The Rite-Aid for Smart Student Shoppers

One day, I struggled to contain the ridiculous creature that I call my key chain. I had to sort through complicated Disney character charms, a hot pink can of mace (it's a rough world out there), three unalike keys that I still have trouble distinguishing which door each opens, and six store loyalty cards. Do I even use all six of those cards? No. In fact, as a busy and broke college student, I only use my Rite-Aid wellness+ card on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, students are limited in where they can shop, especially at the University of Pittsburgh. Pitt's campus sits in Oakland, a bustling sliver of the city of Pittsburgh. Pitt's Oakland campus isn't exactly grocery friendly for the thousands of college students that call the area home. Especially for busy students like me and my peers, time is rarely available to take a bus to Shadyside or Southside to go to Giant Eagle. Besides, I usually need only a few basic necessities between my trips back home every few weeks.

In the heart of Oakland along Forbes Avenue, there is a CVS, a Rite-Aid, and an IGA. If you're really in a pinch for foods only sold at large grocery stores (frozen chicken, fresh deli meat and cheeses, or fresh produce) IGA is your best bet. IGA has just about everything a large grocery store would, but items can be pricey. You can definitely find some items for a better offer at Rite-Aid or CVS. Most importantly, IGA doesn't offer a loyalty program. Stores with loyalty cards definitely offer an incentive to consumers to shop at their store. Even if you're not getting the best deal, you feel like you've saved some change.

Large drugstore chains like Rite-Aid not only offer a loyalty program but an additional incentive to Pitt students that other stores don't—convenience. Not only is there a Rite-Aid on Forbes, but there is another larger Rite-Aid just around the corner on Atwood Street with a substantial freezer and cooler section and pharmacy. For students living in university housing in the heart of campus, Rite-Aid is most convenient. I only shop at Rite-Aid because CVS is too far from my general stomping ground in Oakland. It's a whopping four blocks from Rite-Aid and way out of the way from my humble abode deep into the abyss that is South Oakland.

Rite-Aid's wellness+ rewards are pretty simple. The customer earns 1 point for every dollar spent on non-prescription purchases and 25 points for every prescription purchase. These points accrue towards different point levels; the higher the level, the better the savings. Loyalty card customers can create an account on Rite-Aid's website to track their points and see which special offers are available. They can even clip and print coupons on certain items to use next time they shop. These coupons can also be loaded onto their wellness+ card and redeemed when they purchase those products at checkout.

It's not necessarily the card that gets you the discount. You have to be a smart shopper. When shopping, pay attention to what products actually give you the best bang for your buck. If you're going to buy dish detergent for the pile of germ infested dishes in your sink, look at the price tag. Rite-Aid usually offers special discounts on their brand of products, and Rite-Aid brand (or any generic brand available) may come with other discounts as well. Put the money you've saved by buying the generic brand toward a new, flashy pair of Ray Bans that will look amazing while you lay out between classes at Schenley Plaza.

Some consumers are concerned that using store loyalty cards breaches privacy rights. When a loyalty card is scanned at the time of purchase, the customer allows the store to track which items are bought. Most stores use this information to decide which products to carry and which customers to target with specific coupons or discounts.

Store promotions and loyalty cards definitely have a psychological effect on the customer. A recent article in USA Today discusses the analytical measures stores take in order to find better ways to market products to customers. Just as a doctor may use a placebo method on patients, stores use the same idea in marketing strategies. Customers think they've bargain shopped, when in reality they bought in excess of their needs and spent more money.

Cara Pallatino, a junior in the Dietetics and Nutrition program at Pitt, says she isn't really worried that her privacy rights are violated by using her wellness+ card.

"I use my card to get the discounts on sale items and to get points for coupons." When asked if she actually feels she is saving money, she says that she does.

"I can see how much I save with my wellness card on my receipt each time I buy stuff at Rite-Aid. I definitely think I'm saving money, even if it's just a little, it's something."

Smart shopping has infiltrated the smartphone era, as well. There is a plethora of smartphone apps available for free in order to make smart shopping easier. Consumers can download the free Key Ring Rewards Card app on any iPhone, Android, Windows 7, or Blackberry device. App users can scan and store their loyalty cards, use new shopping programs, and receive coupons and special offers via their smartphone. The Key Ring Rewards Card app was voted Best Online Pick and 1st Place in Mobile Commerce for the 2011 Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) Emerging Technology Awards. Apps like this are ideal for the busy and money conscious college student. Students always have their phones on hand, and using an app like Key Ring makes for organized shopping.

It all comes down to smart shopping. Pay attention to store offers, and don't buy in excess of what you need. As college students, we know best when it comes to technology, so take advantage of special smartphone apps to organize loyalty cards and get special discounts. And, if worse comes to worst, unlock that iPhone and ask Siri. After all, Siri knows best.

For more information on the Key Ring Rewards Card app, check out this video from ABC 13 News out of Houston, Texas!

Neil Diamond

Our weekend getaway to New York was over. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I was a walking zombie. I had spent the past two days running all over God’s creation shopping, eating, then shopping more, and eating more. We had all been to New York City before. My mom, Aunt Amy (we call her Titsy, don’t ask), and my cousin Christina took this trip seriously as a shop-till-you-drop (and literally drop) weekend getaway.

First, we hit Fifth Avenue. We looked a little less Carrie Bradshaw and more like obvious tourists strapped down with large bags and a map of the hop-on hop-off bus stops. Of course, we had to go to Tiffany’s. Christina already mapped out her purchase. Tiffany’s in New York has multiple floors so we waited for an elevator. The elevator opened and a tall, good-looking guy dressed in a spiffy suit held the door open for us.

“What floor?”

“Two,” replied the man standing with his girlfriend. We went on the floor where all the silver jewelry was. Then the elevator man gave us the rundown of what was on each of the floors.

“Floor two. Engagement rings, wedding rings. Good luck to you, sir,” he said smiling.

We ventured to Little Italy and China Town the next day. Once again, Christina had a plan. Find the most “real-looking” knock off Louis Vuitton bag. Next thing I know, we’re being ushered through some random hole in the wall (literally, a hole in the wall), up a very tall flight of steps, to a hot steamy makeshift store in an old apartment. This is it, I thought, this is the end of me.

Another day and another marathon around the city, we ended our trip with breakfast at the Carnegie Deli. Although I was tired and hungry, I walked in proudly sporting my favorite purchase of the weekend—a black t-shirt with “Italian Girls Best in the World, Little Italy, New York” written in hot pink letters. “A lot of famous people eat here” was Christina’s reasoning for why we had to have breakfast at the Carnegie. It had been on Food Network, and is famous for the mile high sandwiches and a monstrosity of a cheesecake (literally, they’re six inches thick).

We sat down, ordered, and started babbling about a bunch of nothing until Christina noticed a recognizable character eating lox and bagels.

“That guy is famous,” she said, “who is that?” My mom and I had our backs to the unknown celebrity and didn’t want to rudely stare.

“Oh my god! It’s NEIL DIAMOND!!!” She yelled in some sort of loud whisper, embarrassing us. Neil, caught up in conversation and his lox and bagels, didn’t notice.

You would have thought my mom died and went to heaven. She loves Neil. Christina and my mom went up to Neil, said the traditional “I’m a big fan of yours,” shook his hand, and my aunt and I paid the bill. I could have cared less.

My Favorite Songs Remind Me of My Favorite People and Places

Shampoo.
Multiple pairs of shoes.
Purple bathing suit.
Black bathing suit.
Sunblock.
Phone charger.
Ipod charger.
Ipod.

On rare occasions, when I go on vacation, I try to only pack the essentials. No unnecessary clothes. No unnecessary accessories. But anytime I travel my iPod is an essential. I need it. It keeps me occupied. It keeps my mind wandering.

This vacation would be to Plymouth, Massachusetts about an eleven hour car ride from Pittsburgh. Eleven hours in a car; I couldn’t wait. I enjoy long car rides. I put my headphones in and stare off into the distance watching the road ahead grow bigger as the road behind becomes a dot in the distance. It was still dark out when we started out on the road. I tried to fall back to sleep. It was impossible. The car tires rumbling along the pavement, weaving out of lanes to pass slow traffic, my head bouncing off of the window. I sat up, dug my iPod out of my bag, and relaxed into my own little world. The sun starts to peek through the mountains as we drive across Pennsylvania.

Hand out the window
Floatin' on air
Just a flip of the wrist
And I’m wavin’ you goodbye

Hours into the trip signs read Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. I know someone from Wilkes-Barre, but he’s away now. Then, we climb this rode on the edge of a mountain. We’re close to New York. The sun shines brightly over green colored hills of trees. Shadows from the clouds move across the mountains. Port Jervis, exit 1, keep right. Port Jervis. I met a Mike from Port Jervis when my best friend and I vacationed in Ocean City, MD. We were fourteen. He and his friend were fifteen. We thought we were something else then.

I heard about your trip.
I heard about your souvenirs.
I heard about the cool breeze, in the cool nights,
And the cool guys that you spent them with.

Massachusetts air was unlike anything I had ever breathed before. It was light, fresh, and clean. The coast was breezy. The beaches rocky. Our vacation home was perched on a cliff overlooking our own little sliver of the cape. I walked along the beach during low tide collecting sea glass, my iPod tucked gently in the strap of my bathing suit. I felt the wind flow through my hair and the water gently wash over my feet.

So long sweet summer,
I stumbled upon you and gracefully basked in your rays.
So long sweet slumber,
I fell into you now you’re gracefully falling away.

"The Things That Carried Him" and "Death of a Racehorse"

Chris Jones takes a different approach to create the structure of “The Things That Carried Him.” He separates the narrative into three parts. The first focuses on Sergeant Montgomery’s funeral. The second includes the events where Montgomery’s body is prepared for the funeral and flown back to Indiana, and the third part readers find out how Sergeant Montgomery was killed. Jones builds his story backwards; the first character we get to know is Don Collins who is digging Sergeant Montgomery’s grave. Not long after that, we learn more about Montgomery’s family and get a closer look at the precise funeral practices at a soldier’s funeral. Jones builds Montgomery as a character through his family and close friends. Instead of beginning the story with Montgomery’s death, he starts in reverse using heavy detail to build up something that would otherwise not be so interesting (like the funeral practices, the people who fly the planes of the fallen soldiers). Although, I think this structure and those details make the story so moving. Jones really captured Sergeant Montgomery’s last trip home down to every morsel of detail.

W.C Heinz’s “Death of a Racehorse” begins with the race, although from the title we understand that some horse is going to die. His piece is built using a structure that is quite the opposite of Jones’. Heinz builds the story to the action. There’s a strong tension that arises when we know this horse is doomed because of his broken leg, but we are not exactly sure when it will happen (they’re waiting for the go ahead from the trainer, Hirsch). Although the piece was pretty short, I kept wondering about when the horse would be killed. And then, it happens and that’s it. Heinz ends the story with the rain falling over the horse as all the people watching the race scurry to avoid the storm. It ends on a somber note where the horse is alone after it has been killed. These two pieces share similarities in scene structure and how the pieces end. Jones also ends his piece describing how Montgomery’s body being flown home and I got the same alone feeling as I felt reading about the horse. The pieces also use mostly scene and description to convey the stories.