Showerthought: my grocery store coupons used to be random, but now they're exactly what I need.

Two years ago, my digital coupons were for things I never bought, but after I signed up for their free 'rewards' card that tracks every purchase, they now only offer discounts on my regular items, which makes me wonder if the convenience is worth them owning a map of my eating habits.

4 comments

4 Comments

jamesf293mo ago

That's the whole trade-off, right? Getting those perfect coupons means they built a detailed profile of you. Ever check if the prices changed on your regular items after you started buying them all the time? Sometimes the "discount" just brings it back to the old price.

the_thomas3mo ago

Yeah, it's like that everywhere now. @jamesf29 is right, the deal you get is based on what they think you'll pay. You end up just running in circles to feel like you saved money.

marydavis3mo ago

Ngl, I saw a whole article about this last week. They track what you look at and how long you look, then change the price. It's not even about coupons anymore. The base price just goes up if they know you want it. Makes the whole idea of a sale feel like a trick.

max_brown29d ago

I mean, I get the concern @marydavis but is it really that big of a deal? Sure, they track what I look at, but I've compared prices on milk and bread at my local store with a friend who buys totally different stuff and they were the same. Maybe I'm just lucky or not buying the right items, but I haven't noticed any sneaky price jumps on my usual stuff after years of using their app.