> loyalty programs" discriminate against the less well off.
The opposite: supermarket loyalty cards are often designed so that the well off pay more: i.e. it is the well off that are being discriminated against. The barriers are designed to allow poorer people to pay less. The topic is called price discrimination.
All the poorer people I know use loyalty cards because they judge them to be valuable (despite the extra hassle).
The less well off often get lower prices (plus valuable rewards) because of the loyalty programs in New Zealand.
I often use my friend's loyalty accounts: so I get the item discounts but they collect the loyalty rewards/cash. Also I like to screw the data surveillance up - I don't get tracked so much and my friend's account is spammed with higher cost items.
Coupons are designed for the same purpose. Allowing poorer people to choose to trade their time/hassle for savings (according to their values).
In loyalty programs the benefit percentage often increases as a function of money spent, disproportionally benefiting the more well off who spend more. I've yet to encounter a loyalty program that would do the inverse (probably there are some that cap the benefits, which could be interpreted to be to this direction). Neither have I seen a loyalty program that would only accept poor people.
Price discrimination is anything where the same product is sold at different price for different buyers. All loyalty programs are price discrimination.
The opposite: supermarket loyalty cards are often designed so that the well off pay more: i.e. it is the well off that are being discriminated against. The barriers are designed to allow poorer people to pay less. The topic is called price discrimination.
All the poorer people I know use loyalty cards because they judge them to be valuable (despite the extra hassle).
The less well off often get lower prices (plus valuable rewards) because of the loyalty programs in New Zealand.
I often use my friend's loyalty accounts: so I get the item discounts but they collect the loyalty rewards/cash. Also I like to screw the data surveillance up - I don't get tracked so much and my friend's account is spammed with higher cost items.
Coupons are designed for the same purpose. Allowing poorer people to choose to trade their time/hassle for savings (according to their values).