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The initial use of the key is to identify a customer as one of our regulars so that some of the customary and bothersome questions can be stopped to speed up the check out process. We know that when you are ready to check out, you are ready to go and get out as quickly as possible. When a person has a Spec's Key, we no longer ask for identification with a check or credit card unless the purchase is large. The key does that process while the cashier is scanning other products. Speeding up our checkouts and lessening the bothersome quizzing of our regular customers by new cashiers was our motivation to install this costly system.
What else can I get out of using the Key?
We now have gone to our vendors and asked for special discounts to give to our frequent and best customers. They all like to do that because they know the discounts are going to the consumer they want to attract for their products. Many of you must like the idea because the first beer on the program tripled in sales the first month. You discovered it and that is just what the new supplier wanted to do. The discounts are all over the store and the number of them is growing each month. They are labeled on the shelves with a yellow tag that says, "Key Special" and the amount of discount is shown. A complete list of items can be found on our website listed under "Specials."
What are the points about and how can they get used?
The Spec's Key points are really an in-house tool for us when it comes to the distribution of allocated wines. We receive several highly sought-after wines each year in very limited quantities. We needed a way to insure that our everyday, loyal customer got first chance to acquire these wines over the customer who would shop with us only when allocated wines were released. Now when a limited-quantity wine comes in, we run a report based on Key points. The customers with the highest points are called first.
What else can I do with points?
Discounts for tastings, dinners and wine classes are often available as well. Notification of these types of events goes out via email, so it's very important that we have up to date email addresses for anyone who wants to stay "in the loop."
A final word about points.
The Spec's Key was designed for identification purposes to speed along a customer's sale and to aid in the disposition of allocated wines. The points allotted to merchandise were a means to give us a benchmark for customers in relation to allocated wines. They were never meant to indicate the possibility of free alcoholic merchandise. If allocated wines don't interest you, then the "points" feature of our Key is meaningless for you. On the other hand, if you are a collector of hard to get wines, the system we have in place will reward those of you who shop with us on a regular basis.