My mother used to shop at what may be the same Safeway where Deckman shops. Many years ago Safeway was using printed paper grocery bags to promote some legislation that Mom opposed, so when she reached the clerk, she said "I won't use that grocery bag. Please find a plain one for me." It took about 10 minutes for the bag boy to return with the plain bags from the bowels of the building, but astonishingly the entire line stayed put. They packed Mom's groceries, and as she was leaving, she heard the guy behind her in line say "I don't want that bag either." In the next day or two they were back to plain bags.

MMario, I also regularly instruct bag people on how to properly load the sacks. They're so used to popping a single item into the thin plastic (that is liable to shred and drop it's contents) that they don't know how to plan ahead to pack paper bags properly. When they try the "one item per sack" routine it amounts to a heckuva lot of paper.

All of the big grocery stores down here in Texas have the cards, and have had for a while. I complained bitterly at first, but have since changed strategies. I still restrict my shopping at each store to things I know are actually cheapest. To skew the statistics, I regularly offer my card to the person behind me if they come through without one. The more bizarre their purchases, the better.
I regularly request paper bags instead of plastic, and when I remember, take along the cloth bags instead.

My aunt and cousins in Canada have some kind of purchase card that they present at member businesses. When I was in Calgary a few years ago I went to a sale at The Bay to pick up a couple of Hudson's Bay blankets for my children. My aunt presented her card with my purchase--it didn't affect my cost, but she has managed to parley this into air miles and flown quite a bit with it. Don't know what the program is, but it seems to work for her. The Canadian dollar certainly worked for me!

Finally, here are some approaches to junkmail that is generated by these databases. You'll find more (also phone lists and email lists) at Do-it-yourself: Stop junk mail, email and phone calls.

Bulk mail for "current resident or ...": Start with sending a postcard or letter to

DMA Mail Preference Service
PO Box 9008
Farmingdale NY 11735-9008

Write "please activate the mail preference service", and include the name, address, and zip code. You must send individual postcards -- for some strange reason the DMA does not officially accept listings for former residents, and will ignore requests that don't appear to be from a single individual.

First class and some bulk mail: If the former residents neglected to fill out a Post Office change of address card, or it expired, you can fill one out for them. You must fill out one card for each unique last name. Write "Moved, Left No Forwarding Address" as the new address. Sign your own name and write "Form filled in by current resident of the house, [Your Name], agent for the above". You must write "agent for the above". Hand this form directly to your carrier, if possible, as your carrier must approve the form and see that it gets entered into the post service National Change of Address (NCOA) database. This is very effective.

SRS