Expect something extra

Today I went down to CVS to drop off three rolls of film to be developed (yes, I am a bit tardy joining the digital age). Quite frankly, I have no idea what is on them, other than most recently pictures from Bermuda last May. Everything before that will be a surprise.

This happens to me a lot. For one thing, I take pictures so infrequently that one roll can span a period of over a year. For another, I’m the kind of procrastinator that often forgets or puts off getting rolls developed. This particular case was exacerbated by several months of unemployment when photos were not high enough on the list of priorities to crack the wallet.

As I was standing at the counter filling out a separate envelope for each roll, the photo woman waited on two or three customers, each time asking,

“Do you have a CVS card?”

Something you should know about me: I hate store savings cards. I hate that I have to remember to bring my card each time I go to qualify for $0.20 in savings. I hate searching for bargains and realizing the posted sale prices won’t apply to me, the lowly cardless. Most of all, I hate a policy that was created to increase store loyalty while simultaneously inconveniencing customers that is then presented as a benefit to those same customers.

How exactly is it beneficial to me to qualify for savings only if I have my card? How is this more practical for me than receiving the posted savings simply by shopping there?

I realize this is all a bit over the top. It is, after all a mild inconvenience: a brief form and then yet another card to carry in your wallet. But it’s the principle of the thing. For this reason, I generally strike back by patronizing stores that don’t have such policies. When I lived in Wellsville, I used to love Giant Food Mart, the chief competition of Topps, one of the early forerunners of this insidious trend. Giant used to have their registers tally your sales price savings and instruct their cashiers to say, “your cardless savings today is $X.” I loved that.

I had already submitted two of my rolls by the time I realized the battle of principle versus practicality I would have to wage: avoid paperwork, keep my wallet clutter free and fight the power, or potentially save some money on my photos.





My new card promises me that “ExtraCare pays you back.” I hope they realize I’m going to hold them to it.