Cost of Supermarket Loyalty Schemes

GeoffL

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On the Eurotunnel thread, @St3v3 opined that Tesco Clubcard points are free while I and others maintain that they are not. @St3v3 's current reply is at https://motorhomer.com/threads/eurotunnel.44398/post-238720 (.) The discussion is in danger of hijacking that thread, and so I'm taking it to a new thread, i.e. here...

St3v3 suggested that I have something against Tesco. However, I don't have anything against Tesco and even have a Clubcard.

It is a basic fact that loyalty schemes are not free. No matter what St3ve claims, your personal data has value (so much so that social media tech giants make a lot of money from it). That data is sold onto third parties (retail partners and service providers at least in the case of Clubcard) and helps the company plan their marketing strategies etc. When you shop at Tesco, you forfeit any benefit you might have got from buying the same thing elsewhere and when you use a Tesco credit card, you forfeit any benefit you might have got from using another card. In both cases, you're paying for those points with your custom. Your custom has value -- which is why these companies are prepared to offer something else of value in exchange. That said, I can understand that this might be a difficult concept for some to accept and understand...

To shop at Tesco, you either need to visit a Tesco store or pay for delivery. Either costs more than a competitor if (like me) your nearest Tesco's is twenty miles away and the competitor is two minute's walk down the road. Clubcard give a point for every £1 spent and each point is nominally worth a penny (albeit, as with competing loyalty schemes, you can get more via special offers). In the meantime, Sainsbury's give a Nectar point for every £1 spent but each point is worth 0.5p (i.e. half of the nominal value of Clubcard points) However, Sainsbury's and Nectar work together you give you additional points and/or money off regularly purchased items. These are typically 20 to 100 points and/or 10% to half price personal discount. Do Tesco offer similar? (I suspect they might.) In addition, Tesco's delivery charges are a minimum of £3 while Sainsbury's are £1. At 0.5p difference per point, I'd have to spend £400 at Tesco just to make up for the difference in delivery charges. So shopping at Tesco just to get 'free' Clubcard points would cost me a lot more than those points are worth! However, the reverse might be true if you live down the road from a Tesco store and don't want home delivery.

St3ve also wrote, "Interested to hear of any cards offering cashback - I used to have, but IMO long gone." I'm glad to help here. Amex Everyday currently offers 5% introductory rate and up to 1% thereafter. Amex Gold offers £184 in Nectar points or a voucher for £100. Taking out a new Sainsbury's card will net you £40's worth of Nectar bonus points. Shop around and switch regularly and you could stand to get more per year than you can with Tesco's offering. That said, if you're happy with Tesco then you're probably not going to faff around trying to squeeze an extra few quid from the 'system'. However, if you want to see what's out there, check out the Money Saving Expert page here, use comparison sites, and always pay off the balance in full each month 😉
 
You are correct very little in life is free however if you place little/no value on any loyalty scheme collecting your data and are happy with the reward offered and provided it doesn't cost you anything to change your shopping habits, then the intrinsic value is free.

The bigger concept here is one of opportunity cost. There is always an opportunity cost to doing X as you could be doing Y. The opportunity cost is therefore Y. Choosing to go to Tesco to shop means that the opportunity cost is not going to Sainsbury, Asda etc. Choosing an Indian takeaway over Chinese etc etc

So IF...

- You hold no value on your data being collected in a supermarket.
- You would shop there anyway.
- You don't alter your habits to buy more than you need.
- The reward offered sits your lifestyle (i.e Tesco vouchers which can be trebled up for Tunnel vouchers).

Then apart from the opportunity cost the reward is in effect free. It is coming to you as a by product of what you would be doing anyway. It costs you nothing and is ancillary to your main pursuit of buying groceries.

For tunnel users getting a Tesco credit card is a great way of subsiding crossings. For example just with our purchases since Covid, as we haven't been able to get away across the channel, we have saved up enough vouchers for at least 1.5 crossings for 'free'...in that around 65/70 quids worth of vouchers will pay for the crossing with no actual money being used.
 
Who has time to do all that buggering about, we shop where they sell what we like, has sensible disabled parking, Asda and Sainsburys are good, Morrisons are crap and they seem to be ignoring covid but hardly any sanitiser points.

IMHO loyalty is impossible to find in the UK it is all about profit, which they like to keep so something for nothing isn't going to happen
 
Tbf tho Kev you seldom if ever venture abroad so subsidising the cost of ferry/tunnel crossings isn't a priority to you really is it mate.

I shop at Aldi for meat as it is infinitely better quality than Tesco. I also pick up a few things there that are cheaper than Tesco. Then about 2/3rds of our weekly shop goes to Tesco based on price/convenience/range etc
 
I do have a Tesco card, but they are the only supermarket that we don't have here in town, as for shopping at Tesco just to get ferry tokens seems like a waste of time we shoppe where they sell the stuff we like.

Having said that, how much is a crossing and how much can you save by using Tesco? out of curiosity mainly as us going across is looking less and less likely due to my health and covid etc.
 
For many years we bought vouchers through my trade union. They worked with a company called membership plus and it was possible to purchase vouchers at a discount (less a small charge for postage).
Our voucher of choice was with ASDA whose vouchers we bought at a 4% discount. Since it was the only large chain in town and was competitive we bought hundreds of pounds worth each time. At that time they could be used against fuel, which was usually the cheapest in the country anyway, as well as groceries.
There are many schemes like this which can be used, often through utility suppliers and banks etc. The range of outlets and retailers who participate in these discounts is wide ranging. Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Halfords, Curry’s and a large array of fashion outlets together with travel, fitness and others.
Since Tesco seems to be the focus of the thread, then might I suggest that vouchers at 4% be bought using a Tesco credit card to further enhance the ‘deal’. These can be used at checkout at full face value and create more points.

Davy
 
Lidl have just started ?? a loyalty type card, We joined it for free you ding your card at the tills, after spending £50 in a month you get £2 off your next shop but in the time scale , then when you reach a £100 spend you get a £10 pound discount again in the time scale, Lidl also send E Vouchers each month and you activate them on the app and IF you buy the said items they are discounted at the till, there is also a random Wheel of Spin which if you win ? you get another chosen item [by Lidl ] discounted, we used the app for a couple of months but then got fed up faffing about with it and deleted it, did get about £15 discount over the period however.
A new [to us ] shop has opened in the old Towsure shop in Southampton, it is called the Company Shop, open to all NHS, and essential workers and retirees, the shop sells products from all the major food retailers the products are all good but near their sell by dates and are at greatly reduced prices , from fresh meat , frozen products veg and tinned stuff always a different selection daily, my wife is a retired Nurse and so we have access to the store, been a couple of times and bought items that we felt were good and at a great price, we shop around in our daily shopping sprees use Asda Lidl and Farm stores mostly and now the odd visit to the Company store, no loyalty from us just roaming shoppers really, always looking for a bargain or a good bulk buy somewhere. works for us, we do not like Tesco, and seldom use them except if out in the van roaming and need something , but will go to other shops before Tesco. Crossing the Channel for us is usually Dover Calais Ferries with the CCC discounts we always get, same for the train if we use that .
 
For many years we bought vouchers through my trade union. They worked with a company called membership plus and it was possible to purchase vouchers at a discount (less a small charge for postage).
Our voucher of choice was with ASDA whose vouchers we bought at a 4% discount. Since it was the only large chain in town and was competitive we bought hundreds of pounds worth each time. At that time they could be used against fuel, which was usually the cheapest in the country anyway, as well as groceries.
There are many schemes like this which can be used, often through utility suppliers and banks etc. The range of outlets and retailers who participate in these discounts is wide ranging. Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Halfords, Curry’s and a large array of fashion outlets together with travel, fitness and others.
Since Tesco seems to be the focus of the thread, then might I suggest that vouchers at 4% be bought using a Tesco credit card to further enhance the ‘deal’. These can be used at checkout at full face value and create more points.

Davy
Thanks for that. I just looked at https://www.membershipplus.co.uk/ but it looks like the general public don't qualify and your employer has to sign up. That said, there are others out there, like Groupon and Top Cashback...
 
I do have a Tesco card, but they are the only supermarket that we don't have here in town, as for shopping at Tesco just to get ferry tokens seems like a waste of time we shoppe where they sell the stuff we like.

Having said that, how much is a crossing and how much can you save by using Tesco? out of curiosity mainly as us going across is looking less and less likely due to my health and covid etc.


We don't just shop there to get ferry tokens Kev. We shop there as our preferred supermarket of choice. It is the biggest in Carmarthen and I have always liked Tesco. The alternatives are Aldi and Lidl where I cant get all the stuff I want/like or a much smaller Morrisons which are way more expensive and have limited choice.

Crossing are around £200-210 when we choose to go. We cant do the very early/very late cheaper crossings due to Mrs GMJ's illness. As such we need 65-70 quids worth of vouchers to get a 'free' crossing.

As I said in one of my posts, in a year we accumulate around 1.5 crossings worth of tokens thereby saving us c.£300 on crossings. This is just by doing what I would do anyway and certainly not going out of my way to change my spending habits. We had a Tesco CC BEFORE we had a MH and we also shopped at Tesco BEFORE we had a MH as well. Now instead of using the vouchers on food, we get 3 times the value on the tunnel. No brainer really.
 
@GeoffL You really aren't listening.

WE DON'T SHOP AT TESCO.

And even if we did, them collecting my data COSTS ME NOTHING.

Tesco obviously offer the scheme to make themselves money, BUT IT ISN'T OUT OF MY POCKET.

They make money on the CC transactions (as all card providers do), and there will be customers enticed by the scheme but end up paying interest. Then of course it encourages some people to shop in their stores. NONE OF THESE THINGS COST ME ANY MONEY.

You may argue that the retailers we do shop at with the card have included the transaction fees in their sale price, but none of us have any way around that.

I also have an AMEX card, never used because firstly few people take it and second the benefits of the Tesco card are greater. We pretty much only use them with the boost scheme that for every £1 I could buy something in store with, they will give you £3 off of meals out. And we would eat out anyway.

I'm not interested in introductory offers, and we've yet to find anything we want to spend Nectar points on, but I'm sure we will at some point. Meals out we do all of the time. I'm finding it hard to see where we could spend Nectar on meals out, but they don't make it easy! IIRC, we looked a while ago and didn't fancy any of it.
 
We don't just shop there to get ferry tokens Kev. We shop there as our preferred supermarket of choice. It is the biggest in Carmarthen and I have always liked Tesco. The alternatives are Aldi and Lidl where I cant get all the stuff I want/like or a much smaller Morrisons which are way more expensive and have limited choice.

Crossing are around £200-210 when we choose to go. We cant do the very early/very late cheaper crossings due to Mrs GMJ's illness. As such we need 65-70 quids worth of vouchers to get a 'free' crossing.

As I said in one of my posts, in a year we accumulate around 1.5 crossings worth of tokens thereby saving us c.£300 on crossings. This is just by doing what I would do anyway and certainly not going out of my way to change my spending habits. We had a Tesco CC BEFORE we had a MH and we also shopped at Tesco BEFORE we had a MH as well. Now instead of using the vouchers on food, we get 3 times the value on the tunnel. No brainer really.
It seems worth it for you then G, but our nearest is in Bradford and it is massively bigger than any other, so not really worth it for us, we did use to use Morrisons as we got the points, but they have knocked those on the head so rarely go in there, the disabled parking is rubbish and customer focus is not high on their list either, we now go to Sainsbury's more often than not, and occasionally Asda, or Aldi, and pop over to Lidl if we need something from them, we also have Iceland and Farmfoods in town plus the market hall.
 
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We get points for using the Tesco CC elsewhere as well but not on a 1 point/£1 spent ratio. I think it's 1 point/£4 spent when used elsewhere. Either ay we put everything we can on it and pay it off in full each month.

Since the pandemic began I use it even more now as it's safer to do contactless than handle cash. I do feel like a 20-something though buying a paper for 65p and doing contactless!

I like the fresh food at Morrisons but not their prices. No Sainsbugs near us. Thankfully no Waitrose either as Mrs GMJ would try and make noises about going in there, her being a bit posh like...
 
if you like using cards to get money off, best to use ones that are not linked to shops maybe?

I have a John Lewis card ... 1p/£1 bonus on general shopping. doubles if used in John Lewis or Waitrose (it may be 0.5p and 1p rather than 1p & 2p though? can't remember)
Also have a Paypal card ... 1p/£1 cashback which is not bad generally nowadays.
 
I always thought she was slumming it a bit but didn't like say.
 
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Esso are giving 5p a litre off if you trade in 300 nectar points max 60 litres as i never use them it a bargain for me and i only have a 60 litre tank
 

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