Loyalty cards/Stacking

If you're anything like me, you have a small key ring full of little plastic loyalty cards.  If you don't know what loyalty cards are or if you haven't started putting yours to use, now's the time!!  


While I understand that having a collection of cards to have to thumb through every time you're at the grocery, gas station, shoe store, etc. may be a bit of a hassle, I assure you, if you use your loyalty (or shopper's) card faithfully, you will see savings.


At places like Kroger, Marsh and CVS, you will see instant savings when you buy certain products using your loyalty card.  You need do nothing more than swipe your card and buy the appropriate products.


Just as a for instance of how loyalty cards can help you 'stack' savings, this week at Kroger, you can get a 50 ounce Tide that's normally $7.99 for just $5.99 when you use your loyalty card.  To sweeten the deal, you can save an extra $1 off each participation Proctor & Gamble product when you buy any 4 (mix or match) products and use your shopper's card.  So  that same 50 ounce jug of Tide that normally costs $7.99 will cost you only $4.99 when you buy P&G products in fours and use your card.  Throw one of those $2 coupons on top of that, and you're getting Tide for $2.99...which is less than most 'cheap' detergents will cost you.  In addition to all that, Kroger has a digital coupon available to save an extra $4 off your order when you download 4 P&G coupons onto your shopper's card through Kroger.com.  


Now keep in mind, you CANNOT use both a digital coupon and a paper coupon on the same item, and the digital coupons will NOT double.  So if you have a higher value paper coupon or a paper coupon that will double to a higher value than the digital one they are offering, do NOT download that particular digital coupon onto your card.  Simply choose 4 P&G digital coupons that you do not intend to use to take advantage of the extra $4 offer if you want to use your paper coupons rather than the digital ones.  This is what I did, and it works fine.  And this $4 is above and beyond the $4 you will save when you buy the P&G products in sets of 4.


Another perk Kroger offers when you use their loyalty card is fuel rewards.  For every $1 you spend at Kroger, using your loyalty card, you get 1 fuel reward.  For every 100 fuel reward points you accumulate in a single month, you can save 10¢ off per gallon of gas in one fill up at Kroger or Shell gas stations.  So if you spend $100 a week on groceries and save your fuel rewards for the whole month, you could take 40¢ off per gallon on your next fuel fill up...or you could save 10¢ off per gallon on four separate fill ups.  In addition, if you get your prescriptions filled at Kroger, you receive 50 fuel rewards for each prescription you get filled.  Kroger does have a generic prescription program where many medications are available for $4 a month or $10 for three months, so you save that way plus get the fuel rewards on top of that.  And periodically, Kroger will offer between $10-$25 in free groceries (in the form of a credit applied to your loyalty card) when you transfer a prescription.  So if you have monthly maintenance medications that you would like to move to Kroger, do it during those times when they give you that further incentive...and do it one at a time so you can receive the free bonus multiple times.  Back to fuel rewards...now if you are a really big spender, you could actually earn up to $1 off per gallon if you earned 1000 fuel rewards in a month, but I hope with your smart shopping skills, you aren't spending anywhere near enough to reach that number.  :-)


Another benefit to having a Kroger loyalty card is that Kroger sends out home mailers from time to time that have coupons that are customized for card holders. So for me, that might mean coupons for Kroger brand sour cream, apple juice and Heinz ketchup while for you if might mean totally different coupons.  And best off all, the home mailers more often then not will have coupons for completely free items in them!!  


Now that's a small lesson not only on using your loyalty card, but also a lesson in 'stacking'.  Stacking is combining offers to get savings on top of savings.  Another great place with a loyalty program and terrific stacking opportunities is CVS.


First off, most couponers are aware of the CVS ExtraCare card, their loyalty card.  But did you know CVS also has a GreenBag Tag?  The GreenBag Tag is a leaf shaped key ring card that you use with your CVS card when you bring your own bag(s).  It costs $1 to buy up front, but it pays for itself quickly.  (P.S.  Marsh supermarkets will give you 5¢ per bag when you bring your own bags there and use your Marsh card at checkout.)  You can only use the GreenBag Tag once per day so if you do multiple transactions, you'll only get credit for the first one, but every 4th time you scan your GreenBag Tag, you'll get a $1 ExtraCare Buck.  


At CVS, you always want to scan your ExtraCare card at their little in-store kiosk first thing.  The kiosk will spit out coupons, sometimes for totally free products!!  But the biggest way to save with your CVS card is to combine (stack) their sale prices with coupons on items on which they also are giving you ExtraCare bucks.  For example, this week, you can get a gallon of Dean's milk for $2.99.  Then, you'll get a $1 ExtraCare Buck.    You can turn around and buy Listerine that's on sale for $3.99, use the $1 coupon that was in the paper this past Sunday and use that $1 ExtraCare Buck you got from the milk to pay only $1.99 and then you'll get $2 back in ExtraCare Bucks.  Then you can use those $2 in ExtraCare Bucks toward a third purchase or save them until next week.  You can do this over and over and over at CVS to really multiply your savings and very frequently, get things totally free.  It's just a matter of going through their weekly ad to see what you can stack and in which order you need to run your orders to get the most bang for your buck.


While Meijer doesn't have a loyalty card, they do offer an MPerks program that works basically the same way but you use your cell phone number and a pin code at the register in lieu of a physical card.  You simply go to https://www2.meijer.com/mperks/?cmpid=GooglePPC_mPerks to sign up.  Then you choose which digital coupons you want and load them to your account.  The great thing with the Mperk offers is that, unlike Kroger, these are not considered manufacturer coupons so you can 'stack' them with paper coupons.  So for instance, there is an Mperk for $1/6 Spaghettios.  I have 50¢/2 paper coupons for Spaghettios.  So I could load the Mperk for the $1 off and also use three paper coupons which will each double to $1 at Meijer and save a total of $4 off when I buy six cans.  Another nice thing about MPerks is that they are frequently offers for Meijer brand items so you can get items that generally are less expensive to begin with for even less.


But loyalty cards aren't just for grocery and drug stores.  Kmart and Sears have a Shopyourway rewards card.  This card often nets you special deals in their stores, but it also gives you actual dollar amount rewards that you can use toward purchases.  Granted, these are small rewards and would take a long time to amount to much, but if you're making large purchases, such as when we bought our new stove, refrigerator and microwave all at Sears, we were then able to buy over $16 worth of free items at either Sears or Kmart.  Alco and Big Lots offer similar programs.  The points accumulate slowly, but periodically they will also offer special deals to card holders.  So if you're shopping there anyway, why not take advantage of all the savings opportunities they are giving you?


There are clothing/sporting goods/shoe stores etc. that offer reward card programs as well.  Dick's, Finish Line, Foot Locker and American Eagle are ones I happen to carry.  Each of these stores will send periodic rewards in the form of coupons or vouchers that you can use on purchases in their stores after you spend a certain amount and use your loyalty card.  Again, if you're buying things anyway, you may as well be earning any extras or be on the mailing lists to receive coupons and special notices of sales.


Several gas stations also offer loyalty card programs.  I have both a Gas America and Speedway card.  Each of these stations offer discounts on fountain drinks and other merchandise and food when you use their card.  They also offer bonuses for buying gas and other items.  Gas America will periodically send a small 'rebate' check based on my sales using my card to track them.  These checks are usually for $3-$4 and must be used at Gas America toward gas or other products in the store, but since I'm a frequent customer there, that's just free money to me.  They also send out coupons to use in their stores from time to time.  Speedway's program is much the same except that you can accumulate large quantities of points to later redeem for gift cards or large fuel discounts.  It takes a lot longer to earn big rewards at Speedway, but if you're a regular customer and you're patient, you can do well.


Staples also offers a rewards card.  While Staples doesn't offer too many spectacular rewards when you use their card, they do pay card holders $2 per ink cartridge that you turn in for recycling.  This $2 is in the form of a credit on your rewards card that you can use toward other in store purchases.  They also offer rewards credits for certain purchases, such as last month, they were giving a 100% refund on 3 ring binders when you bought them using your loyalty card.  You just have to watch for the deals.


I know there are people who are concerned about 'big brother' being able to track what we buy and from where and things like that.  But for me, the benefits far outweigh the concerns I have over Kroger knowing how many packages of pantiliners I buy every year.  


Now, lastly, Target, Kohls and Penney's, among others, offer credit cards that come with special perks.  While I am against using credit, I am not opposed to using a store credit card to get a special deal and then immediately...like right there and then...pay it off.  Target has their RedCard that gives you an extra 5% off every purchase every day and Kohls and Penney's frequently have 20% or more off deals for card users in addition to periodically sending out coupons for $10 off a $10 purchase or something similar to card holders.  The trick to making these 'with card' deals work is to always...always...pay them off before you leave the store that day.  They make these offers hoping you will just let the balance ride.  When you do, you will likely lose any and all benefit you gained in the interest charges.  Just use the card to get the savings and then pay it off that same day right at the register or at the customer service desk.


It just takes a little time and effort to really see your shopping dollars stretch, and using a loyalty card is the easiest way to start.  So grab a key ring and start gathering them up!!