A new type of robo-call is catching some local shoppers by surprise.

Kroger’s shopper-loyalty program now allows it to access its sales database and contact customers who’ve bought items that are later recalled for safety reasons.

John Elliott, company spokesman, described the computerized calling system as “a significant benefit” that has generated “very positive feedback” from customers.

The loyalty program was designed to allow the Cincinnati grocery to customize coupon offerings to loyal shoppers. Coupons for favorite products – and products the company’s computer system predicts shoppers would like – are mailed out and spit out at the cash register. The system cuts down on the number of kitty litter coupons given to cat haters, for example.

Kroger’s coupon mailings come in 1,500 variations. Elliott said 95 percent of Kroger’s shoppers have registered for its loyalty program. The grocer is also reaching out to customers online and through Twitter.

Warning customers about Class I recalls is a technical evolution that launched this year, Elliott said. He hopes more customers will update their phone numbers with the company to make it easier to reach more shoppers when recalls on Kroger-sold merchandise are announced.

Shopper reactions to the expanded shopper-loyalty program are mixed.

Kay Bentrup was filling her car with gas at the new Scott’s fuel station on West State Boulevard this month.

The Fort Wayne woman used her customer-loyalty card to save 20 cents a gallon, a doubled discount offered to customers during the gas station’s opening days.

Although she doesn’t mind her purchases being totaled so she can qualify to save on gas, Bentrup doesn’t like the idea of Kroger or anyone knowing what she took home during those shopping trips.

“If it’s a recall, put it on the news, but don’t call,” she said. “It’s more of an invasion of privacy. It’s none of their business what I buy.”

David Souder was leaving the Kroger store in Southgate Plaza with a cart full of groceries. As he loaded them into his white minivan, the Fort Wayne man said he appreciates Kroger’s recall phone calls. He thinks the alerts help protect his family from tainted meat or other possible problems.

Kroger competitors aren’t big fans of its shopper-loyalty program.

Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi said the Midwest discount chain makes its sale prices available to everyone.

“Our position is: Why make your customer work harder by having to carry a card and scan a card?” he said.

The retailer’s philosophy makes it more challenging for its employees, however.

Meijer officials decide how to respond to recall news on a case-by-base basis, Guglielmi said. If the recall is industrywide, as it was with the peanut recall at the beginning of this year, the company leaves it to the media to spread the word.

But in some cases, as with a ground beef recall, Meijer makes an effort to contact customers, sometimes by phone and sometimes by mail, Guglielmi said. Employees have had to “dig kind of deep” into the electronic payments system to track down some of those shoppers, he said.

But Guglielmi declined to get specific about how that works.

The retailer also contacts shoppers who participate in the Meijer Community Rewards program, which direct the store to donate a portion of the consumers’ total purchases to a school or church. Those shoppers present a membership card at checkout to receive credit.

Retailers are not legally liable for food and drug recalls, said Julie Dykstra, of counsel with Barnes & Thornburg’s office in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Food and Drug Administration requires manufacturers and distributors to report health and safety hazards. The FDA classifies the danger and then directs how the public should be notified, Dykstra said.

Having retailers join that process is “going above and beyond,” she said. “I think it’s just wonderful.”

sslater@jg.net