Kroger review: Change back at checkstands

Since when is it the policy of Kroger to ask cash customers at the check stands if they want their change back, and exactly what is the point of doing so? I shop at both QFC and Fred Meyers and have been asked that several times recently. Aren't the prices in your stores already high enough? And exactly what happens to the change that you keep? Many people today, especially seniors like myself, live on limited incomes and have to watch their money very closely and I find it embarrassing to being made to look either cheap or near destitute in front other other customers. Or is the intent to shame them into giving up their change to pad your profit margins? This is a despicable practice that should be stopped NOW! And whomever started it should be relegated to a job they are more suited to do like cleaning toilets.