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My first forum submission. Please forgive me if it is not right.
The Entertainment Book no longer has the 5% Coles gift cards deal.
I think a lot of OZBargainers used them.
Does anyone know of any alternatives to buy them at 5% discount?
Or should we all just switch to Woolworths which still offers the 5% discounted gift cards deal through the Entertainment Book?
I get the WW cards through RACV at 5% discount but I am also looking for a Coles option as I use both major supermarkets. My aim is for each bulk shop is to get at least 20% discount combining discounted gift cards and other loyalty program bonuses.
I was planning to get the Entertainment book this year in order to get the discounted gift cards but I won't be getting it now that Coles has changed it's policy.
I know there is a Car dealership loyalty program that offers 5% discounts on Coles cards but their fees are so high that it only works out at a 3% discount and the cards probably take a long time to come.
So far my only way of getting Coles cards at a discount(100% discount) is to use my credit card points or the points from various online survey groups and it takes ages to get enough points using all of these programs.
How do you combine discounted gift cards and loyalty bonuses to reach 20%? What I am doing so far: Buying discounted Wollies gift cards with Amex to get FF points, using the fuel discount and getting Myer points for fuel.
$100 gift cards cost me $95. ($5 saved)
Results in 95 FF points (value at least $0.0075 per point = $0.72 saved)
Brings 4ct fuel discount per liter (value for 40 liter fuel = $1.60 savings)
Myer points for fuel (value $0.01 per $ spent, 40l fuel * $1.43 = $57.20, resulting in $0.57 savings).
Total savings on $100 gift card value: $5.00 + $0.72 + $1.60 + $0.57 = $7.89.
That increase of course if you drive more, but how would you get it to savings of 20%?
In order to get 20% you need to combine lots of loyalty bonuses as well as discounted Wish cards or Coles cards if you can get them. I don't always get 20% but I have managed it both with Coles and Woolworths in the last few weeks.
Example 1, WW online shop of approximately $50. I used a 10% off Everyday Rewards coupon and paid with a 5% discounted Wish card. I guess you could call this a 15% discount. I purchased goods which were in the specials catalogue, many of which were at a 50% off special price. I got QFF points from the transaction. That's not 20% but it's still a good result.
Example 2. I made a Coles purchase of $60 and combined multiple coupons, docket deals and email offers which resulted in over 2500 bonus points. I also got points on my credit card which I use for Coles vouchers. I don't get this many offers all the time but I usually don't spend $60 unless I can get at least 1000 points. I think I worked this transaction out as an 18% saving which I've rounded out above as 20%.
The trick is to time the shopping trips with the best weekly offers and spend as little as possible inbetween times. The recent voucher promotion with Coles meant I was saving $10 per transaction with the vouchers plus about 1000 points on top of that with other offers.
+1 for you for your dedications!
Does anyone know if we can buy the Woolies gift card through the Entertainment book with Amex?
Yes I buy Woolies cards with Amex all the time. for Coles amex was not an option but Coles is now gone completely anyway
Yes you can pay with amex
I have the entertainment book for 2013-2014. Have not brought any coles card. About to buy some before the offer ends on 1st June. If you need any, send me a message
Thank you ynot1985. I can still buy over $1000 of KMart gift cards on my Entertainment Book and i will stock up before the end of the month expiry.
I thought the loss of the 5% discount Coles gift cards would have attracted a lot more interest on Ozbargain.
I suppose we can still use the 5% ING rebate, but when that is gone? It only lasts 6 months.
I prefer to shop in Coles, but I think the only solution once the coles gift cards will run out is to start shopping in Woolworhts.
Shop at woolies instead, the prices are much better and stock levels are heaps better.
Actually, I don't think Woolies is better in terms of price. There are a couple of things I've noticed where Woolies is just a bit dearer than Coles. :( Hence, I will miss the Coles/Entertainment Book offer.
Where are your Woolies?
I've noticed right across Sydney that coles have what you call "real" 30-50% discounts and lower prices and Woolworths have what I call "dripfeed" 10-20% discount prices.
The rest of their non core products are way over priced for both.
The FlyBuys scheme in Coles gives a lot more benefits than the EverydayReward in Woolworhts.
On FlyBuys you can get points with surveys, specials, etc.
Does EverydayReward have similar initiatives?
Also I have the impression that the quality of the home brand products (including bakery and meat department) in Coles is superior.
I don't get as much from Everyday Rewards as I do from Flybuys. For me, it's worth being part of both programs. By balancing my shopping between both, I get better offers and can take up two offers in one week and still only just spend my weekly average split between the two supermarkets. I spend an average of $150 a week but my offer targets from Flybuys come in at $50-$70 and my Everyday Rewards targets come in from $30-$80.
Everyday Rewards don't have a paid survey option and at the moment it is very diffiucult to get lots of bonus points out of them. I find lately that I have been able to get more "cash" discounts out of Everyday Rewards than bonus points so it is still very useful to me.
I find it harder to predict the offers from Everyday Rewards. The rewards come more slowly with Everyday Rewards but they are still worth waiting for.
Your point about the homebrand products is interesting. I find I use more Coles generic products than Woolworths generic products. I think this is due to a combination of price and quality. I don't like the generic Woolworths bread but I really like the Coles generic bread. With generic products I think it's more to do with personal taste rather than quality issues.
Unions, and some Private insurance/Health care providers offer 5% off Coles gift cards to members.
Which private health insurer? I'd be willing to make a change. I'm not loyal to my current PHI.
Doesn't seem to be any cost effective ways to buy coles 5% off giftcards yet, might as well just start shopping at woolworths, coles will lose a lot of business because of this.
You are right. I was not able to find a suitable replacement to the Entertainment book 5% discount gift cards deal.
I have the ING Orange 5% discount for now, but once that is finished in a few months will switch to Woolworth for groceries and Caltex for petrol.
Hopefully Coles will reconsider and get back in the Entertainment book, although once people switch they may not go back.
Posted wrongly as deal.