Today was the first day that I did not swipe my Safeway card when picking up my regular Starbucks purchase. Effective February 28, Safeway has canceled the long-running United Airlines frequent-flyer program tied to their Safeway Club Card.
In a recent announcement, the move was to focus on reducing prices for ALL shoppers. Not a bad move. Safeway has been higher priced on many items for years. Me? I pick up a few things along with my Starbucks purchases as needed.
It was only to get the miles.
For years, Safeway has awarded to Club Card holders who sign up for the United Mileage Plus Reward program 125 miles for every $250 spent on qualifying merchandise. Will that get me to Fiji? I think not. Does that make me feel like I'm getting something for my loyalty? Absolutely!
The irony in removing a frequent flier program actually runs contrary to the "frequent buyer" mentality. I don't expect to buy my odds and ends there any longer since there is no benefit. My wife does almost 100% of her shopping at Fred Meyer where there is a direct gift card rebate quarterly - and she gets gas discounts.
Starbucks recently initiated their Starbucks Rewards program, seeing the value in rewarding loyalty as McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, and now Burger King continue to provide competition.
In a competitive grocery environment, Safeway may believe they are becoming more competitive, but I would argue they are looking in the wrong places. I can go on and on about process improvement, lean operations and the like - areas where real and significant costs can be engineered out. Sure, it costs Safeway to "buy" the miles United awards, but that is a coveted benefit I will miss.
I would speculate that after a recent request to have Club Card holders "renew" their participation in the program, they may not have had a large number take that action. Again, asking a participating member to "renew" when they can see who are members and how many use the program, seems misguided. They simply don't get it.
I do see one benefit, though: my wallet is now one card lighter!
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