Gas points aid stores, maybe not customers

BALTIMORE – Faith E. Wachter doesn’t normally spend as much as $17 on shampoo in a single shopping trip. But by stocking up on hair care products recently, the Ellicott City, Md., resident saved more than $4 on gasoline for her car – and just in time for a drive to the beach.

As they look for ways to spend less on fuel, more shoppers are headed to the supermarket.

Several chains are rewarding loyal customers with points they can redeem for discounts at the pump. And with the cost of a gallon of gas up a dollar from last summer, consumers say they are comparing the different programs – and, in some cases, shopping accordingly.

“It’s like buying a winning lottery ticket,” J.D. Taylor said as he filled up at the Safeway gas station in Catonsville, Md.

“How can you lose?” the Woodlawn, Md., man asked. “The card is free.”

Consumer advocates caution against the potential pitfalls of such programs. It’s true, they say, that customers might save money, as long as they don’t let the lure of discounts change their regular shopping habits.

But because it costs retailers money to offer and promote such discounts, they say, prices in general might be lower if they didn’t exist in the first place.

“I don’t think consumers benefit by encouraging these programs,” said Joseph Ganem, a physicist at Loyola University Maryland who has written a book on how consumers are deceived by numbers.

“These companies are paying a lot to implement them,” Ganem said. “You’re paying for that.”

The supermarket programs are pretty similar: For every dollar you spend, you earn a point. For every 100 points you redeem, you get a 10-cent-per-gallon break when you fill up at the pump.

As gas prices have climbed this year, so has the popularity of supermarket discount programs.

Participation in Giant Food’s Gas Rewards program has increased by 5 percent in 2011, according to a spokesman.

Giant has nine stations in Maryland, Washington and Virginia, spokesman Jamie Miller said, but customers may also redeem points at participating Shell stations.

Chris Brand, a spokesman for Martin’s Food Markets, speaks of the instant gratification customers experience when they swipe their bonus cards at the pump and see the per-gallon price drop.

“That’s always a thrill. I know I like it,” he said.

And as gas prices increase, Brand said, “people begin to pay a little more attention to their points.”

According to AAA, a gallon of regular gas averaged $3.695 on Friday, up from $2.718 on the same date in 2010.

While the several programs are broadly similar, they differ in the details: How quickly the points expire, how many may be redeemed at one time, and how much gas can be purchased during a single visit.

Brand said pulling up a second vehicle for discounted gas while the pump is still active is prohibited for safety reasons.

Supermarkets offer different ways to collect additional points. At Safeway, customers may earn double points by buying gift cards – though cards that are redeemable at Safeway itself are not eligible, to prevent double-dipping, spokesman Greg Ten Eyck said.

Martin’s and Giant have partnered with suppliers to offer points to customers for specific purchases. Wachter, for example, bought five bottles of Pantene shampoo and conditioner to earn 200 extra points – giving her enough to save 40 cents per gallon for her trip to the Delaware shore.

Wachter said she doesn’t believe in “buying a discount.” But she uses Pantene regularly, so she took the promotion as an excuse to stock up.

“It did prompt me to read the weekly circulars a little more closely,” she said. “In this case, this is something I would spend money on anyway.”

Ganem said consumers should consider not only price, but the total cost of making a purchase.

Ganem, the author of “The Two-Headed Quarter: How To See Through Deceptive Numbers and Save Money on Everything You Buy,” said the gas discount programs are intended to be complicated to make price comparison difficult.

“My belief is a lot of the confusion is to make it impossible for you to make rational decisions in the marketplace,” Ganem said.