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From: Ed P <esp@snet.n>
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: Corned Beef Brisket (and a mild rant)
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:37:23 -0400
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On 3/13/2025 3:16 PM, Jill McQuown wrote:
> I love corned beef brisket.  Unfortunately it is only available in 
> grocery stores around St. Patrick's Day.  This is why I try to buy three 
> of them so I can stash a couple in the freezer to cook later in the year.
> 
> This is actually a mild rant about those grocery store "loyalty" cards. 
> I went to my usual supermarket (Publix) yesterday.  They advertised 
> corned beef brisket priced at $4.99/lb.  They don't require a "card" to 
> get that price.  Unfortunately, they only had one left.  I bought it and 
> put it in the freezer.
> 
> This morning on my way to work I stopped at Food Lion to buy a couple 
> more and fortunately they still had a few.  But Food Lion requires what 
> they call an MVP card to get the same price as Publix ($4.99/lb.).
> 
> I paid just over $19 each for two of them at Food Lion.  Both slightly 
> over 3.5 lbs.  If I hadn't used the Food Lion "card", it would have cost 
> me $23 more for the two briskets.  It says so on the receipt.  My 
> question is WHY?!
> 
> This is what I don't understand about those loyalty cards/apps.  Let's 
> pretend I was visiting friends or family from a place that doesn't have 
> a Food Lion [insert other grocery stores that require loyalty cards/apps 
> to get the best price].  I'd have no reason to have their "card".  Let's 
> further pretend I decided to go to this grocery store to buy a corned 
> beef brisket to cook for my friends.  Is there any logical reason why I 
> should have to pay $30 for a corned beef someone with the *card* could 
> by for $19?  I can't think of a single reason why they are allowed to 
> price gouge someone simply because they don't have a store loyalty card.
> 
> Jill

The simple explanation is "because they can"

The idea is to build loyalty and people will shop there for the discount.

Rather than go to Food Lion, I'd wait a day or two and go back to Publix 
to see if they re-stocked.  That sale is until next Wednesday.