Safeway blasted out an email today which I’ll share below. It seems they aren’t doing the stupid 100 points is 1 reward anymore; seems like everything will just be points now. This is a good thing because the conversion wasn’t necessary. The other huge change seems that you no longer have to clip $ off rewards; seems the POS will prompt you if you want automatic cash off at the register. This’ll be an interesting change.
obviously this wholesale change is to let their IT staff do less work, cause people using gas rewards to go into the station in order to use their points since the pumps no longer recognize the rewards card, and there is no code printed on the grocery receipt so that part of the programming hasnt been done.
so does 100 points equal $.10 off a gallon of gas I’m confused!
Yes
It used to be that one reward was 10¢ off per gallon, 10 rewards was $1 off. I’ve always been able to get $1 off by clipping everything I can in-app before going in and still scanning things in the store. I have gotten 50¢ off a gallon, total, since this change in April, whereas I didn’t have a problem earning at least one dollar off per gallon every month!!! A family member and I both had an offer for 300 points if we spent so much in one trip “on qualified items” (I’ll never be able to read the fine print on that one, so I just make sure to make it a big shopping trip and that usually works), and we both got the points but didn’t understand those points weren’t valued the same as they used to be before the change.
It sucks and so have their prices- I am so tired of being loyal to them and yet Walmart, or other “discount grocery” places, definitely have better prices- and probably produce! Good grief, what is going on with all the bendy & brown-spotted green beans?!? Between my dog, goats & chickens- I do try to get them in bulk or bagged but they’ve been so funky, even at multiple Safeways here, I’ve had to go elsewhere! I’ve always loved that even if Safeway is but a cog in a giant corporate machine, I’m buying from local growers and companies- it made the extra dollars I’ve spent there, AND the time clipping and scanning, worth it.
It’s just NOT really worth that time, money, and effort anymore- and I can put more gas in the car, probably save a few miles by shopping closer. It’s not just devaluing their points system, it’s devaluing loyal customers as well!
I believe the biggest issue is going to be the theft of “points”. If I have a 1000 points on my account, anyone can key in my phone number and be rewarded with an instant $10 off. Previously I would only redeem my points in the store and use them for that shopping trip. I’ve had my fuel points used at Kroger, and rewards used /stolen at Safeway. They need to implement a pin type system to redeem the cash off. With GC deals around holidays, there are times where I have 100 rewards saved up. How do I prevent someone from using my phone number and draining all the value?
So a devaluation. Got it.
I think this is a deval though