Fuel Shopper Dockets Under Fire
August 6, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
One of the wonders of the last few years has been the supermarket shopper fuel docket scheme, the system gives motorists a small saving (usually 4¢ per litre) off their fuel bill if they spend a certain amount at supermarkets such as Coles or Woolworths.
The ironic part of the system is that many motorists tend to spend more than they have to get the fuel-saving docket, and then travel past their local petrol station to fill up at a station which honours their docket. This usually results in more money being spent for a minuscule saving.
Furthermore this motorist behaviour is driving independent stations out of business, and there are questions being raised as to whether or not the scheme actually reduces the price of fuel (given it reduces competition).
The shopper docket may be on the way out though. Many have argued that the fuel saving dockets do not actually work as intended, either petrol stations raise prices by 4 cents to compensate or supermarkets raise prices accordingly.
Brisbane’s Courier-Mail reports that independent fuel companies are begging the ACCC to even up the playing field. The largest of them all, United Petroleum, told the ACCC that the fuel docket scheme had lead to supermarkets dominating the field unfairly. The ACCC is investigating the claims.
Given this year is an election year, there is a good chance that come election time the price of fuel will go down and the government will punish a few petroleum giants for their misleading conducts.
Source: Courier-Mail
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So you Aussies only get 4 cents a litre off. Here in NZ we get up to 16 cents off, and we only need to spend $40 at the supermarket to get it. But how much lower would the normal price of fuel be if they didn’t have to accomodate the discount.
Thats right, how much is your fuel in general though?
NZ$1.54 per litre for 91 octane, and I suspect the difference between the NZ and Australian fuel price has widened in the last year and a half despite our exchange rates getting closer together. Put it down to the supermarket discount.
I don’t even bother with them anymore. But here is a tip, the expiry dates on the docket are irrelevant, they scan regardless – from my experiences anyway.
Just shop @ ALDI!
The the money saved shopping @ Coles, you will save around 3 times more by shopping and saving @ ALDI even for a $30 basket.
ie Spend $30 for a 4c voucher, average fuel quatity purchased is 50L, WOW so you save $2 max.
Its proved by shopping and spending $30 @ ALDI you will have saved at least $6, ie 3 times more than the fuel voucher saved you.The more you spend the more you save, no need to put up with Wollies pox Asian fuel, long q’s and keep the little man in business
Cheers
F-0
Shortly after Coles bought the Shell outlets, the wholesale price of petrol increased by 4c. I thing the time lag was .000000000001 seconds.
Since then, they often give up to 16c discount, and that price has also been built in.
Not only that, but the grocery prices are higher than they might otherwise be.
So the supermarkets are winning when someone uses a voucher, they are winning when people don’t use a voucher.
That’s why Coles shares went from $10 to $17 in 1 year in spite of the company being so badly run it had to be sold off.
Frugal One is correct! It is great going into ALDI as you could really be in Coles or Woolworths on the service front; as nobody is really around to assist you and at ALDI that is great as less overheads so you save more!!!