Shopping ....is it still fun for you? The supermarket, the drug store, the "dime store", and the other shops that fulfill your basic shopping needs, are an essential art of everyone's weekly life, unless you are homebound. But have those new cards in your wallet made shopping easier and simpler?

If your social security and retirement checks are directly deposited into your bank account and you shop by using personal checks or "plastic" you don't need to carry much cash with you when you shop. I am an advocate of direct deposit of social security and other benefit/pension checks. I also believe in the proper use of credit cards and debit (also called reserve credit) cards and believe that they can be beneficial to consumers.

So what's the problem, if a "progressive consumer" uses these new conveniences? You may no longer have to worry about lost or stolen cash but now you have to be very attentive to your bank statements, credit card statements, and sales receipts. This can prompt the new headaches!

**** Monthly checking account bank statements:

When you use a debit card to buy your groceries, the money comes directly out of your checking account the same day. When you pay with a personal check it "hits" your account only after the store deposits it in it's bank account and some processing occurs. When your S.S. benefits check is deposited electronically, it "hits" your account the same day the check is issued by the Social Security Administration. Thus, it's not as easy to balance your check register as it was before. A careful review of your monthly bank statement is really the only way to track all these varied transactions.

**** Monthly credit card statement:

When you use a credit card you have to be watchful .... twice. First of all, you must make sure the sales person charged the right amount to your account. When the price tag says $14.99 plus sales tax and you hand the clerk $20 in cash you get back $4.26 on the $15.74 transaction. But, if you use a credit card, you must carefully look at the receipt to be sure that the clerk only charged the $14.99 price! Secondly, you must also carefully review your monthly credit card statement to be sure it does not contain any unauthorized charges or to see if any credits promised to you were ever actually processed.

**** Cash register sales receipt:

Star Market, Stop & Shop and other stores are now offering scan cards that eliminate the need to coupon clipping. This certainly seems like a convenience for shoppers even if there is the potential that your name and address will get on more mailing lists of products. But, I don't think that the electronic scanners can always be trusted and I think that the grocery store sales receipt does not adequately detail the transactions for you to clearly indicate the scanner card savings for each item on sale. Also, did the scanner ring up the same price as marked on the price stickers on the non-sales grocery items? You should always check at least some of these items, too.

Thus, the smart consumers' work is never done. You must always be vigilant when you shop, especially when using any of these new plastic conveniences!

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