Craig,

>I don't do that either. One supermarket chain here has these stupid discount cards. I refuse to shop there because they ask too many personal questions on the form. They don't need to know that Craig bought item XYZ in order to stock it. All they need to know is that item XYZ was purchased.

The primary focus of those supermarket cards is targeted marketing. It hit me last week just how much the Kroger chain knows about my buying habits in exchange for giving me those discounts.

Every time I check out I get a printed-on-demand store coupon, usually for something I just bought in that batch of groceries. But, last week I got a coupon for a FREE ($4.29 value) container of Folgers instant cappuccino powdered mix -- but there was nothing in my order that had anything to do with coffee.

While mulling over this unusual occurrence, I remembered that in Houston a few weeks ago I bought a product from one of Folger's competitors: a cannister of flavored International Coffee mix...