UPDATE BELOW!
Have you ever heard of grocery stores that offer discounts on gasoline? The more food you buy, the cheaper the gas is. Yeah, right.
A reader left a comment months and months ago about how her Mom bought so many groceries she saved almost a dollar per gallon at the gas pump. I was highly skeptical, until I overheard a cashier tell a customer checking out in front of me that she had 325 gas points.
“That’s good for 30-cents off per gallon,” the cashier chirped. Huh? That was just, well, it was preposterous. As she rang me up, the words bumbled around in my head. Thirty cents off per gallon? PER gallon?
I stole a glance at my receipt. There at the bottom, in clear black type, it said I had 856 gas points. 856!?!
If I filled up at the grocery store’s gas station I would pay $.80 per gallon less. About two weeks later my gas needle gauge hovered at about one-quarter of a tank. I combined errands to swing by the grocer’s gas station, still skeptical the deal was real. What if they only had one grade of gas? (My car requires premium.) What if the savings came in the form of a voucher valid only at the grocer?
I pulled up, swiped my grocery loyalty card, swiped my credit card, and chose premium grade. The light switched from $3.09 per gallon (which is already $.16 lower than the average premium gas price for Rhode Island) to $2.29 per gallon.
My tank swallowed 10.4 gallons, which cost me $23.91. I saved $8.23. Filling up for less than $25 felt great, even if the overall discount was a piddling 1% (with bonus points I spent closer to $500 to save $8.23 – 1.5%).
When’s the last time your gas was that cheap?
Readers chimed in with this list of stores that have a gas discount program.
Albertsons
Bi-Lo
City Market
Costco
Fred Meyer
Giant
Giant Eagle
King Soopers
Kroger
Price Chopper
Ralphs
Safeway
Shaw’s
Stop & Shop
Tops
Winn Dixie
November 12th, 2010 at 11:45 am
ok, but what’s the name of the grocery store that offers this?????
November 12th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Hey Julia! Can you please share some more information about which stores and gas stations are participating in this promotion? I haven’t heard about it.
November 12th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I wouldn’t look at like you only saved one percent. You have to buy groceries anyway! What a great deal!
November 12th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
We buy our gas at Costco using their rewards American Express card. We get 3% cash back plus the price is usually about 5 to 10 cents cheaper than the other local stations.
November 12th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
@CJ and @Mike Munson I shop at Stop & Shop, which is one grocer that has the gas promotion. Does anyone knowofother have this deal?
November 12th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
I know that Ralphs in California has where they at least offer 10 cents off per gallon, using 100 of their rewards points.
100 points equals $1 of rewards dollars that they send you a couple months after the end of the quater, so as long as you get more than 10 gallons of gas, it is a good exchange. You have to use your rewards card at participating Shell Stations.
I know where I am filling up my SUV in a day or so!
November 12th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
@Renee Strange Way to stay positive, Renee!
November 12th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
@Camille I don’t have a Costco near me or I would probably join and get the AmEx. There is a BJs near me and they currently have a free 60-day trial that you can start as late as Dec. 31, 2010. I have not gotten around to going to Bjs.
November 12th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
I’m not sure if nation wide chains do this discount, but in Maine, Shaw’s supermarkets offer $0.10 off per $50.00 spent. It’s easy to earn a decent discount very quickly. (and here, it’s good at any Irving Gas Station)
November 12th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Kroger has a deal, just not as great! Each $100 spent at the store gives you 10c off per gallon at Shell. So when I fill up I get about $1.10 discount.
November 12th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
The discount varies but I have received them at Albertsons, Safeway, City Market, King Soopers, and Fred Meyer.
November 12th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Costco has the best deal near me. (Los Angeles/San Fernando Valley.) The price is 5 – 10¢ lower than local stations, plus I get 3% cashback for using their American Express card. But I have to pay $50 membership fee per year up front. That reduces the total savings. Still, it’s not bad. The break-even point is at about 500 gallons of gas. At 20 gallons per week I come out ahead (start “gaining” money) after 25 weeks.
November 13th, 2010 at 1:03 am
@BB: $3.09 for premium (before the price change)? I pay that for the lowest grade (87 octane) here in the Valley (CA). Do you still drive your mini? And it takes premium?
@Christine: I’ve never heard that Ralphs has that gas deal with participating Shell stations you mentioned. I don’t think our local Ralphs does but it’s worth checking out. On the other hand, I asked a Ralphs manager how to get coupons loaded onto my rewards card, having read about it on the Bargain Babe site a few months ago. The manager didn’t know, nor did a cashier. So Ralphs may have some well-kept secrets.
@iggy: One of our credit cards is Costco’s AmEx, but the closest Costco to us doesn’t sell gas. However, we get 4% back for gas from any station and we, too, have the $50 membership. I wonder why the 1% difference?
November 13th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Isn’t there an annual fee for a AmEx card for use at Cost-co?
November 13th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
@Junie I believe you pay the annual AmEx fee and Costco waives the $50 membership fee, so it’s like a $50 credit towards the annual fee.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
@ iggy: Figured it out: Our Costco card is a business credit card, so we get the 4% rebate.
@BB: It might be the same in the end, but we pay $50 for our Costco membership and there is no annual AmEx fee. Additionally, we get rebates on gas (as previously discussed), restaurants, travel, Costco purchases, and “everywhere else.” That quoted wording is from the AmEx monthly statement.
November 14th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Price Chopper here does it. My friend saves up her points. She had over $2 off a gallon
November 15th, 2010 at 12:17 am
There’s only two stores I know of that have gas. At least here anyways. Theres Kroger and Wal-Mart/Sams Club and Sams club you have to be a member and only use a credit card.
November 15th, 2010 at 2:36 am
Price Chopper also offers this sort of deal. The store is on the expensive side, so any savings from gas would be cancelled out by the cost of my groceries.
November 15th, 2010 at 5:12 am
bi-lo is another grocery chain that offers discounts on gas.the program is called fuel perks and u save 5 cents per gallon per every 50 dollars you spend.some weeks they do promotions where you are able to earn 10 cents a gallon.i love it last time i saved 95 cents per gallon for total savings of almost 20 dollars.
November 15th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Here in Florida, Winn Dixie offers gas points. My husband keeps telling me to fill up at the participating gas stations but it out of my way unless I wait till a weekend to do it.
November 15th, 2010 at 7:46 am
Giant grocery stores in the Wash DC area has been doing this for months with Shell gas stations. For every dollar you spend on groceries at Giant you get a point (a penny) off per gallon. So when you spend $400 in groceries you get .40 off per gallon when you fill up. The way they track what you spend is through your Giant loyalty card.
November 15th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Shaws partners with Gulf stations for something like this
November 15th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
https://www.override.com/cppublic/override.html
November 16th, 2010 at 1:57 am
Ralphs in Los Angeles currently has a discount program for gas. Just head to http://www.ralphs.com/fuel for info.
To Diane, Go to Ralphs.com and log in. On the main page, click on the box that states “load more than $150 to your card”
November 16th, 2010 at 7:50 am
Giant Eagle has been offering 10 cents savings per $50 spent for a couple of years. They do promotions a couple time a year where you earn 20 cents for every $50 in gift cards purchased. And occasionally they offer coupons for $1 off with every prescription filled. So free tanks of gas are pretty common. And the discount is good for up to 30 gallons so most of us take gas cans with us to maximize the savings.
November 16th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Price Chopper & Tops also have such promotions for loyal customers, however I think both of these chains are on the east coast
November 17th, 2010 at 1:56 am
@Florence: Thank you! Thank you! I’m expressing that twice because you have helped me to find out about both the Shell/Ralphs gas deal AND how to load coupons onto the Rewards card. Regarding the latter, do you know how often the coupons change?
November 17th, 2010 at 8:49 am
[...] many readers chimed in to share stores that offer a gasoline discount, which is how I saved $.80 off per gallon, that I wanted to re-post the information for [...]
November 17th, 2010 at 9:04 am
I have all my credit cards registered at UPROMISE which is a site where a percentage of your purchases go towards 529 savings accounts. I get money back every time I put gas in my car.
November 17th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
I contacted Ralphs at the “contact us” section of the site Florence provided, asking how often the coupons are changed. I got a quick response: everyday.
November 21st, 2010 at 12:29 am
Diane,
Glad to be of help. Coupons on your card stay for about a month and disappear if you don’t use them. When you log in to Ralphs.com you can check to see which coupons are still loaded to your reward card.
November 21st, 2010 at 12:30 am
Diane,
Glad to be of help. Coupons on your card stay for about a month and disappear if you don’t use them. When you log in to Ralphs.com you can check to see which coupons are still loaded to your reward card.
November 21st, 2010 at 4:32 pm
I am in Saskatchewan, Canada, and here we have superstore and extra foods grocery stores (same chain) that offer 5cents/liter off (a liter is approx. 1/4 of a gallon, so 20cents/gallon). When you fill up there, you get vouchers for that amount to be used in the store (they subtract that amount from your purchase). It is a good deal if you regularly shop there anyways, which I do). They also have promotions where if you spend a certain amount in the store (usually $250), you get much bigger discounts, up to 30cents/liter (1.20/gallon). These stores also sell electronics, clothing, housewares, etc at good prices, so you don’t have to spend the $250 only on groceries.
November 21st, 2010 at 9:26 pm
@Florence ~ I read all the FAQs (which were clear and understandable) and am under the impression the coupons stay loaded on the card until they expire or the cardholder removes them (prior to expiration, of course).