Fuel Rewards Programs - Their Positives And Negatives

In the event you live in a place where grocery stores give discounts for fill-ups at their gas station based off your purchases in the store, you quite possibly feel like you are inundated with advertising about it.

They promote it as the best way for you to save money from your fuel purchases and try and encourage you to spend just as much as you can in their store because, naturally, you'll be saving cash at the pump.

However the question is - is it truly worth it?

Well, it depends. It certainly can be when you are already making purchases at that store and you are comfortable with the amount you happen to be spending. The problem is when you notice that you must pay out $15 more to get an additional ten cents off your fuel purchase, and that means you spend $15 on anything you see just to obtain the gas discount. That is pretty unnecessary if you might have paid less for the purchase at another store. Keep in mind, an additional ten cents off for each gallon is only a $1.50 to $2.00 discount - absolutely not worth throwing away money you did not need to spend!

Yet another huge promotion these kinds of stores generally run is connected to gift cards. At times when you purchase a gift card at their store (commonly available for a wide variety of retailers), they're going to give you twice the fuel discount.

You should think that through. Let's say you'll gain 20 cents off for each gallon for each $50 gift card purchase you make. Assuming your gas tank holds 16 gallons, that's a $3.20 discount. When you already need a gift card (possibly for a gift), that seems like a great deal - you earn $3.20 for actually doing nothing.

In case you don't possess a cash back credit card (like Discover More), you can optimize this special promotion by buying gift cards for all of the stores you shop at. You will get fuel rewards essentially for purchasing at the stores you currently shop at.

Nevertheless, in the event you do possess a cash back charge card, it can get a little more complicated. When you employ a gift card you won't be receiving cash back rewards, so you need to take that into account. If the cash back credit card offers 5% cash back at grocery stores, purchasing a grocery store gift card is pointless. In the event you buy a $50 card, you are going to get a $3.20 gas reward as well as a $2.50 cash back reward on the gift card purchase (assuming you employ your cash back card to get the gift card), but you are going to lose out on the $2.50 reward you would get for utilizing your cash back card on the following $50 purchase.

However, when the gift card is in a category you just receive, say, 1% money back on, then the gift card purchase will be advantageous. You are going to get the gas reward plus a $2.50 money back reward because you happen to be buying the gift card at your grocery store. In the event you employed your cash back card in the store only generating 1% money back, you'd only get a reward of 50 cents. In this situation, you essentially earn $2. The question is if the entire process is worth the $2 you get.

As you can see, there are winning and losing situations with fuel rewards programs. You just need to make the decision about when it really is worth it and when it's not.

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