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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

... to be FED UP to my back teeth with store cards and loyalty points?

149 replies

PacificDogwood · 17/11/2013 13:17

Just reduce your fecking prices FGS!

I received a Boots delivery yesterday. Nothing fancy, some emollients for DS2's skin, some deodorant, some shampoo, some san-pro - you get the picture.

£89 .
But apparently I "saved' £43 by taken them up on their '2 for 3' offer on some things and I 'earned' 1200 points.

We get buttered up by good sounding rhetoric of what we've 'saved' and what a 'bonus' the points are. When really all we're doing is do their market research for them.

TESCO is just as bad - I never spend vouchers in time (I clearly don't shop enough...).

I have a wallet full of store cards, yet when I am in a store I rarely have the one I 'need'. I don't shop anywhere consistently enough to every take advantage of their 'offers' (yep, I am a shop whore, but feel a deep and meaningful relationship with Lidl's coming on - what you see is what you get).

Big Shops, stopp your stupid schemes and Reduce Your Overheads, then pass those saving on to us!!

OP posts:

LCHammer · 17/11/2013 21:38

What a depressing state of affairs. Grown women scrambling for a point here and an 'offer' there. Seriously, you think this is winning? They've got you exactly where they want you.

SoupDragon · 17/11/2013 21:43

I'm not scrambling for anything.

SPsDoesntLikeChaffingFishnets · 17/11/2013 21:48

Who is scrambling?

LCHammer · 17/11/2013 21:48

:) scrabbling

Original poster

PacificDogwood · 17/11/2013 21:49

LCHammer gets what I am getting at
Let a typo go, you harpies

OP posts:

cantheyseeme · 17/11/2013 22:02

What is hard to understand? I would shop at tesco either way through convenience and its a nice bonus when your points come through, if i was spending thousands extra to get a few quid off, i wouldnt do it, i am not daft. I understand fully why companies do it and as for the point of them knowing what i buy well whhooahh i am OUTRAGED that they send me coupons off nappies when i have to buy them every week!

Viviennemary · 17/11/2013 22:07

I agree. And I hate the way they analyse what you buy. They still send me vouchers for cat food though my cat died a few months ago. They're not to know but it's still annoying. It could upset some people.

SPsDoesntLikeChaffingFishnets · 17/11/2013 22:08

Pacific You cant say anything as you use your vouchers and use the points. You are one of us 'scrabbling' lot

Original poster

PacificDogwood · 17/11/2013 22:12

Oh, I know - I have insight in my condition. And I am not proud...

cantheyseeme, I am trying to look at the bigger picture here, not whether you personally (or SP ) is getting anything out of it.

OP posts:

cantheyseeme · 17/11/2013 22:18

On the flipside though i do get that people who shop at aldi and lidyl probably save a hell of a lot more than we could ever recoup in vouchers, but some of us are a little more time limited with those places, and searching for better deals

serin · 17/11/2013 22:18

I hardly ever shop at Tesco except for petrol (and that costs pretty much the same wherever you put it in, so might as well accept the points).

I am also quite canny with Topcashback and received £45 (which I converted to Tesco points) just for joining the RAC, which I was going to join anyway.

I have collected enough this year for a Hudl tablet (free) and I have £80 in Pizza Express vouchers to treat us all in January.

IMO All the supermarkets are evil and I prefer to shop locally wherever I can, we are quite lucky to live rurally so there are farm shops around. However as I am forced to use them I will at least take what I can back from them.

SoupDragon · 18/11/2013 07:37

I'm not scrabbling either. I'm simply using my credit card.

hyenafunk · 18/11/2013 09:10

If it's a shop you go in regularly and would go in regardless then I think the loyalty cards are a good idea.

I only have one for Holland&Barrett. I go in there every week and spend approx £20 on vegan things I can't get elsewhere. I add points onto my reward card every time and then I get a voucher after so long. I just paid for my non alcoholic Christmas drinks with my voucher which has pleased me to no end. Previously I bought DD's birthday party food with one.

I wouldn't get one for a store I don't go in often enough to accumulate a decent amount though. I get little vouchers from Morrisons every time I go shopping for between £1.50 or £2 off a £25 shop but you can only use one voucher at a time and I just don't remember. Plus £1.50 is a drop in the ocean when facing my weekly £80 shop.

hyenafunk · 18/11/2013 09:10

If it's a shop you go in regularly and would go in regardless then I think the loyalty cards are a good idea.

wigglesrock · 18/11/2013 10:05

See when I was growing up we didn't have Tescos/ Sainsbos, any of the "big ones". I'm in NI & there were maybe 2 big local type chains. They had the customer over a barrel. Prices for bread in particular when I was growing up (I'm only 39 ) were fixed and extortionate - £1.50 for a loaf. The stores were minging, food was of a disgusting quality, shopping hours were ridiculous, they employed who they wanted dependent on religion etc.

Local shops were worse, they didn't give a shit what drivel they were selling you. The staff were atrocious, prices ridiculous, layaway (for Christmas - butchers) schemes that would put Barclays to shame. To say that I would never darken the door of a local shop is an understatement.

I adore Tescos, as does my Mum, my mil, my granny, most people I know. I'm not stupid I know how loyalty cards work, but they work for me & that's the most important thing.

I'd be more worried about the info your internet service provider is collecting on you than Tescos or Sainsburys targeted your shopping preferences

samandi · 18/11/2013 10:17

YADNBU. It drives me up the wall. I refuse to have store cards but DP has one for food shopping and we have to go round the store with all these coupons working out what we can have and what we can't. It does feel good if you get £10 off the final bill, but as you say I'd rather they just reduced the prices to begin with!

I don't shop anywhere else regularly enough to have a loyalty card. Used to have coffee ones but they just last for years without getting used.

Whistleblower0 · 18/11/2013 10:29

I dont get this major angst over loyalty cards. Use
them or dont use them. Nobody is forcing anyone to do anything!

All of the major supermarkets are they same. They are all ruthless. I'm under no illussion about this, but i do what works for me. I dont do much grocery shopping in tesco, but will use any coupons sent to me, if it is something i am going to buy anyway.

I buy fuel there, as it costs the same pretty much anywhere, but i get points with tesco for this and extra on my credit card. It's a no brainer really!
I've got around £15 worth of tokens until the next lot arrive in february. I'm going to change them for cinema vouchers for dd, as i am always giving her money for the cinema anyway. This will get her 5 cinema tickets., and stop her pestering me ( for a Few weeks anyway)

Original poster

PacificDogwood · 18/11/2013 10:38

If it's a shop you go in regularly and would go in regardless then I think the loyalty cards are a good idea
hyeana, I still resent paying for the scheme in the first place.

I'd be more worried about the info your internet service provider is collecting on you
wiggles, fair point . I started a thread about this too recently, but nobody was too bothered...

And just for the record, I don't have any major (or minor) angst about this, it pisses me off.
We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hardly anybody can or would want to be self-sufficient, so the overwhelming majority of people, myself included, use one or more of the 'Big 4'.
It's not a monopoly but it might as well be one.

AND they have managed to persuade a majority that their loyalty scheme is in your favour, not theirs... They really have you where they want you.

OP posts:

specialsubject · 18/11/2013 10:39

why are you shopping at Boots? Everything costs twice what it does elsewhere!

Original poster

PacificDogwood · 18/11/2013 10:45

special, I don't usually, but needed the home delivery facility on this occasion.

Again: this (protracted) rant is NOT about the overall cost of stuff, it's about them making out as if they are doing you and me a favour by giving us points and 2 for 3s and other 'offers'. And us buying in to that.

OP posts:

decaffwithcream · 21/11/2013 22:31

"decaff, so what does your 'free' coffee cost?
15 x £2 = £30 - and I am being stingy here, no extra syrup or anything.

You've spent at least £30 pounds and then you get a cup of coffee without paying at the time of purchase... which cost Starbucks pennies.
AND they've gained priceless customer satisfaction that you are even passing on on a public forum. Result! For them, not for you...

Unless you work for them... "

Eh? Think you've completely and utterly failed to read my post there?!

I said it was only worth if you ask for a filter coffee. Or tend to add stuff to your drink

(ie it is only worth in in limited circumstances)

That they don't reduce the price of their other drinks

(ie the card is no use for those drinks)

"And it takes 15 coffees to get a free one!" is obviously not a statement of endorsement (more of horror)

Some places offer every 5th or 6th coffee free, some every 10th, ie every 16th is obviously crap.

"priceless customer satisfaction?" How do you figure that?!

I can see you have strong feelings against these cards but try directing them at the stores and not at completely misreading the innocent posters joining in a discussion!

bishboschone · 22/11/2013 09:08

I don't buy anything I wouldn't have bought anyway. I shop at tesco and get my points transferred into avios .. We went to Disney land Paris totally free including food last year .( value £1000) . I would have bought the food anyway..I'm pretty sure I am in control of what I buy and don't buy .

decaffwithcream · 22/11/2013 20:46

Making points stretch to Disneyland trip with free food is very impressive. It puts pizza express vouchers to shame

bishboschone · 22/11/2013 21:19

I know I got lots of double points and locked them in at a higher rate . I don't buy anything I wouldn't have bought anyway and don't spend that much on food . I love tesco points !!

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