Nowadays most grocery stores encourage shoppers to sign up and use their bonus discount cards. This usually requires an application to be filled out and then the customer receives a discount card in exchange to use to receive savings on grocery items purchased in the store.

While this all sounds great on the surface, there are many privacy issues associated with grocery discount cards. Are these cards really offering savings or are they simply a scheme to gain personal information from consumers?

The answer to this question is not all that simple and perhaps the answer is "both". While some stores may indeed offer steep discounts in order to grow a loyal customer base, other companies may simply be inflating prices only to bring them back down with a grocery discount card scan and give the impression of perceived savings.

Here are some privacy issues associated with use of grocery discount cards:

*Share Personal Details

Many grocery stores have detailed application where they ask for sensitive data such as social security numbers (especially if they offer check cashing privileges), name, address, bank account information, and phone numbers. Applications vary from store to store in what kind of information is requested.

Some grocery stores keep information internally, but others have partnerships with other businesses. It is always a good idea to carefully read a store's privacy policies before giving up any personal information so you know exactly where your data is going and who it's being shared with.

*Track Purchases

These grocery discount cards carefully track every purchase made and are logged into a database where reports can be generated so managers can analyze data and use this to market, advertise, target customers or set pricing.

Every time a grocery store swipes a card, every item purchased and how much a customer was willing to pay for the item is logged and tracked. This helps grocery stores determine who is willing to pay higher prices for an item because of brand or product loyalty and see those will only purchase when items are on sale.

This helps determine who gets what types of coupons and establishes who gets what promotionals in the mail.

*Knows Consumer Buying Habits

Through the use of grocery discount cards, food stores can reasonably predict the times of year people are more willing to buy an item, or how often they'll make a purchase. While this may not bother some people because they don't mind giving up some privacy in exchange for

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