ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Aug 22, 2015 12:50:56 GMT -5
Could be that the board had deemed it important and exec comp is based on hitting a certain percentage of participation
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TheHaitian
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Post by TheHaitian on Aug 22, 2015 13:06:44 GMT -5
Could be that the board had deemed it important and exec comp is based on hitting a certain percentage of participation Hey Uncle, how is the new bundle of joy?
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8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Aug 22, 2015 13:17:41 GMT -5
Would an employee be allowed to give the discount to someone else? My sister briefly worked as a cashier in a local store. My mother needed only mention her name to get the discount.
Great points have been made about how odd it is that the company would be so aggressive in pushing a program that costs it more money. If it was simply a matter of having the program, you'd think that it is win/win to be able to say "we offer that" but then have lots of people not want to bother with it.
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dannylion
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Post by dannylion on Aug 22, 2015 13:42:07 GMT -5
I'm quite happy to have grocery store loyalty programs keep track of what I buy. The stores I shop at regularly send me coupons every month for significant discounts on my most frequent purchases. They also offer discounts on those and related products that I can add online and then take advantage of when I use the card at the store. Every now and then they offer $10 or $20 off the total purchase (usually requires spending $40 or $80, so 25%).
If I were going to buy something I didn't want "them" to know about, I'd just pay cash and not use a card, though I can't imagine anything a grocery store would sell that would be a source of embarrassment of blackmail or whatever. I'm not a terrorist or organized crime kingpin, so I think it is highly unlikely that "they" pay any attention to me or really care one way or the other about what I buy.
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Shooby
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Post by Shooby on Aug 22, 2015 13:58:16 GMT -5
I find it annoying to have to pull out these cards or have to hand my car keys for the cashier to scan that tiny card. I think it is fine to offer them. But it feels like pestering. Just makes it less pleasant to me. Just my opinion.
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Opti
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Post by Opti on Aug 22, 2015 14:03:40 GMT -5
There are a lot of people that don't use credit cards and might not want to go out and get one. I wouldn't expect 100% participation, but yeah. A lot of people are just lazy and stupid. Not credit cards but the store cards like the one you get at Subway, lowe's, famous footwear, Barnes and Noble. Basically keeps track of your spending to offer discount and gas program (every $100 you spend you get $0.10 off per gallon). So they have to open a store card to get the discount?
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Opti
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Post by Opti on Aug 22, 2015 14:09:26 GMT -5
It's weird that they make you sign up and register. If you're an employee, you should have some sort of employee ID card and that should be enough to show a cashier to get your 10%. I could see family registering, but not employees. And, corporate shouldn't cancel a program just because they don't have 100% adoption. I agree, I think its odd. Its one thing if they were a retailer like Macy's or Sears where they pushed credit cards, but this seems like it has another purpose. King's, the top end grocery store in CNJ, dropped loyalty cards years ago. Whole Foods and Trader Joe's also do not have one.
I think employees could legitimately worry about bad data mining when the store looks at their purchases from some third party. I used to get baby food coupons when I would buy baby food to nurse one of my lizards back to health or in Cresko's case just feed it. Would suck to have an employer assume I had a baby when I did not.
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ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Aug 22, 2015 14:55:15 GMT -5
Could be that the board had deemed it important and exec comp is based on hitting a certain percentage of participation Hey Uncle, how is the new bundle of joy? Hopefully I get to meet her tomorrow. I was at driver retraining all morning today.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2015 17:25:06 GMT -5
I dont shop at places that keep track of what i buy. If I have to use a card to get a discount, I don't because I don't want people to know what I buy. It is hard a lot of places and I can't do it at Amazon. But where I can I do. I've never had a store ask me for ID or something to verify that I gave them my real name and address. Of course, if you don't use your correct address, you won't get coupons based on your purchases. The card I use the most was also the first one I ever signed up for and I have no idea what information I gave them. Most of the other ones are correct.
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Ombud
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Post by Ombud on Aug 22, 2015 19:11:17 GMT -5
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Aug 22, 2015 19:12:56 GMT -5
Yeah, I know I can do it too. I need to download the app and my iPad is out of space. I can't load anything up these days.
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teen persuasion
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Post by teen persuasion on Aug 22, 2015 21:20:46 GMT -5
Seriously? You shop here anyway, might as well get 10% off while you are at it! I don't get it... You are given a clear opportunity on a way to save money and it is too much work for you to do, you cannot be bothered. People are lazy, and stupid, that's all there is to it. At the library, the people who complain about overdue fines are the ones who can't be bothered to renew things. It's really not that hard: sign up for email notification, get an email reminder two days in advance, renew online or call us. Don't even have to come back to the library to renew in person. Ta-da! No fines! No excuses about our hours, either - drop it in the bookdrop if we aren't open. We've also got some neat, free, online media. Barely anyone makes use of it. Why would you pay for music that you can instead download free and legally, to keep? Why pay for magazines - Zinio thru the library has free emagazines for download. Don't have to visit the library, you keep, no limits, no overdues ever? Utilization is low and dropping; our system will probably decide to drop it if numbers don't increase, it is just not worth it at current levels. When we tell people about these, they think they are a great idea, but few ever actually try it out.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2015 10:00:08 GMT -5
I don't get why they're pushing people so hard to get a discount? I'd almost be suspicious too. I mean, I can see pushing people to do direct deposit, saves the company money. I can see them pushing contributing to 401K because of the rules for highly compensated employees, but pushing to make less money on their sales seems odd. What's in it for them?
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jelloshots4all
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Post by jelloshots4all on Aug 23, 2015 13:16:45 GMT -5
Many people do not use direct deposit as they do not want their spouse/significant other to know how much they make, or their overtime pay. I worked accounting for 2 construction companies and our VP of Ops told me this was the primary reason. Not sure how they wouldn't know at tax time, but this was a big issue we encountered when we pushed direct deposit.
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teen persuasion
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Post by teen persuasion on Aug 23, 2015 16:28:38 GMT -5
Music has been freely available all over the internet for 20 years now. Why get it from the library where they have a limited selection when I can go elsewhere online and get whatever I want for free? Freely available, yes. Legal? Not so much. The service is called Freegal = Free + Legal music downloads. Libraries have to mind copyright and other intellectual property issues, despite fiscal constraints. They handle the music copyright issues. It's not free for the library, any more than books are free for the library, it's a service we provide. Yes, it's limited; not all artists/labels contract with them. My larger point is that people are lazy, and don't think about consequences. Yes, there are some that don't care about intellectual property rights, and will download things for "free". They could still get it for free, but without cheating others, by going thru the right channels. Or you could pay for it. Many do that also, too lazy to do anything but hit "buy now". That's just my personal take on why people pay more than they need to: they are lazy/stupid.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2015 17:01:29 GMT -5
I've never had a store ask me for ID or something to verify that I gave them my real name and address. Of course, if you don't use your correct address, you won't get coupons based on your purchases. The card I use the most was also the first one I ever signed up for and I have no idea what information I gave them. Most of the other ones are correct. But this is a push to sign employees up. Carl will know if a cashier gives him a bogus name and number. Why is the employer giving away money to incentivize employees to sign up for a program where they give them more free money? Are they the most generous company ever? I suppose it's possible, but it's setting off my too good to be true alarms. Somewhere there's something in it for them. I'd bet on that. Lets say an employee is suspected of drinking on the job, can they pull up their store loyalty profile to see how often they purchase alcohol? Will that info affect how they handle the situation? My post was for hickle, who doesn't want his purchases tracked by using cards to save money. If I worked at Carl's store, I'd use the discount, but I'd be mindful of my purchases and buy some things elsewhere. There are some things available for purchase in a grocery store that I wouldn't necessarily want my employer to know about or be able to keep track of.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2015 17:47:49 GMT -5
TheHaitian - Employers still cannot get 100% employee participation when it comes to electronic deposit (where offered) of paychecks. Takes out the hastle of driving to the bank and depositing the check and then waiting for the check to clear. But some employees seem to want to go to the bank and deposit it themselves. People are often fickle. I have a close friend who manages payroll for a company with 200+ employees. A couple of years back the company decided that cutting paper checks for a handful of employees was way too expensive in terms of accounting staff $$ and bank charges. She asked me what to do to "encourage" the employees to sign up for direct deposit. Step one: have a raffle among new enrollees with a $200 VISA gift card as prize. Step two: 60 days later, say "Sorry, all paychecks are now direct deposit". #1 reason these losers didn't want DD was to dodge wife/SO/child support issues. Usual scenario was loser told wife "I didn't work this week, sorry, no $$" while girlfriend picked up his paper check. Some of the guys had multiple accounts with multiple women and were not happy when they had to pick one account for DD and stay with it for at least 1 calendar quarter. No more Bob & Sally one payday and Bob & Susie the next. Let's just say that Bob is working a whole lot of OT since Sally and Susie met at the office one payday. With their child support paperwork.
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garion2003
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Post by garion2003 on Aug 23, 2015 21:10:44 GMT -5
True, but consumers by and large don't care. Information should be free man, and all that stuff. A freshman entering college this fall has lived their entire life with the idea that music is inherently free. They've more than likely never bought an actual album. They may have purchased a few songs from iTunes, but more than likely they just illegally downloaded them. That's their normal. Shit, I'm in my thirties and I think the last time I purchased music I was a young teenager. I feel the same way. Although the college student better not use the school's network to illegally download music....
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murphath
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Post by murphath on Aug 24, 2015 11:55:29 GMT -5
Shooby: I have the loyalty cards for both Safeway and Raleys--the only grocery store options in our little town. I never swipe the card--I just enter my phone number on the keypad. You can do the same with the other loyalty programs at CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid. However, just in case there is a glitch, I have a small "wallet" for all those cards. I can't think of anything I'd buy at any of these places that would embarrass me--well, maybe a pregnancy test or condoms but since I'm 62 I'm past needing those. I do agree with the others, however, that there has to be a reason the company is pushing so hard. Call me a pessimist, but there's an ulterior motive in there somewhere. Maybe it's as simple as wanting the employees to shop more at their store Who knows. As for checks/direct deposit: some of our checks are direct deposited and a few others (DH works for various caterers--some small that only do checks) so I do go to the bank. Actually, I usually walk there and back which gives me a good 8 mile hike. I'm also one of those that still uses a few checks: church donation, mortgage payment, and phone bill. I pay everything else with my credit card and then pay that bill online. The reason I don't pay mortgage and phone bill online is simple: they screwed it up so horribly one time and it took forever to straighten it out that I just decided to go back to regular checks for those two bills. It's a trust issue. Library usage: I love books. The actual physical kind. I hate reading a book/magazine online or on a kindle like device. I know I'm older than most of you, but I just love holding the book. I also think my eyes get more tired when reading off a screen.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Aug 24, 2015 14:49:47 GMT -5
TheHaitian - Employers still cannot get 100% employee participation when it comes to electronic deposit (where offered) of paychecks. Takes out the hastle of driving to the bank and depositing the check and then waiting for the check to clear. But some employees seem to want to go to the bank and deposit it themselves. People are often fickle. And some people want to skim off part of their pay check so that their spouse doesn't know how much money they spend on themselves. (It's interesting to handle payroll for large number of employees. You see some interesting things. We had one employee who skimmed off 100% of his overtime, about $35K a year, for playing and drinking. His wife thought he didn't get paid overtime because he was a supervisor.)
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Aug 24, 2015 14:57:01 GMT -5
It's weird that they make you sign up and register. If you're an employee, you should have some sort of employee ID card and that should be enough to show a cashier to get your 10%. I could see family registering, but not employees. And, corporate shouldn't cancel a program just because they don't have 100% adoption. It's way easier to just track spending as part of the store affinity program and run a program once a month or once a quarter that generates a rebate rather than having cashiers ring up a discount transaction for every emplyee purchase. Then have employees forget to provide their store ID, or have cashiers miss the discount, and have to do all kinds of corrections at the register. Not giving discounts at the register also prevents cashiers from ringing up discounts for people who are not employees. Always a risk if a management override is not required to give the discount. (If manager override would be required, I'd be one pissed off shopper whenever I got stuck waiting while an employee was given their discount. Customers writing check are bad enough, but don't delay me while you provide a special service to an emplyee.)
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Aug 24, 2015 15:00:11 GMT -5
I have been with my company 6.5 years and during all that time I have heard employers complain how they do not get a discount vs regular customers for shopping here. And most places I go when people find out I work for a grocery store, the first question that usually follows (no fails) : do you get a discount? So finally my company is rolling out this program in September that gives employees and their families 10% off their groceries : every $100 you spend, you get $10 back. All you have to do is register your card (you can register up to 3 cards) on the employee website. Simple right? Nothing else, register your card and start shopping.... As of 2 weeks ago, out of 22,000 employees only 8,000 registered their cards. So the company (HR) is making this big push to get as many people signed up as possible: $250 prize (raffle), or $1000 prize for the stores that get to 90% of their people signed up (5 prizes, raffle) etc. Because the program is a pilot from September to February and based on how well it does they will decide to keep it or not. We have been told over and over again in the 6.5 years I have been with the company the reason they do not do it is because they have tried it and it doesn't work. I think we are on our way to prove them right again. As of yesterday that number was slightly over 9,000 but that is still far away from 22,000. I have 92% of my store signed up and the attitude we got from people when you reminded them to sign up was like: we were forcing them to do this, they were doing us a favor by signing up, etc? Seriously? You shop here anyway, might as well get 10% off while you are at it! I don't get it... You are given a clear opportunity on a way to save money and it is too much work for you to do, you cannot be bothered. Oh well, I am signed up and will enjoy the 10% off even if it doesn't get extended past February (I don't think it will).... We spend $800-$1,000 month on groceries, maybe we can upgrade from pork/chicken to steak The folks who don't participate are the same folks who don't participate in an employer match 401K plan. Even though, by the time you figure the value of the match and the favorable tax impact, many 401k matching programs provide more than a 100% on your original contribution during the first 12 months after your contribution.
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Chocolate Lover
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Post by Chocolate Lover on Aug 24, 2015 15:30:39 GMT -5
If I had such a large portion of employees not actually using our services/purchasing our goods... I'd be examining that closely. I would think the attitude would be how can we get more of our teammates to shop with us... They don't care. As the wife of a grocery store employee, I can't afford to shop where DH works. And they offer a 5% discount. My sales tax is twice that.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Aug 24, 2015 15:33:56 GMT -5
TheHaitian - Employers still cannot get 100% employee participation when it comes to electronic deposit (where offered) of paychecks. Takes out the hastle of driving to the bank and depositing the check and then waiting for the check to clear. But some employees seem to want to go to the bank and deposit it themselves. People are often fickle. And some people want to skim off part of their pay check so that their spouse doesn't know how much money they spend on themselves. (It's interesting to handle payroll for large number of employees. You see some interesting things. We had one employee who skimmed off 100% of his overtime, about $35K a year, for playing and drinking. His wife thought he didn't get paid overtime because he was a supervisor.) I suppose the above is just lightly better than telling your spouse you have not been paid in over three weeks. I rejected a candidate for employment but he told his wife I hired him. She called me screaming at me that I better start paying him 'OR ELSE'. I did not tell her the real story as it was not my story to tell. I just told her she might want to have a face-to-face discussion with her husband. Never heard form her again and fortunately did not read any murder stories in the newspapers with his name.
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Chocolate Lover
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Post by Chocolate Lover on Aug 24, 2015 15:40:02 GMT -5
Yeah, I know I can do it too. I need to download the app and my iPad is out of space. I can't load anything up these days. So put it on your phone.
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AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP
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Post by AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP on Aug 25, 2015 10:41:16 GMT -5
Store loyalty cards track your purchases. I'm not sure I'd really want my employer flagging my card and seeing every single item I purchase with them. Would my manager get to see how often I bought alcohol? When I buy a home pregnancy test? As healthcare costs get expensive could some guy in the benefit department ask for a report on all employees that regularly purchase soda or other junk food? Americans spend something like 5% of our annual income on groceries. Saving 10% of that is half a percent. I'm not sure I'd want to give my employer that much information about me for half a percent. There's a reason that corporate is pushing so hard to get 100% participation, and I seriously doubt that reason is that they really really want to save their employees a few bucks. There's some angle here. Some way they figure this will either save them some money or bring in more revenue. I think you nailed it.
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