Shopper Cards and Clubs: Are They Worth It?

Jennifer — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:05:07 +0000

If you’re like most people, your wallet is stuffed with shopper cards that you may or may not use. Also known as loyalty, club, membership and rewards cards, the free bar-coded cards are offered by retailers selling electronics, books, office supplies, sporting goods and pet-care products. American households on average belong to 14 loyalty programs, but they don’t use them regularly. On average, eight of those 14 hadn’t been used in the past year.

So, should you bother cluttering your wallet or keychain with these cards? Here are some tips to maximize your savings with shopper cards:

1. Obviously, you can score some good savings and rewards with shopper cards, that’s the main point. But you really have to work it to get the maximum benefit. For example: your supermarket might offer excellent prices on their "club card" items. But they’re hoping you buy more quantities than you need, or, once you’re in the store, you could be tempted to buy other items at higher prices. So, before you leave home, carefully peruse the store’s flyer, and make up a shopping list consisting only of the bargain items.

2. Do some comparisons: those special shopper card prices might actually be higher than the everyday low prices offer ed by discounters such as Target or Wal-Mart or various online merchants. Discount club memberships such as Costco or Sam’s Club can offer great savings, too, but often you have to buy in quantity, not always a money-saving choice for a smaller household.

3. If it’s a rewards program, such as cash back or gifts after a certain amount of purchases, think twice. If you are absolutely sure you would normally spend the rewards-qualifying amounts, fine. But don’t start inflating your buying just to get rewards; you won’t save money that way.

4. Think about your privacy. Shopper card programs collect your personal information, and when they are scanned each time you shop, the retailer is collecting information about your buying habits. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It can allow the merchant to figure out what products people want the most, so they can carry those products in their inventory. Also, the information allows them to tailor special coupons or sales that you might find especially useful. Still, some consumers are uncomfortable with the idea, and choose to provide fake information to obtain a shopper card and preserve their privacy.

5. Declutter your wallet. Consolidate up to 6 shopper club bar codes/store names onto one little wallet card, a t www.keyringthing.com. Print a paper version of the consolidated wallet card for free, or pay $3.97and they’ll ship yiou a plastic version. Your local retailer’s card not listed? The website provides instructions on how to create a bar code to add to your card.

Mr. Cheap Stuff Popular Coupons
1. $15 Buy.com Coupon
2. $30 Overstock.com Coupon
3. $10 Drugstore.com Coupon
Mr. Cheap Stuff Popular Posts
5 Massive Benefits of Not Having a TV
List of Restaurant that Give Free Birthday Meals
How to Make Free 411 Calls

Attention: Unless you are reading this from a RSS reader, you are reading a scraped feed. That means the site you are reading this from has violated copyright laws by stealing content from Mr. Cheap Stuff Please contact me to let me know where you reading this so I can take legal action against the scraper.
Shopper Cards and Clubs: Are They Worth It?

Sam’s Club Summer Special

Sunnie — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:47:19 +0000

Do you want or need to shop in bulk but don’t have a membership to one of the big box stores? For a limited time you can join Sam’s Club for 15 cents a day. Sam’s Club is offering a membership for the official 100 days of summer for $15 bucks. That’s more than 1/2 off my annual membership fee. You could also try their One Day Membership for free.

We love Sam’s and have been members for 2 years without really using our membership. With the recent economic down turn we’re looking for ways to stretch our hard earned dollars. With a couple of trips to Sam’s each month we’re able to stock up on our household cleaning supplies, refill our freezer and replenish the pantry and come out ahead for the next month.

Expiration Date: 6/7/2009

Sam’s Club Summer Special

Mr. Cheap Stuff» sam’s club

Shopper Cards and Clubs: Are They Worth It?

Sam’s Club Summer Special