To Brendon J. Wilson: You don’t have to carry a Safeway card with you (oh you have no idea how much I wish you didn’t have to carry a Save-On card). And do you shop at Mountain Equipment Co-Op more often than the grocery store? Prioritize. It really, really isn’t that hard to have the cards with you if you think about it.

I don’t mean to insult anyone and I apologize if it came out that way, but please try to look at this situation with some empathy and perspective.

Do you work for Save On Foods? If you did, which you somewhat claim to, then you would know that it’s possible to key in a members card number. What kind of prehistoric system doesn’t allow it? I’ve been with the company since 2002, and I’ve worked with many different OS’s. Each one has given the option to manually punch in a number.

And Braiden…who claims to work for the company as well. I’m sorry my dear, but you’re a buffoon. I hope you’re not telling the customers that they can’t use their phone number because “they might have a hell of a lot of points and someone could steal them”?! What the hell is wrong with you, did you or did you not receive any sort of training for your job?

The reason we can’t use a customers phone number is quite simple. Our computers simply don’t allow it. Save Ons head office hasn’t set up the option of doing so. Not to say it won’t in the future, but at this present time, it’s purely a SCANNING option.

I’m wondering, to the topic creator… what location did you have such shitty service at?

You’re more than able to use another customers Save On More card if they are willing to lend it to you. Even new employees know this, as they’re told “You are not able to scan YOUR OWN personal card for a customer if they are unable to provide their own. However, if another customer in line is offering the use of their card, it’s acceptable” The only thing we can’t do, is ask them for you. Otherwise, borrow and lend away.

A lot of Save On stores are no longer offering the use of a “Store Card” We had one for a few months, and then just recently it was no longer available for use. I never understood the reasoning for that. However there are times when there are no other customers around and the person at my till would really prefer to get the savings but either don’t have their card with them, or don’t want to take the time to sign up for another card, to which I’ll tell them I’ll use the “store card”, but just use a random left behind/old/random card floating around my till.

Unlike what Jen says, 5 posts up, using another persons card and later returning something will have NO effect on the other customer. The full card number does not appear on the bill, and therefor in order for the card to be affected, the said card needs to be re swiped.

The next time a clerk or member of the management team tells you you’re unable to use another customers card, tell them you know for a fact they’re full of shit.

In regards to manually punching in a card number, I will admit to being told by management that we are not allowed to do this. However, I do it whenever I’m unable to scan a card. I’m unsure of the reasoning behind this, as it’s not like we’re fabricating the card number out of our heads. As long as we’re not punching in the number while doing a Card Transfer, I don’t see the harm.

And the iPhone app has worked at my store, they just need to use the gun. I’d definitely hold off on letting them put your phone on top of the scanner itself.

Save On Foods isn’t the best place to shop, my dear people. You’ve no idea what kind of bullshit goes on behind the scenes.
I highly recommend not applying for any sort of job their, either.

Best of luck for your shopping future :)

I don’t mind if other people use my card number/phone number to EARN me points – go ahead, steal my number – but you can’t steal my points without stealing my card (steal my card and I report it as stolen, so you still can’t steal my points)!

I’m getting tired of Canadians beating the “business is evil” drum. Business isn’t inherently good or evil, it’s up to those in charge of the corporations that make it one or the other. That’s not to say that there shouldn’t be accountability, merely that ridding ourselves of corporations would also eliminate most of the positive changes that corporations have wrought over mankind’s entire history.

Regarding cashiers, there are a lot of brainless robots out there who goes by the book. If they were really smart, then they would have known exactly how the SOM card system works. Although the employee’s contract states that they are not allowed to punch in the SOM# manually, smart employees will disregard that part of the contract and use a random card, as long as the managers are not around.

And then the points. The company donates the points to charity for tax write-off purposes. In my opinion, this should be made illegal in Canada. It’s a form of tax evasion. The fact that you have to use so much points to get so little is even more incriminating. I think 1000 points is equivalent to $1. Outrageous!

Lastly, the prices. The prices are still too high even with the discounts. Because of that, the managers (majority of them are high-school dropouts) end up making more money than the average professional workers. Store managers make $90K/year! But if you shop in let’s say a produce-only market, the supermarket owner is more inclined to cheat on taxes (by voiding cash transactions). So it’s just a matter of picking your poison. I prefer the latter, because I prefer competition than an SOF monopoly.

If you want better customer service, it’s impossible. The (outsourced) foreign workers are responsible for the dismal wages in Canada. The corporations created the notion of outsourcing workers in the first place. If you want a dramatic change (paradigm shift?), then the first thing to do is to remove the majority of the corporations’ powers. Otherwise, be succumbed by the corporations’ ruling power.