The Least Useful Guide to Fukuoka

On Thursdays, my husband joyfully goes to a local supermarket with “Self-discount Coupon” in his hand.

By putting one of these stickers on a product of your choice (though there are some exceptions), you can get discount as printed on the sticker.

Today, my husband bought a cabbage which is now quite expensive because of the unexpectedly hot weather (huge amount of cabbages have been rotten and the scarcity of the vegetable has pushed up the price), bananas and his favourite milk using the sticker.

I like this service because: a. you don’t have to keep your loyalty card that might leak your personal information to anywhere; b. you can choose only what you want without being forced to buy something unnecessary but hugely discounted. Don’t advise me being a wise shopper who doesn’t get agitated by marketing gimmicks, which is another story.

But as you know, every commercial service is not perfect to consumers; they have to make profit, after all. If we need them to cut the price of their items without making profit, we are robbers.

This nice scheme is not an exception. There are very complicated terms and conditions (the followings are skippable. No problem to go to next paragraph):
A. This store offers this service only on Thursdays, and give the stickers only on Sundays and Mondays to only those who spend more than JPY1,000;
B. You must use up the stickers on the Thursday of the week you get the stickers;
C. So if you want to benefit from this scheme, you have to go to the store at least twice a week; on Sunday or Monday to get the stickers, and on Thursday to use them.

Plus, this store is, by my standard, is quite up-market. Basically everything here is more expensive than in other supermarkets, though this store sells quite high-quality foods, particularly the perishables. 

Do you think which scheme is more practical and user-friendly;  this one, loyalty cards, or ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ type?