Why I Don't Buy More to Save More
Sorry to be so late posting today. My husband has a day off from work, which means that we were most certainly not up and out of bed at 4:40 am. 😉 I might be an early bird, but I am not insane!
Today, the six of us made our grocery shopping rounds (report on my second cash-only week to come on Saturday), and a current Weis promotion reminded me of this topic.
Several times a year, there is a Weis Rewards program. Over a 5-week period, you earn one point for each dollar that you spend, and depending on how many points you earn, you get a percentage off of your next purchase.
Here's how it works:
Spend $200, get a 5% discount
Spend $400, get a 10% discount
Spend $600, get a 15% discount
Spend $800, get a 20% discount
Because I usually spend less than $400 a month, and because I spend the grand portion of that money at Aldi, I barely crest the lowest level, and so I only come away with a 5% discount. This bothers me not a particle, though. I'd much rather keep more of my money and get the lower discount.
Suppose I spent my whole $400 budget at Weis. I'd get a 10% discount off my next shopping trip, which would save me about $10 (I spend $100 a week on average).
If I spent $800, I'd get a 20% discount, which would save me $40 (20% off $200) but I'd be in a much worse place overall. I'd save an extra $30, but I'd have had to spend $400 more to save that $30. That's not a good deal, no matter how you slice it.
So, even when the rewards program is running, I buy groceries just as I normally would. If I end up getting a 5% off coupon, great. If not, I'm just pleased because I managed to spend less than $200.
If I was already going to need to spend $800, then I'd look at the 20% off as a nice bonus, but there is certainly no point in me purposely spending extra in order to get that discount.
This seems fairly elementary to me, but based on how often Weis runs this program, it seems obvious that a large number of people out there DO change their shopping habits when the rewards program is running. If it wasn't profitable for them, they certainly wouldn't offer it multiple times a year.
Weis isn't the only retailer who uses this form of marketing, of course. Department stores and credit card companies do it all the time. I think it's fine to participate in the rewards offered by these sort of programs, certainly, but if you are serious about saving money, don't spend more to save more! The party that benefits from that sort of behavior is never going to be you, I promise (no matter how delightful the rewards program seems).
I could not agree more. I used to work for Barnes and Noble, home of the $25-a-year Rewards Program. The idea is, you pay an annual fee for this card that gets you a 10% discount. The thing is, you have to spend $250 in the store over the course of a year JUST to break even. THEN you start saving money.
And what's a considerable savings? $25? $50? $100? Even if you consider $25 to be a considerable savings, you'd have to spend a total of $500 at Barnes and Noble over the course of a year to get that. If you're doing that anyway, great, but frankly, if you're spending that much money at a bookstore anyway, I'm guessing that a $25 savings isn't going to be that big a deal for you anyway.
Oh, wow! That's pretty bad, especially considering that there are so many cheap/free ways to get books (half.com, ebay, paperbackswap, etc).
These promotions make sense if one, that's how much you spend anyway or two, you can shift spending from later to now. Otherwise you're just letting the stores sucker you.
My extended family shares a B&N rewards program account, so it works for us. Since all you need to do is give a phone number, any group of persons could share an account. FYI, Border's account is free but you have to give an email addy.
You made me laugh when you said you weren't insane enough to wake up at 4.40am if you didn't have to. For the past couple of weeks I can't sleep later than 5 am. What does that make me?
Well, in all honesty, I woke up this morning around 5:30. But, that is a lot better than 4:40, and even though I woke up at 5:30, I didn't actually get up out of bed until a while after that.
Usually I blog in the early morning hours, so my lounging in bed this morning precluded blogging. lol
they run a program here at the local grocery store that has you earn "premiums". it used to be you earned a premium for every $50 in an order, but for the latest one, they've lowered it to $35. anyway, you earn premiums within a certain time frame (something like 6-8 weeks) and then when you turn in your premiums, you get a gift card for a certain amount, depending on how many premiums. then you have a certain amount of time to use it. i usually never get enough to get anything.
What I find cool is that the turkey at weis is only $.49 a pound!
The 49 cents per pound turkey was a good deal though! We just cooked ours last night. Makes you wonder about the poor turkey farmer.
I am the same way. Good post.
I was surprised by the 49 cents a pound. The last two years, Weis has had turkeys on sale at .29 cents a pound if you spent $25 or more. Although maybe that is coming next week right before thanksgiving.
I shop at weis occasionally for their loss leader sales, but not enough to get a discount. I do a lot of my shopping at Giant of Pa and they have a free turkey promotion at this time of year. You have to spend $300 within a time frame to do so and it is about a month. I end up donating the turkey though.