Rewards

Those cards... they really do nothing but complicate life, when all is said and done...

No, I’m not talking about Christmas cards... they deserve a rant, too, but I’ll get to that some other time.

It’s those ‘rewards’ cards. They’re a strategy on the part of merchandisers to engender loyalty, all bundled up and hyped up to make it look (to people who don’t think too deeply about it) like a big money-saving deal.

First it was coffee. That was OK, actually, kind of quaint & old fashioned. Buy a cup, get the paper card punched (just like the lunch lady used to clip the lunch tickets back when I was in elementry school) and when the card is peppered with 5 circular punches, you get a free cup of coffee. Yeah, cute. But nevertheless not worth the time it would take to dig the card out of my wallet....

Then the Hanes outlet started doing it, except with panty hose. Every time I go there, they ask me if I have a card. I never do, so they further waste my time by asking me if I want one. No. No, I hate panty hose & buy as few as possible. The card would no doubt turn to dust before I bought enough panty hose to get a free pair, or whatever.

The latest offender is Subway. OK, so I enjoy a Veggie Delite Wrap once in a while, or a six inch turkey breast sub with lettuce & tomato... But their new ‘rewards card’ is downright complicated! It looks like a credit card, and cannot only be used for rewards (You’ve earned 10 points! Good girl! You can have a cookie!) but it can be loaded (and re-loaded) with cash.

I’m not exactly sure why one would want to load cash on a Subway card, except as a gift- to someone who really *gak* loves Subway.

Or for yourself, if you’re too air-headed to keep a balance of cash in your wallet on the chance you get a craving for a Veggie Delite or some such sandwich. In that case, there’s even an ‘automatic reload’ feature... *rolls eyes* Talk about complicated...