I agree...some of this sounds vaguely illegal, if consumers would get together and challenge it. I just tried to buy an item at Walgreens (buy one, get the second half-off). Walgreen has frequently had this offer for years. NOW I'm told I'm not eligible for the offer w/o a store card.

There is something so wrong, morally and perhaps legally, with a system that holds the consumer hostage this way in order to get the same price advantage everyone else does.

I value my privacy, although that ship seems to have sailed years ago. I value even more my resistance to manipulation and control by such commercial entities as these. But we consumers are forced to pay a heavy price for that "privilege."

Wrong, wrong, wrong! And it is past time to get Congress involved.