My wife's favorite store is OK Store. This time, I went to the nearest OK store from our home, which is actually 3 stations away. When I looked at the price display at OK, there were two sets of numbers, black and red. The red numbers were for members, and even though OK is already a super cheap supermarket, the red numbers were for member prices. Even though I had shopped at OK 5-6 times before, I never became a member because there was no store in our local area. "But hey, you shop here so often, becoming a member would definitely be worth it," I said, and my wife decided to become a member. The process was super easy. Just provide your postal code and pay 200 yen. She was immediately given a membership card. My wife, now officially a member of the OK Club, bought more than usual. It seemed like she was trying to make up for the 200 yen she spent on membership. There were items that were 20 yen cheaper for members than the regular price. Just buying 10 of those items would cover the 200 yen membership fee. The rice balls she always bought for 50 yen were now 49 yen, and the 299 yen bento box was now 291 yen! She bought a lot (around 7000 yen) in the excitement of becoming a member. So what happened next? At the checkout, when she tried to pay with her credit card after showing her membership card, she was told that "member price purchases are cash only." With no cash on hand, my wife was forced to pay the regular price (with her card). As soon as she got in the car, she said, "I lost 200 yen." But considering she bought a lot, including 10 kg of rice, factoring in the membership discount, the emotional blow was quite significant. She might be thinking, "Why did he have to suggest becoming a member!" (Even though she actually should have!) You can read more about this in a more lively blog post at http://waraibuta2.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-3976.html