Do you save your supermarket money back vouchers, or do you use them straight away? Most supermarkets now have some kind of customer loyalty program. In exchange for you giving them some personal information, they give you a card that allows you to accumulate points or cash. Some supermarkets just issue you with discount vouchers every month. But, how do we treat our hard earned money off vouchers?
Saving Up Your Supermarket Money off Vouchers
Saving up your supermarket vouchers for a special occasion such as Christmas seems to be the most popular way of making the most of your vouchers. If you are fortunate enough to have a Tesco Clubcard, you can also “boost” your vouchers by taking part in different promotions such as 4x times the value of your vouchers. You can even boost your vouchers by turning them into vouchers of meals or when buying jewellery in certain stores.
When you only have access to Spanish loyalty cards, you may want to consider saving up your vouchers for a special occasion. As yet, most of the super markets here in Spain are not very savvy with the way they use their loyalty card schemes. But, it might be coming, I have many Spanish friends who travel to the UK, and they have taken a keen interest in how UK supermarkets run their loyalty schemes. The end result is that many of them have written to supermarkets like Eroski and Consum to express their views, and it seems to be that they are listening. Consum are saying that they are “boosting” their loyalty card scheme by issuing individual offers to shoppers.
But, is this the best way to use your vouchers?
Money Off Vouchers on Special Offers
Personally, I tend to use my vouchers on special offers. So, when a supermarket has a special offer on a product, I get my vouchers out to see of I can make a considerable saving. Last month, one supermarket had a really good special offer on laundry tablets, so I immediately rushed in and snapped up 24 tablets using my vouchers to pay. The product had 3€ off in the first place, and with my vouchers, I ended up walking out with my laundry tablets not having parted with any cash.
Using your vouchers together with special offers might be one of the smartest ways of making the most of your accumulated earnings. But, when Christmas comes around, it is also nice to be able to take a chunk of money off your shopping bill. Some loyalty cards schemes such as Carrefour do not allow you to hang on to your vouchers for a very long time, so make sure to check the date on your voucher.