Matt Prewett, top, and other protestors demonstrate against Albertson's new shopping cards.

If you purchased a couple of boxes of sandwich baggies at the local supermarket using your shopper's card, it's possible that your name was placed on a watch list or given to local police departments. "There was a case in Arizona," explained Katherine Albrecht, founder of CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering), "in which purchase records were subpoenaed because a shopper was accused of selling pot.

"Consider the implications for a soccer mom buying baggies for a bake sale," she added.

Supermarket "loyalty" cards are big business in a highly competitive industry because they allow stores to know consumers on an intimate basis. On the surface, shoppers are rewarded for their purchases through discounts, frequent flyer miles, or coupons printed at the cash register.

In November, Albertson's supermarkets in Fort Worth and Dallas announced a loyalty card program, reversing a long- held and much-advertised "No Card, No Hassle" policy. The news release announcing the momentous event was filled with enough doublespeak to make George Orwell cringe. A consumer survey was cited in which people said they would "spend more money at Albertson's if a loyalty card was offered." Customer response, according to the release, has been "overwhelming."

Company spokeswoman Jeannette Duwe, speaking from Albertson's corporate offices in Boise, Idaho, said that a majority of customers are using the card. "We had done quite a bit of research and learned that the card was something they wanted," she said. "Since we've rolled it out we've been overwhelmed by the response, the absolutely positive response."

The negative response is growing, too. On a Saturday morning at the end of January, 40 people, some affiliated with CASPIAN, demonstrated in front of an Albertson's in Irving. Most carried posters with slogans like, "This is a grocery store, not a country club. I won't show I.D. to buy bread!" Protest organizer Matt Prewett's placard read, "I do not like the idea of anyone having a record of my purchases. I resent the idea that I would have to pay a penalty to prevent them from having that information."

Individually, the protestors cited numerous reasons for card-loathing: unfair pricing, lack of privacy, the hassle factor, and the general creepiness of Big Brother examining and analyzing purchases.

Tim Shaw of Dallas fell into the hassle-factor camp, saying that loyalty cards are inconvenient. "I don't want to keep track of another card." Mary DeMuth of Tool traveled almost two hours to help raise awareness about the loyalty cards. "The public doesn't understand what the cards are about," she said. DeMuth doesn't want anyone to keep track of her purchases. "In the beginning, the cards don't seem like a big deal, but once the information is abused, it's over," she explained. "We only have as much privacy as we demand."

Spokeswoman Duwe explained her company's privacy policy: "[Albertson's is] committed to maintaining the personal privacy of our customers. We will not sell or share or distribute any information to individuals outside our company. Periodically we will notify customers of special sales or values that are relevant to their shopping preferences." CASPIAN's response: Your shopping habits are private only until someone with legal authority gains access to it.

J.L. "Sonny" Williams, president and CEO of Minyard Food Stores Inc., said that Minyard plans to stick with a "no card" policy. "We hear from customers on a regular basis thanking us for not requiring a loyalty card to shop for groceries," he said in an e-mailed statement.

Williams also cited the aggravation of a card program. "To have to produce a card to realize savings at the checkout lane is a hassle we don't want to put our customers through," he explained.

Loyalty card program participants essentially sell information to grocery stores. Every major chain that has instituted a loyalty card program says it does so to save shoppers money. Shoppers surrender information on their spending habits in exchange for these "discounts." But the savings are only about as substantial as a receipt that's gone through the wash: They don't hold up.

When manufacturers offer incentives to grocery stores, the discounts are offered to all stores. If you purchased a two-pound loaf of Velveeta at Minyard Food Stores on Feb. 3, you would have paid $3.99. On the same day, the same item was advertised at Kroger and Albertson's for the same price -- if a loyalty card was used. The ads touted "card savings" of $2.00 off the "regular" price of $5.99. The same week, one pound of gala apples at Albertson's cost $1.29 with the preferred card, $1.49 without. At Minyard, the apples were on sale for $.99, marked down from $1.49.

Duwe said that Albertson's is competitively priced but looks at the bigger picture. She said that the preferred card enables the store to give customers "deeper savings." "We are focused on more than price, but on total value," she said. "Customers will find clean stores and a competitively priced basket throughout."

Albrecht of CASPIAN said she has heard from hundreds of people who have presented evidence of mark-ups of from 20 to 200 percent. "Proprietary shopping cards are not about rewarding good customers. They're about screwing the non-customers," Albrecht said. "The people who do not have the card subsidize the program -- people who are older, don't speak English, or are travelers, tourists."

Picketers Mike and Naomi Lynch of The Colony could be considered professional shoppers. Naomi has cards from all the major chains hanging from a key chain in her jacket. "I use them but I don't like it," she explained. According to Mike, they raised six children on a food budget for four by shopping smart. They pull ads from the newspaper on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and stock up whenever they can. Mike boasts that they have 200 rolls of paper towels in the garage. "Privacy is not my issue," he said. "It's that we are being deceived. Prices have gone up since they started the card program." His protest poster depicted Albertson's price increases with "before-card" and "after- card" ads.

But where there is a will to save, there is a way to do so without surrendering privacy. Some obtain shopper cards under false names (CASPIAN's long argument against fake cards can be read at www.nocards.org). Others tell the cashier a fib about leaving the card at home; checkout clerks have a card on hand, which confers savings without giving up one iota of privacy. And then no one will know how much Ben & Jerry's a gal can consume in a year.