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Q: Is it possible to get a Metro supermarket card without owning business?
How do I get around the bureaucracy, especially in Beijing?
The how I do not know, but I do have a friend in Guangzhou who has a Metro shopping card, and she does not own a business, she works for a company. I have used her card to shop there when I visit the city.
If you are a foreigner, you can get one easily. All you need to do is take your passport and a business card (of your work place) and apply on the spot. I and many others have done this.
What if one does not own a business or even work ?
DaveP84:
Well then perhaps one would have some trouble with spending money there?
Scandinavian:
not if one is an evil laowei golddigger living of the wifes fortune
Kaiwen:
If I were a laowai golddigger, I don't think shopping at Metro would be quite my scene. I think Louis Vuitton type joints are the places I would like to be seen. I would just send the ayi to do the grocery shopping!
I had to take my passport and a letter from my employer. They then checked that the residency permit and the letter were from the same employer.
I wonder if they report to the PSB if they are different? 
Yeah just apply for one or have your chinese friend get one for you if you dn't know how to
Scandinavian:
Teddy, don't knock Silva for this, I rejuvenated the post as I would like to go shop in Metro, please knock Silva for everything else only.
I do own a business but I still had to present an application letter from the company with the official stamp on it and a copy of the business licence to get mine. Just presenting a business card would not have been enough though China is China and I guess they all operate to different rules. Once my business name was registered, the Chinese staff were able to get a card simply by presenting a letter from the company and their Chinese ID card.
Here in Shenzhen you can simply borrow a temporary one at the entrance.
Then you go do your shopping and give the card back when you are done.
I was very surprised that this was possible.
My wife says you can do the same in Shanghai.
Scandinavian:
then the question is if the same is possible in metro in GZ.... but of course SZ is not further than GZ for me (distance-wise, not when it comes to modes of transport availalble and time it takes)
mikael84:
My wife says it should be possible everywhere in China.
Try to call them, even though it probably won't help.
Where I am the staff give me a printed bit of paper on the way in and I show it at the till on the way out- no problems.
I didn't even know you need an actual card to shop there.
in shanghai you can just take your passport and get one, they are happy with every costumer they can get... to be honest not many people here go shopping in metro :/
All I had to do was show my passport and a business card to get a Metro card. If you don't have a business card, you can make one at any print shop for about 50RMB for 500 of them. (They don't need to be real. The minimum wage person behind the counter really doesn't care.)
