Maximising Use of Supermarket Fuel Discounts

Submitted: Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 10:07

ThreadID: 100335 Views:2722 Replies:6 FollowUps:17

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Member - Wamuranman

Sunday morning greetings to all,

In recent years the two largest supermarkets have restructured the selling of fuel through their associated outlets Shell and Caltex. These sales dominate the volume of fuel sold in most larger towns and cities and now in most cases determine the price.
I don’t really care about the relative price of petrol vs diesel (refer to Thread #100325)…. I choose to own and drive diesel vehicles – including the family car. But I maximise my discounts using the supermarket vouchers. With a Coles mastercard flybuys we can get an extra 18c/litre off plus their regular discounts (for 1000 flybuy points). Currently Coles have a 15c off promotion so with our extra 18c off we can achieve 33c /litre off. I buy the max permissible at one purchase (150 litres) using the long range tanks plus 2 jerry cans (which I funnel into family car). This is a saving of nearly $50! Diesel at the nearest Shell is currently 1.48/litre but we ended up paying 1.15/litre. I am pretty happy with that. Even without the extra promotion we always get the 4c or 8c off plus our 18c …giving a discount of 22c or 26c/litre.
If you can’t beat them…join them at their own game and maximise your discount.

Cheers

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Reply By: ken triton - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 10:54

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 10:54

Good morning, we do similar but I don't understand how you get the extra 18 cents p/l by using your coles master card as we do the same but don't get the extra 18 cents. We must be doing something wrong. While we were traveling a lot we did work out that once you buy over 100 litres if you buy 4 fredo's $2 you actually get them for free buy getting an extra 2 cents p/l they were a treat for morning tea courtesy of Coles.
Thanks
Ken

AnswerID: 503932

Follow Up By: Member - Wamuranman - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 11:03

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 11:03

Hi Ken,

The extra discount comes with the associated flybuys card. This is linked to your mastercard I think.
You also get vouchers once a month to maximise the flybuys...3X or 5X. So by spending $333 on weekly groceries we get another 1000 flybuys which I can cash in for a 18c litre extra discount (using the 3X voucher).
Have a look at this site flybuys.com.au
May as well make use of every saving you can get.....the fuel and groceries are probably inflated in price anyway. So we are all paying for these discounts whether we use them or not.
So in effect we save about $50 on fuel for every $333 worth of groceries purchased (based on last bigger discount)!

Cheers

FollowupID: 780693

Follow Up By: Gramps - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 13:27

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 13:27

$333 per week on groceries !!! Sorry mate, I almost fell off my chair LOL

FollowupID: 780715

Follow Up By: Steve M1 (NSW) - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 17:38

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 17:38

For a family of 4 it's not difficult to get to $333. Although it's a bit more than we usually tally even with two teenage lads that eat like goats If we chucked in a few goodies it wouldn't be too hard although you get to the point where it defeats the object.

We just use 1000 of accumulated points from the flybuys a/c and with the 15c + whatever you get for buying a carton of milk at the servo, you're up to 35c off. Don't think you need to get up to $333's worth of shopping. It's only valid until next week anyway.

FollowupID: 780749

Follow Up By: SDG - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 21:44

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 21:44

I'm a family of three, sometimes four, and only spend round figures of $200 a fortnight. If I spent what you do, the wallet moths would die of starvation.

FollowupID: 780779

Follow Up By: Member - Wamuranman - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 22:35

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 22:35

Yes maybe we are living pretty well but its not every week that it would be that amount. But if you buy everything at the one shop....meat, fruit, veges, groceries etc etc it can easily add up to close to that amount for a family if you buy only good quality products (not home brand). But remember Coles also own Kmart, Target etc so it all goes towards Flybuys. The 150 litres of fuel last us about 3 to 4 weeks of normal use (unless travelling) so as long as we spend at least $333 every 3 to 4 weeks we have enough points to get the extra discount. Thats the point I was making.
Cheers

FollowupID: 780789

Follow Up By: Steve M1 (NSW) - Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 09:06

Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 09:06

SDG: if you can feed a family of 3/4 on $100 a week, I don't think it's the moths that you have to worry about starving.

FollowupID: 780807

Follow Up By: SDG - Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 19:52

Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 19:52

I hear that a lot Steve, but easy enough to do when you put your mind to it.

FollowupID: 780857

Reply By: PeterInSa - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 13:28

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 13:28

Hi,
We have a Coles Master Card and Flybys, Do not understand also, how to get the extra off. eg My reasoning, Shop at Coles get the 8c a lt docket, drop a 1000 flyby points get an extra 10c a lt off total 18c a lt. Buy something for $2 at the Shell Coles Shop get an extra 4c a lt off total 22 c a lt.

Appreciate that in the last few days in lieu if 8c a Lt you can get 15c a lt from shopping at Coles to give a total of 15+ 10+4 ie 29c a Lt.

Would appreciate the background on the 3x and 5x

a Coles Shell Customer.

Peter

AnswerID: 503954

Follow Up By: PeterInSa - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 13:32

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 13:32

Is the reason why, due to Coles ( and Woolies) points allocation eg on our Amex Card spend $1 = 1 point, at Coles (Woolies?) spend $1 = in some instances 3 points?

FollowupID: 780716

Follow Up By: Member - Wamuranman - Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 21:11

Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 21:11

Coles Flybuys Vouchers - X3 or X5

Peter,
Every 3 months we get a sheet of vouchers in the mail - enough for 1 per week for the next 12 weeks. All are dated to use in a nominated week. These allow you to build up your flybuys account 3 or 5 times faster. So its not hard to get the max fuel discount at a cost of 1000 flybuys.

Cheers

FollowupID: 780870

Reply By: Member - PJR (NSW) - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 14:04

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 14:04

We got a 25 c/lt one recently from Woolies. The Maxima only takes 65 litres so we used the Toyota instead until it was nearly empty. Put the whole 150 litre limit in and saved $37.50.

Is that maximising the discount or not!!!!

Phil

AnswerID: 503959

Reply By: Member - J&R - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 14:46

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 14:46

They have us by the short and curlies haven't they...
Goodbye corner store and independent outlets.
What price progress?

AnswerID: 503970

Follow Up By: petengail - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 15:19

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 15:19

They sure have. This is why almost 40c in the dollar spent in Australian retail is spent at Coles and Woolworths

FollowupID: 780731

Follow Up By: Les - PK Ranger - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 16:54

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 16:54

. . . and we'll pay for it big time one day.

I cut my Woolies cards up a month or so ago, sick of the duopoly rip off, as we all pay more by using these schemes.

I used to drive past independents to get the woolies 4c (or 8c now) and the extra 4c if buying 2 x milk, or bread etc.

Then noticed their prices were ALWAYS 4c but sometime 6c more than the indies . . . well, that was that, cards cut up, emailed to say take me off your scheme and stop the emails (still get them, but now classed as junk).

The big 2 are forcing up prices of fuel we all pay at the pump.

We now shop coles, woolies, or foodland, depending where we are, and IF a docket happens to suit us at the time, we use the paper docket, but most times now it is not going out of my way to go the Woolies, but shop at the independents if the normal price is better than the others.

FollowupID: 780740

Follow Up By: TrevorMR (WA) - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 17:42

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 17:42

Don't know of this only applies in WA, but the RAC offers a 5% discount when buying Woolies gift cards (which you can purchase using a Visa card). With diesel at $1.48 lt less 8 cents off for the shopper docket, 5% of $1.40 equates to an extra 7 cents a lt discount.

FollowupID: 780751

Follow Up By: Steve M1 (NSW) - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 17:44

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 17:44

Must say we abandoned Coles for the indies a couple of years back and were a bit better off even taking the fuel discount into consideration......but, it became a nuisance for us because Coles and the bank etc etc were convenient for us so I hate to see, we've returned to the forces of evil.

FollowupID: 780752

Reply By: SDG - Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 21:46

Sunday, Feb 03, 2013 at 21:46

Just a thought.
With all these discounts on offer, are the servos still making a profit per litre?

AnswerID: 504014

Follow Up By: Echucan Bob - Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 12:19

Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 12:19

That's not the point. When the duopoly is total they will jack up the prices to repay their investment.

FollowupID: 780825

Reply By: Lyn W3 - Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 12:46

Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 12:46

The duopoly is determined to control a fair slab of the economy, Woolies now owns about 300 hotels and 500 bottle shops and Coles about 100 hotels and 700 bottle shops.

Along with companies like Target, BigW, Bunnings, Masters, Dan Murphys, BWS, KMart, Dick Smith, the list goes on and on.

AnswerID: 504060

Follow Up By: Member - John and Val - Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 15:05

Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 15:05

Not to mention pokies

J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein

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Follow Up By: Member - John and Val - Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 15:54

Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 15:54

As a -sort of- matter of principle we do as little shopping at Coles or Woolies as we can, though if we get a fuel voucher we will use it.

The aggressive changeover by W&C to house brands will have nasty consequences for producers down the track I think. We find that here in Canberra we can shop for fruit and veg, meat, milk and bread at the fruit & veg markets where prices are invariably cheaper than Woolies or Coles.

Our biggest fuel spend each year is when we are travelling and then its harder to either have a fuel voucher or find a W or C fuel outlet. And the further inland you go the more expensive is the fuel.

But although I haven't done the sums I would suspect that the savings we make by NOT shopping much at W or C in the first place probably puts us roughly on a par compared to shopping at Woolies and getting fuel discounts. And hopefully we are supporting those producers who have not locked themselves into contracts with either of the big 2.

Cheers,

Val

J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein

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Follow Up By: Nomadic Navara - Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 16:07

Monday, Feb 04, 2013 at 16:07

Quote "The aggressive changeover by W&C to house brands will have nasty consequences for producers down the track I think."

Well then, don't go to Aldi, they are 100% home brands.

PeterD
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