It's Finally Happened

About five years ago, I signed up for a "Safeway Club" card at the my local supermarket. As it turns out, Safeway somehow got my name wrong — to them, I'm Eric Folkey, not Folley. I certainly didn't complain, because it occured to me that this would be a great way to know if Safeway ever used my buying information for marketing purposes, or sold my profile to another company.

And today I got my first piece of mail for "Eric Folkey", telling me about the big savings I can expect the next time I purchase Heinz products at Safeway. It came from Safeway, apparently, which is a relief, but at first I couldn't understand why I would have been targeted to receive this particular mailing. Then I saw the picture of "Ore-Ida Golden Crinkles" as an example of one of the qualifying brands, so kudos to Safeway, then, for at least sending me something I might possibly be interested in. I'm a bit surprised, though, that it took Safeway five years to send out that first solicitation (surprised, but also a little relieved), and I know I won't be following up on this "special offer", since I have to buy five matching items, and I just can't eat that many Tater-Tots. Sorry, Charlie (Starkist Tuna is another qualifying brand, but one which I don't buy).