Ageism in the Self-checkout Lane

[jerseygirl]

At grocery stores I use, ShopRite and Acme (a stop n shop store) have apps. The digital coupons are on the app, click on them. Either my cell phone number at Acme, or a card for ShopRite allows the digital coupons to be selected for the item and gives discount.

[Deleted]

Feb 25, 2022 21:11:46 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

I'll need to learn how to do the digital coupons at check out again at that store.

Or they'll need to make it more user-friendly.  At the chains I use, you scan your card and the deals get applied.  The exceptions are  CVS and Big Lots- I get e-mails for, say, 35% off one item and have to load it to my card, present the card and then make sure it gets taken off.  At Big Lots I can also show the a bar code from the e-mail confirmation.    The latter two seem to be more work than they need to be.

BTW, I highly recommend an app called Key Ring.  You scan in the card, take pics of both sides, and put the card in a drawer. The only physical card I keep with me is Costco since they have to have a physical card. The few times that the merchant can't scan the card, they can key in the numbers.

[Opti]

Feb 25, 2022 21:27:35 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

At grocery stores I use, ShopRite and Acme (a stop n shop store) have apps. The digital coupons are on the app, click on them. Either my cell phone number at Acme, or a card for ShopRite allows the digital coupons to be selected for the item and gives discount.

I haven't added any apps to the smart phone yet. I clip my ShopRite coupons here on the laptop and I find them easier to see. But I may want to do that given how flaky the system has been. Not sure if I'll try for my $1 off on the ground pork brick today before it expires or not. Weirdly it's in there twice online, so should the system be up after this, I might clip both just to be safe. 

I missed out on the $1.99 can of Almonds last week because the digital coupons seemed to be in glitch mode. I know I clipped that one, but the system showed I hadn't clipped a single coupon. If they are on the flyer, you can get around it that way, but otherwise you need a compassionate customer service desk to help you out. Some days I'm just not up to standing there twenty or so minutes.

[wvugurl26]

Some coupons have to be added to the account. Regular sale prices will come off though with just scanning the card or entering phone number.

[Opti]

WVU, I've had more than one instance where I clip the coupon and it becomes unclipped. I'm going to track it, I'm starting to think its due to updates on the last day of the sale. Just like they pull and update prices on the shelves on Sat and change them over to Sunday prices. I think somehow, sometimes, someone pushes updates to the coupons and it unchecks whatever you had clipped if you did it recently. Like that week. If you clipped it more than a week ago, it seems to survive. 

Their flyer runs Sunday through Saturday and I do more grocery shopping Saturday afternoon than I have in the past. I used to go on my way home after work or usually earlier on my days off. I avoid the early Sunday crowd as I hate lines and crowded parking lots. 

[Lizard Queen]

I don't know how the target one works anymore. First it was one thing, then I had to switch to a different app. Now nothing seems to be working, and it's a pain in the ass to even bother with it. We don't have fresh groceries in ours and it's farther away, so I don't go there that often.

[Artemis Windsong]

Just give the deal to everyone who buys the product. No gimmicky stuff.

[NoNamePerson]

Feb 26, 2022 11:26:51 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I don't know how the target one works anymore. First it was one thing, then I had to switch to a different app. Now nothing seems to be working, and it's a pain in the ass to even bother with it. We don't have fresh groceries in ours and it's farther away, so I don't go there that often.

I was in Target last week and wound up leaving the few things I had on the conveyor belt because it was taking cashier, customer and then call out to someone else maybe bill gates to figure out what was problem with app. I admit I have zero patience in grocery stores anymore! Maybe a designated register for apps, digital coupons, etc. you know those things that are supposed to make shopping Faster and Easier. 

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2022 21:24:01 GMT -5 Artemis Windsong said:

Just give the deal to everyone who buys the product. No gimmicky stuff.

Ah, but then they wouldn't be able to get information on what you're doing and what you buy.

It's my understanding that apps share information with each other- so your Target app knows that you're ordering groceries through your Wal-Mart app or that you did a search on the Amazon app for PS-5s.  They can then change what ads they "serve" to you.  I limit the number of apps on my phone to ones that are actually useful 99% of the time because of that.  Fortunately the 2 grocery stores where I shop regularly have cards that work well and that I can store on my phone in the Key Ring app.

Even if you just use the loyalty card it means they probably have your e-mail address and can bombard you with ads. My local chain doesn't target them very well- I mostly get their routine "flyers" in the e-mail with lots of stuff I never buy.

[Artemis Windsong]

I like grocery ads better than searching apps. I can compare one store to the other for price.

I have time so I can shop multiple grocers. A big shopping list goes to Walmart and Sam's Club. The rest of the time it's replacing what we've run out of like produce.

[nidena]

For some reason, this thread makes me think of that part of the movie Murphy's Romance where James Garner's character gives a ride in his vintage car to an old guy in the film and that guy yells at Garner for "going too fast"...at 30 mph.

I think technology, in general, is inherently age-ist because it's often created by younger folx for younger folx.

I'm sure similar issues came about when everything was required to have a barcode rather than a price sticker.

It's just continued evolution of how things are done.