THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502070051
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Morsels
SOURCE: Ruth Fantasia
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
AS I WANDER the aisles in supermarkets these days, I feel as I did in elementary school:
Left out.
It's all those stickers on on the shelves. Eggs for 29 cents, if you have a Farm Fresh Gold Card. Save up to 20 percent, if you have a Food Lion MVP card.
The new cards look like credit cards but entitle the holder to discounts on selected products.
Not having one is like being the bespectacled schoolkid who's never picked for the team.
But by filling out an application, I can play, too. The questions on some applications seem unnecessary, however. They ask how many children I have and their ages, and bank account information. Things for me to know. Not the supermarkets.
Both stores say answering personal questions is not required. But the stores' cards do differ.
If you want to use your Farm Fresh card to cash checks, supply the bank-account information.
The Food Lion card cannot be used as a check identification, says Jay Abraham, Food Lion's vice president of marketing.
Also, Farm Fresh's Card allows customers to get special prices on selected items. You can purchase only the special items and save the same amount as someone buying a month's worth of groceries.
But Food Lion's MVP Card are tied to your total grocery bill. Spend less than $20, you save 5 percent on selected items. Spend more than $20 and you save 10 percent; more than $50 and you save 20 percent.
Farm Fresh changes its Gold Card specials weekly and includes 25 to 50 items. But Farm Fresh also offers several hundred ``Gold Card Values,'' in-store specials that apply to all shoppers, says Susan Mayo, Farm Fresh vice president.
The 400-product list at Food Lion changes every four weeks.
Food Lion stores can't list variable-weight products, such as fresh meats and produce items for discount. Farm Fresh can but places a weight limit on the item.
Both cards are easy to use. When the cashier scans your card, the register deducts your savings.
The advantage for the stores: The systems track shopping habits.
``It will allow us to tailor our products according to consumer demand,'' Abraham says.
Which, hopefully, will turn into an advantage for consumers. MEMO: MORE MORSELS ON PAGE F4
by CNB