Are we allowing ourselves to be blackmailed by bully boy supermarkets who are determined to tie in customers?

Years ago we used to collect points on loyalty cards and could then spend them on treats like weekends away, meals out or even breakdown cover.

But now, rather than just offering less rewards, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Asda or whichever, offer all sorts of items at ‘reduced’ prices to anyone who’s signed up to one of their cards.

In reality these aren’t true reductions at all and you need to be a card holder just to purchase your shopping at the price you should be paying – and, as a result, non-card holders are forced to pay over the odds.

Of course, it’s nothing new for supermarkets to use every trick they can to get you through the door or, increasingly, book a delivery and, in either case, spend as much as possible.

Putting essentials, like milk and bread at the back of the store, so you have to walk past everything else to get to them, is fairly obvious. Likewise, putting more expensive brands at eye-level isn’t surprising.

But what about smaller sized floor tiles to encourage you to subconsciously slow your walking speed in aisles containing luxury products, or sweet-smelling flowers just through the door (pleasant smells make us feel good and it’s proven that when we feel good we spend more money).

They even play music at fractionally slowed down speeds in an effort to make shoppers feel less rushed and stay in-store longer.

As the cost of a full shopping cart continues to rocket we’d like to feel we’re exercising choice, but sadly it’s proven most people simply shop at their nearest supermarket.

It’s probably sensible, from a legal point of view, not to debate the various tactics employed to ensure planning permission is granted, but it’s safe to say such battles are fiercely contested.

And, once you visit your local supermarket the pressure is now even greater to tie you in.

Like the big supermarkets, the various loyalty schemes make every effort to create the impression they are different, and better, than the rest.

It’s true, some cards do include alternative bells and whistles but, whatever fringe benefits they offer, increasingly they employ a different pricing policy for loyalty card-carrying customers.

So, as every week passes, costs increase disproportionately for customers who decline to carry their branded cards and the supermarket ramps up the pressure for everyone to sign up to its loyalty scheme.