Digitize your membership cards

Tue May 13, 2008 11:25PM EDT

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Here's a good tip from the 't Is Goud blog via Lifehacker. Remember how I shared with you a tip on how to create to-do lists with your camera phone? Well, you can do something similar to slim down your wallet. Blogger Albert Alberts realized he had way to many membership and reward cards in his wallet, so he scanned them all and put the images in his iPhone.

He says most stores only want the number on the card, and most don't even use the magnetic stripe on the back of the card, so his solution would be ideal for any iPhone carrying consumer. To test his theory, he asked the cashier at his local hardware store to scan the barcode straight from the phone which worked fine much to his surprise.

Of course, this is just an idea that really depends on whether or not cashiers or door monitors will accept your digitized membership cards, but I definitely think it's an idea worth trying out. I tried taking a picture of each card, but the numbers were a bit blurry so I really hope stores move towards digitizing memberships cards in the very near future.

Use Your Cameraphone to Create To-Do Lists

Comments on Digitize your membership cards

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  • 1 Posted by mdmartin05 on Wed May 14, 2008 4:46AM EDT Report Abuse

    Hey Gina, If you can get online with cell phone, send email to yourself (picture or text). I carry a 5X8 notebook to write down pertinent information. Even Fred Flintstone had to keep and date data for retrieval. Thanks for your 'beddie bye' tech thoughts post! Truly, Mark M PS Enables digital photo access, just one click away. 'Free online' is the best way to acquire useful electronic knowledge. Keep up the good work!!

  • 2 Posted by mdmartin05 on Wed May 14, 2008 4:50AM EDT Report Abuse

    GH, Have you tried viewgenie? Thanks, Mark M.

  • 3 Posted by sk8ter20art on Wed May 14, 2008 5:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    you dont even have to go that far. A lot of rewards programs now offer a lookup by phone number on the account (office depot and Best Buy are examples). All you need is the accound number, so you can enter them as text messages and save them(works for non-camera phones too). Or you can get on the computer and type of a cheat sheet with your account numbers and print it on a business card size paper and laminate it. All the stores will have a manual entry for memberships. The only cards you need to keep a picture of are ones that show a member status such as elite members. Or just photocopy your cards 1 piece of paper will fold up smaller than 8 plastic cards.

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