[quote name='sykotek']Reward cards may be free in that it doesn't cost the consumer any money, but it's a far better deal for retailers to be able to learn about your personal shopping habits and what you use your coupons on.
It saves them a ton of money on market research and is in their best interest for consumers to continue to use them.
About the exclusion on video games..., there's not much profit to be made off individual sales of video games from distributor to retailer and because of their higher price tag, it's easier to get coupons after buying them, so that's most likely the reason why they're tossing video games into their exclusion list...they've done it for their online shipping a couple months back already.
Just do what I do... (I did the same thing when Best Buy stopped sending me reward coupons shortly after their reward program was introduced) and from now on, pay with cash, stop using their reward cards and stop giving them the ability to track your purchases.
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Oh, one last thing I forgot to mention. Starting a few months back, the Toys R Us in my area started to charge higher prices for toys (a Transformers set I bought was a full $5 more, it happened a couple more times after that too I noticed)...higher than online prices and the prices at another nearby Toys R Us. When I asked them about it, they said they were doing it because their rent was higher. Their internal price scanners also reflected higher prices. So, for toys, unless it is in their ad, they don't have to follow any sort of standardized pricing. Some deal huh?[/QUOTE]
Same here they raised the prices on almost everything compared to other stores and they are just higher priced in general, a good deal in TRU on current toys is usually pretty rare unless it is in the ad, especially if you are comparing to other online stores. They raise the price on Pokemon plush toys they charge 9.99 each for them now or at least they did at the last check when other stores charge 6.99 each.
They have also been known to raise the prices on certain video games, in the past they have charged $70 for Nintendo published Pokemon console games, they charged $70 for Pokemon Colloseum when MSRP on it was $50 and I know they have done it more than once. I think they were charging $50 for Pokemon Channel as well when MSRP on that one was $30. Kmart I think did the same thing for Pokemon Colloseum. I don't think they do that nowdays though but they used to. I am surprised they don't put the $5 Nintendo tax on DS games like Gamestop does.