Letter Re: Making Low Profile Bulk Food Purchases

Sir,  
Your comment to the article on Budget Survival strategies cautioned about the use of grocery store club cards, as potentially allowing your purchases to be tracked.  For those concerned about this, there are simple work-arounds, and the cost savings of using club cards is usually in the order of 30% to 50% or more.   

Club cards are usually available at the store through a quick sign-up process, and fake names, phone numbers and addresses can be used.  (I signed up for my first club card under the name Georgina Orwell; and with Sherlock Holmes’s “221b Baker Street” address. I’m sure the literary allusions were lost on the clerk who gave me my card.  I used that card for at least 10 years without any problem.)   If  given the option to opt out of mailings, do so, since the returned mail might trigger a cancellation of the card.    Regards, – N.A.