> I hope you vote with your wallet to make these supermarkets go out of business.
I do -- not to make anyone go out of business, but because I prefer to shop at supermarkets that don't spy on me. At least in my part of the US, they do still exist and while they do, that's where I'll shop.
The point (for me) isn't to encourage or discourage any particular business practice. It's purely a self-defensive move on my part.
If you're not a zealot that preference probably melts as soon as you need it fast, or an exclusive price or item. Just from my observations the best performing supermarkets are in low crime areas with an ethnic minority as a majority. Supermarkets that try these tracking techniques aren't doing well, and I don't blame them for trying to survive and bring fresh food.
The problem is that stores that do use rewards programs hike up their prices so that the rewards programs are necessary just to get normal prices. This means it's not sufficient to just not use the program -- I need to use a store that doesn't have such a program.
It's also not just about rewards programs. It's about all of the various surveillance mechanisms these companies use. Going to a supermarket these days is like going into enemy territory.
But all of this isn't relevant to my comment. My comment was just that any business is responsible for the decisions it makes.