By now most people probably have a stack of reward/savings cards to their favorite retail outlets, some more weathered then others. I would even bet these same people probably have a few duplicates due to those random store trips where the cashier claimed they didn’t have a spare to swipe forcing you to sign up (with your own pen) all over again. For me personally, this caused for a makeover… new name, number and address. My personal favorites were Anita Bath from Suds, California or Brock Lee from Tree Hill, Minnesota.

If I try real hard I can remember the first time I saw a key chain sized savings card. While this seemed to impress my mother, I was more interested in popping the little hole out of the top corner. Frankly, I didn’t understand why stores didn’t adopt the same technology they used for debit/credit cards as part of their savings program. Just pop in your special 4 digit code and bam… 3 cents off.

Anyway, I recently signed up for the American Eagle Access Pass around the holidays since I was doing some online gift shopping. Sure enough a few days ago I received a package in the mail with not only 4 different shaped plastic savings card but about eleven sticker versions to tag my phone, mp3 player, laptop, wallet, neck and any other thing I could think of. I’m even considering putting one on my dog’s collar for décor since the pepsi blue color looks great against her chocolate fur.