Re: Corned Beef Brisket (and a mild rant)

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.