Loyalty stamp cards are pretty common, but most chains (Starbucks etc.) have loyalty apps instead of loyalty cards.

This is the USA we're talking about, where if an unethical way to wring out more dollars doesn't have a law explicitly forbidding it (and there are laughably few such laws here), it WILL be used against you.

I know of a few places that have simple stamp loyalty cards. Oftentimes they are mom and pop shops, or chains still finding their footing. Most cards are electronic and want a name and phone number associated with them.

App loyalty cards, while still having some information on you, are largely about large merchants (ie starbucks) avoiding credit card interchange fees by giving rewards for people who load money to the app and purchase from there.

So, all incentives are not against consumers. The merchants avoid the credit card oligopoly fee and pass on the rewards to consumers.

Avoiding a credit card processing fee could be done the same with with a punch card.

By having a punch card and forcing customers to use cash? While cash is making a come back in many places, there are still plenty of potential customers who would not buy if cash was required.

I wasn't aware a punch card was "cash-only".

At this point I think I am unaware what a punch card is. I was assuming a card that gets punched each time you visit a place, and after N punches you get an item for free. Is that right or totally off?

Lol! Yes. I think we're both confused. Let's just leave it.

Every pizza shop seems to have one in France. I've seen hairdressers with stamp cards in Germany.