Supermarket deals offering discounts at the petrol pump are proving popular with shoppers, and up to 70 per cent of customers are using them at some petrol stations.
How are you finding the schemes? Are you really saving any money?
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Here is the latest selection of your views:
Lou Harrison-Smith
The supermarket fuel ploy is good marketing. To gain the maximum of (currently) 10c a litre requires a $70.00+ purchase. Not difficult if you only shop once or twice a week. To get the most benefit you really need to fill your tank. (How many have 100 litre fuel tanks?)Then it becomes a question, how many people would empty two or more tanks of petrol a month? Doubtless the promotors calculated this before they launched the scheme.
Mano
Fuel companies and supermarkets are cheating the general public. When you pump petrol into your car at the end the meter runs but no fuel goes into your car. Pumps do not work correctly and Commerce commission does not check pumps regularly. They have increased the price of consumer products to cover up the discount. Fuel companies should give 10cts discount direct to consumers.
Kathleen Wicks
I am not in the least excited by these discounts for petrol schemes. Anyone who imagines they are getting a good deal should think again. The weekly grocery shop prices have been climbing steadily so we are all already paying for our miserable few cents savings on petrol anyway. There never are any free lunches, so we are fools if we think we are getting a good deal. Also, I object to being hooked in to buying my gas from certain petrol stations, or shopping at a particular supermarket. When I want groceries I want to go to the supermarket of my choice to get just groceries, and when I want to fill my car. same thing.. I do not like them being linked. Also, many people do not own a car but still have to eat so what is in it for them ? What reward do they get for shopping at their supermarket? Now if everyones groceries had that discount deducted from what one actually paid at the till, that would be fairer to all of their customers. I would just like to see the oil companies reduce their prices at the pump, with as much speed as they put the prices up! It doesn’t happen that way though does it - why not?
Melissa
I do my main shop at Pak n save every week, which also has its own on site fuel station. I do my shopping get my voucher and then get petrol. When I got the mailer from Countdown in my letter box about the 10cent discount I briefly considered making the 20k round trip to countdown but then realised I would probably spend the same amount of money getting there that I would save from using the discount voucher! So I went to Pak n save and saw they also had the 10 cent discount so I was very happy. The number one main reason I like using the Pak n save fuel is because I have 3 children who I can leave safely in the car whilst I get petrol and pay at the pump with eftpos. I occasionally do top up shops during the week at Foodtown which is closest supermarket to us. But I never used the discount vouchers I received because of the hassle of getting all kids out of the car and into the petrol station to pay. So it was a real bonus to have pak n save start offering the vouchers as we!ll.I know mobil has eftpos at pump but everytime I tried to use it there was some problem and ended up having to go into the station to pay anyway and have always found the local Mobil service attendents extremely rude so after the last time I made a point of complaining to head office and not going there again!) So to get to the point, Pak n save rules yay!! Eftpos at the pump rules!! Petrol station in the supermarket carpark brilliant idea!! Fuel vouchers wahooo!!
Alan Type
Oil has dropped $6 - $7 a barrel and the NZ dollar is strong, so the only reason I can see petrol hasn’t come down is corporate greed. It would help if the media highlighted this continuing over pricing of fuel as it directly effects all of us. The only effective way of pulling petrol prices down is the customer avoiding one of the major gas stations. This was tried once before and the petrol companies brought prices down very quickly.
Allan Eccles
Something for nothing, I do not think so. This has to be the most messiest scheme I have seen. If you have a careful look at Supermarket pricing since it started there has been a decrease in some products at a discount ,so you save nothing. Would be less messy to give the discount at the till.
John Pring
This concept is used widely in Australia where the supermarkets offer 4c per litre discount when a supermarket receit worth more than $30 is produced. Very popular
Martin Thomas
Buy at Pak n Save and use their petrol station. Usually 6c a litre discount which works about $2.50 a week saving. Don’t buy petrol elsewhere now so has changed my buying pattern.
Andrea Tamati
No I dont use them as I dont have a car,I used to give them to my cousin but they get them at their supermarket now in Henderson. But I cant understand why when I offer them to so many people they dont want them, and that they fine self service so hard.
Simon
The discounts are actually minimal - around $3 per fill! Especially Mobil’s "Spend $4 and save 4c per litre". You have to fill up a 100 litre tank to break even with this!!
Tom Stanley
I think it is a waste of time because you dont get more then a dollar off a litre of petrol.
John
Petrol discount vouchers are a really stupid idea. I already present eftpos card, flybuys or OneCard and now i get this piece of paper to take to the gas station. I reckon its an insult to have to use all these so called loyalty mechanisms, it takes longer to get through the supermarket and now longer to get gas. Why dont they just get real, get rid of the loyalty cards, stop putting junk in my mail box and drop the prices so that the menial task of grocery shopping and getting gas is cheaper and quicker.
Pru
One question I have is, New World supports Fly Buys, and so does Shell, but N.W. vouchers go to BP. I dont use enough petrol to make it worth while changing from Shell to BP to save maybe $1.50. But, I guess, after a year of visits, that would add up to $150.
Phil Hawkins
With the fuel discounts having been operational in Australia for some time now, two factors have become clear. The first is that i’s the supermarkets that have been funding her lio’s share of the cost of the discount. The second is that it has been a winner for the oil companies that have signed up with the supermarkets, and by implication its been a disaster for those service stations that haven’t – they have been left high and dry.
Carrot and the Donkey
Why bother with this? Why not rather give us discount at the supermarket till where it hurts us most? If you look at the increase in price of food items, you will see that it has increased more than fuel. A few months ago the average food trolley would set you back $500. This is now nearly $600!!
Meg
I use them but as the supermarkets pay the rebate, me as the consumer is funding that expense. So I am not sure if its that beneficial!
Raewyn
We have used these since moving to Rotorua over 2 yrs ago. My partner was a sales rep so this helped for fuel discount consumption, plus we take in our boat tanks to fill to get the full 100 litres at a time. All helps the retirement fund go further.
Chris Randal
I also have a problem with these vouchers when pumps are on prepay. The computer systems used by the oil companies can not cope with reducing the price. If I have a voucher that gives me 10c off the $1.379 per litre, and I want to buy $20 worth of gas, I expect to pay $20 at $1.279 per litre. At the lower price I get 15.63 litres, at the higher I get 14.50 litres. I don’t want cash back because BP’s computer can’t cope with the discount. The promotion has, defacto, become a cash back one, not a 10 cents off promo. The Commerce Commission do not want to know!
Zac Langridge
I use them all the time, mainly at Shell because I also get fly buys points. I think they are a great idea, although people have to realise that the saving is not huge unless you spend a lot of money on petrol. For me it is about enough for my favourite choccy bar. It’s handy because I have a Countdown up the road and a Shell not far away as well.
Shannon Black
We regularly use the fuel dockets and think they are great. We have been using the Pakn Save at Botany vouchers for quite a while as they have been available for the longest. We were very happy when Countdown started giving them as well as it is more convenient to go to Countdown and quicker to get through the shop. We since switched to Countdown for the majority of our purchases.
Krishna Seelam
I use every voucher I get from FoodTown or Pack&Save. I save almost $3.00 to $5.00 every time, depending on the voucher.
Melva Harland
Yes we use them, may as well save some money getting petrol. I do not suppose they really add up to much but any savings welcome. Long may it continue.
Mu Autagavaia
We still shop at Pakn Save as they led the way. Although the opposition has brought the PaknSave Threshold to the levels alround , we now shop smarter with two trolleys to double the benefit. As we shop weekly with an average that reaps two 10c vouchers.
S.Ferguson
The supermarket petrol voucher is a brillant idea. Anything that puts a little more cash back in the pocket has to be a good thing.
Colin Baker
Welcome to the 21st Century New Zealand! I am originally from England moved out 4 years ago and this kind of Fuel Promotion has been going on for over 10 years at least in the UK. I worked for Shell and BP UK and watched as the supermarkets started to build there own service stations and offer discounted fuel which slowly killed of the independent operators. The big supermarket chains are selling fuel at a loss against the big margins it gains in store. A petrol station can not compete against that with its low fuel margins. It only takes one fuel theft of 50plus litres and the profit for the entire shift is wiped out.
The discount fuel voucher you are getting is probably being written off by the supermarkets who will be paying the service station operators. At least with a collaboration with service stations, the service stations will not be pushed under as we were in the UK. Its a win win for the Service stations, the customers and the supermarkets who may a tidy profit to be able to hide that small loss in its own pricing. When more supermarkets build servos like Pak N Save then watch your local garages disappear by the dozen.
Mike Moodie
It appears to me that the oil companies are holding up the price of petrol. Users can, by using coupons, get the petrol at the correct price but the whole coupon process is taking away customers freedoms.
Bernard
It is like all the other reward schemes and the relatively recent ability to be able to use credit cards at supermarkets, Do you really think your getting something for nothing?
Bruce Ingram
Probably the dumbest marketing campaign I have seen. No competitive advantage has been gained by any of the supermarket or fuel company participants but they are having to erode profits, now that pressure to reduce overall petrol prices has been bought to bear on them . Only consumers who have the vouchers save a little and the other 30pct at least are being ripped off by paying higher prices at the pump than they should be. All consumers pay more in store to cover the cost of the campaign. Everyone is a loser in this one.
Jarrod Coburn
In my honest opinion, Mobil missed the bus big time. If I were them, I would have made a permanent reduction of 4c at the pump no purchase required. This would have had one of two effects: either the other petrol companies would be forced to also drop their price at the pump, and still have to honour the supermarket vouchers; or they would have had to compete more aggressively in a market where Mobil was 4c cheaper.Makes you wonder why Mobil didn’t undertake this strategy. Makes you wonder about the cartel syndrome, not that I am suggesting collusion between the petrol companies as that would be illegal.
Chandini Britto
The discount vouchers that we get at supermarkets are great as they come in handy especially if you spend a lot on the petrol every week but I must say that I have noticed that the grocery prices at the supermarkets have also gone up equally since the introduction so I do not think it is of any benefit to me but as you have no choice but have to shop at the supermarket. It is just go with the flow.
Lynette
I really object to them. It seems like you have to have the voucher from the supermarket to get the regular price. It is a real pain having to collect and take them with you when you get petrol. And Mobil saying you save 4c instantly is just false advertising when you have to spend $4 in store. You are probably worse off overall on that one.
Matt
I think they are a scam. We’re constantly faced with the major oil companies bleating about how their margins are so thin you could read a legal document through them, but they can afford a 10c/L discount. Even if it is being split 50:50 between the oil company and the supermarket that’s still 5c/L that the oil companies are absorbing. If their margins are as thin as claimed, that should be completely unsustainable for any period of time. Prices for crude and petrol out of Singapore have been trending down for weeks, but we have only just seen decreases at the pump in the very recent past. Why is that? You (the media) are not doing a very good job of keeping the pressure on for them to explain why we are getting screwed like this.
Matthew
Well I use petrol voucher for over a year now with Pak and Save. I use minimum of 50 ltrs petrol per week that saves me minimum of $3.
Oksana
Up until recently I was loyal to the New World and Shell only because they offer Flybuys. Lately I started shopping at the Pak n Save and they provided me with 10c discount voucher. The disappointment is that I can not take this voucher to Shell as they do not acccept Pak n Save vouchers. So I moved on to BP. It would be great if petrol stations would accxcept any of the discount vouchers, whether it is Foodtown, Countdown, New World or Pak n Save.
Jacqui
I shop at New World and buy petrol from Shell, both mainly to get Fly Buys points. I do not understand why they are not affiliated in the discounts on petrol. I will go out of my way to buy a few things at Foodtown so that I can get the 4 cents or 6 cents off Shell petrol.
Jim Whyte
I use Pak n Saves own station at Henderson. Filling up when I buy weekly groceries there. For a 50 litre tank I save $5 or 10 cents per litre, not a huge amount I agree, but I’d rather it was in my pocket than that of the greedy oil companies who have been rather slow to drop their prices despite oil prices being at their lowest for some time. If the oil companies can offer the discount now why could not they before Pak n Save forced them to?
Dolly
I believe the fuel discount vouchers were around quite a long time before September, for example Pak N Save had been offering vouchers discounting fuel at their own pumps. I recall thinking at the time your newspaper began trumpeting these vouchers that you were behind the times.
Mad
eleine Ware
I have collected many fuel vouchers over the past few months, from 4c a litre to 10c a litre. The only real issue for me is that I do not a car. So various checkout chicks and random strangers have been doing well out of me. I would much rather get a discount on my groceries.
Aaron
Note to petrol companies: Just drop the base price of petrol, spend your marketing budget supporting community groups and events.
Darryl Cook
They are a rip off as you arr not getting the extra fuel in your car as you fill your car up and then get the discount so you still get $20 worth of fuel but its just cheaper. I like Mobil. You spend money and pre pay for the gas at the discounted rate your getting more fuel for that price.
Phil Mussen
We use them but would love someone to investigate further the mechanics of the scheme re what dollars are flowing between the oil companies and the supermarket chains. It seems likely that the cost is being shared. The oil company already had capacity to reduce the price. It is now being given to us in the disguise of the supermarket vouchers. For the supermarket chains - given that everyone is doing it then the actual change in longt erm market share for them is probably minimal. Given the amount of vouchers being redeemed it is hard to imagine supermarkets paying a big cheque for their share of the promotion without looking to where they can recover costs. Whose really paying? the consumer. Adjust the price by 1 cent on some of the main grocery items and there is the answer of who is paying.
Ajayan Thiruchelvam
I shop for a family of 6 and read the article and don’t believe the cost savings are what they’re hyped up to be. Frankly, I reckon there are more savings to be made if these fuel discounts are ignored and the occasional heavily discounted items (like nappies etc when they are discounted by 40 per cent) are bought in bulk ie $250 purchases at a time!! The fuel discounts are there to attract lazy shoppers with short memories.
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