Points cards are popular at many shops and other places of businesses in Japan. How many do you have?

Three.

Zero.

0

One.

None, deliberate policy.

My wife has several for shopping and she uses them effectively for price reductions.

My wife has several for shopping and she uses them effectively for price reductions.

And you?

z e r o

These "point cards" are very valuable to the shops for collecting data.

Mr Kipling

These "point cards" are very valuable to the shops for collecting data.

Sounds like paranoid. The only data they can collect is what we buy. Good if it improves the products stocked by the store. We pay cash.

The only data they can collect is what we buy.

What you buy alone can give away a lot of information. It can work out your shopping patterns and habits. Smoking, drinking, preferred stores. If you have to give your name when you apply it can be tied to you. However, unless you pay strictly by cash alone, you cannot be certain that data is not being collected anyway.

Sounds like paranoid. The only data they can collect is what we buy.

Did you know that the cards from different stores are often linked? Stores that are completely unrelated? You buy shoes at ABC mart, then a drone at Bic Camera? Don Quixote will know if you have their point card.

Mr Kipling

Sounds like paranoid. The only data they can collect is what we buy.

Did you know that the cards from different stores are often linked? Stores that are completely unrelated? You buy shoes at ABC mart, then a drone at Bic Camera? Don Quixote will know if you have their point card.

We only use point cards issued by the store, which can only be used in that store. We have no fears about using them.

Point cards are a joke. I had one 24 years ago at one higher-end supermarket (similar to 成城石井 but local) and it said, literally, "Spend more than ¥10,000 and get a stamp. For everyone 100 stamps you get a ¥100 discount on your next purchase." So, if you spent ¥1,000,000 you got ¥100 "free". At Subway in North America I think it used to be 10 foot-long subs and you got a free one. Here, when I came, it was around 25 subs and you got a free 6".

Never mind how fat your wallet became with point cards if you got one for every shop. Now they're doing the point thing with apps, but of course you need a separate app for every shop, and most suck.

Our point cards or app for three local stores gives us 10% off.