http://www.smh.com.au/business/cap-for-supermarket-fuel-disc…
Boo, Hiss I say.
Coles and Woolworths to cap fuel discounts at 4C
ilostnemo on 06/12/2013 - 18:07
Comments
Locally for me all servo's are within a few cents of each other including independents with BP always being the most expensive.
Coles and Woolies near me have always displayed both prices before and after discount but that may be because they converted from old servo's rather than being purpose built.
I've never seen a Coles Express here in Adelaide that displayed the price after discount. Probably because there is very little competition from the independents in my area.
I think a bigger step the ACCC should have taken was to stop Wools/Coles from displaying that board that listed the price after the DISCOUNT and not BEFORE.
Very true, and they have done this. New laws just kicked in requiring them to show the before discount price. Probably just taking a few weeks for them to adjust to it.
I'm hoping Coles or Woolworths will offer lower prices on regular items as a compensation to the end of high value fuel vouchers.
If they don't offer the lower prices then hopefully the bonus points offers will increase in value from flybuys and everyday rewards.
Either way, I'm hoping I save money in the long road.
No need to boo or hiss, these discounts weren't real discounts, they were just being subsidised by higher prices at the supermarkets!
In reality a cap won't affect shoppers at all, any lost apparent fuel saving will be offset by grocery costs staying lower than they otherwise might have been. There are only positive consequences of this change, being that the indepenedents have a better chance of surviving. And we need them to survive, if Caltex/Shell successfully drove them out with these fuel offers, there'd be no competition and prices would just go up and up and up!
They are real discounts for us.
We've been accumulating 40 cent vouchers for our planned drive to sydney at Xmas. Another voucher coming this weekend. We spend the same as we always have on groceries , ie mostly specials. We haven't seen prices increase any more than inflation over the last few years so doesn't look like they're compensating this way. If there were some items that they were overcharging we'd just buy from a grocer/iga or online, but they aren't.
Unless most shoppers are ignorant to their ploys, I don't know how coles makes money from handing out 40cent vouchers.
We also fill up both cars each time with the vouchers, , around 100 litres and sometimes a jerry can. Attendant says that's fine (always ask).
Admittedly we've got a few months of longer life items (coffee, washing powder etc) that we won't need to buy for a while if the discounts stop. ;) but all good as we would have bought them some time anyway.
I do feel bad for the smaller servos and totally agree with the unfairness of it.
I don't think we will see a decrease in shopping prices… Most people are used to paying such high prices that Coles & Woolies will continue business as usual.
They will probably say that petrol sales are down now so they need to raise prices in the super markets to make up for it…
I dont notice the high prices in woolies either,
I buy Fruit and veg from the market and 1/3 of the price of woolworths,
I goto a wholesale Butcher, Buy the specials, Or buy a half a cow for the freezer.
I goto Fish market for fish
I goto food wholesaler/importer for things like Fetta, olives, Sunny toms, tin stuff,
Shop at places like Chemist warehouse for things like washing powder (normally have a special $2 500g)dishliquid, shampoo,
Take advantage of online sites like groceryrun, saveonbrands, ect, sign up to there emails, Take advantage of free delivery or $6 off when spend $30 (almost same as free postage/cheap postage)
Coles and woolworths take advantage of Lazy People who want to get everything in a 1stop shop…
This benifits me, As they have the price wars on the basic items, which is all I buy from them, Milk, bread, rice, tin foods,
Then get petrol discount, use it save on fuel,Dont have to do it all in 1 day, Or can do most online now anyway, Just a matter if u want to save a $ or have the convenience
Accc are so wrong here.
The usual argument I hear is. By not allow cross subsidising grocery and fuel, shoppers will save on shopping. This is false.
These are loyalty programs, rewarding those who choose to stay loyal. Buy both products in the same place.No different from credit cards offering points, or myer one card offering points, or Ubank term deposits offering rewards for starting term deposit again, ing bank does this too. Loyalty programs give up profit margins by saving on the expense of advertising, similar to long service leave as a reward for loyalty, but also saving on recruitment and retraining.
Overall, anyone who normally buy a large amount from Coles or Woolies will never get the 8c bonus again, a loss for them.
The question is will this result in lower prices for groceries? The answer is like asking will lowering long service leave or lowering loyalty bonus on saving account save you money? The answer is more obviously no in those cases.
"anyone who normally buy a large amount from Coles or Woolies will never get the 8c bonus again"
Not true. They can still offer vouchers for 10c/20c/30c/etc off, it's just that they may only fund these through the supermarket business. No longer can they use the liquor (for example) business to fund discounts offered through supermarkets. This way the ACCC is looking for more genuine competition.
Personally I buy from the local United servo in Ryde as they sell genuine unleaded, not e10, for the same price. E10 is a false economy- it burns faster and hotter so you get fewer km/L from it. For the sake of $3-4/week in vouchers I get $5-10/week better fuel economy…
My understanding is that they can't offer the 10/20 etc via the supermarket. This is considered a separate business to the petrol station. WW can still offer the extra 4 cents for spending inside the petrol station as this keeps the higher discount inside the same business. I know the ownership is the same but the ACCC don't want the big 2 to use the large company/multi business advantage in the petrol war.
My guess is coles express will start an instore discount in the petrol stations again. Hopefully they won't put up the price of the bread and milk.
This is bad news for me. When I get petrol, its usually with a petrol voucher, lately between 20-40c. To get the petrol voucher I try and keep the total to just over the minimum spend, and I only buy things that are on sale, usually in bulk. If its from a coles shop I spend 1000 flyby points for an extra 10c off. I watch the graphs to try and get petrol at the bottom of the price cycle. I spend the minimum instore, usually on milk, to get the additional 4c off. I use jerry cans to get the maximum 150L. And when it comes time to pay, I use a gift card which I buy at 5% off.
Most of the time when I work it out I'm paying less than $1 per litre. Even then its only barely worth it. If the big 2 stop giving big discounts and don't provide any work arounds I'll probably shift most of my shopping to IGA.
My guess was that the large petrol discounts were starting to hurt, but they were stuck playing a game of chicken with each other, neither side willing to concede. The ACCC just gave them a way out.
What is the minimum spend for a 4 cent discount at Coles?
$30
I think it's great, stops them from inflating prices from other items to fund this 'saving'.
But doubt they will stop this practice entirely to increase their profits.
I think a bigger step the ACCC should have taken was to stop Wools/Coles from displaying that board that listed the price after the DISCOUNT and not BEFORE.
I know Woolworths stopped doing this and since then I have noticed them being more competitive with 7Eleven and independents near them, but Coles still does this practice and I can't help but scoff every time I pass one and they have the same price as the Independent across the road with the discount.