just left all my groceries at the register.

Why do stores use these bothersome cards? They think they promote shopper loyalty. The cards also enable stores to track your spending habits since the card information goes automatically into their computer system. I don't like the invasion of privacy but I don't want to pay the higher prices if I don't use them. If the system spreads consumers will need to find a way to fight back.