Coles/Woolies petrol war hots up.

[Falcon Coupe]

Originally Posted by brenx

You'd most likely find fuel wise it's cheaper to fuel up at an independant. Last fuel up for my EL and Mazda were $1.10pl. Which was nice as I spent what I saved on 98ron @ BP for the XB. I only allow $150 per fortnight for fuel. Due to price drops from $1.39 -> $1.10 my mazda costs $50.60 down from $63.95. I fill the mazda twice a fortnight and put what ever I have left from the fuel money into the EL. Whether that be $20 or $40. At current fuel prices I'm saving $26.70. Better in my pocket than anyone elses.

I rarely use a shopper dockets although I have used one in the last 3mths but only 1. It just happened I had a docket and I managed to get a tank of fuel @ $1.06.5pl. I generally find the shopper docket servo's are 4c to 10c dearer than independants anyway.

I would rather pay full price than use dodgy independant fuel.

[AUIII XR8 MAN]

Were i live we have a Coles, Woolies, Bi-Lo & IGA. Now the IGA is only a small one. So we shop at Bi-Lo & Woolies for different things & get the vouchers for both. We shop only once a fortnight. Now both the Shell & Woolies service station are usually the cheaper service station & close to each other, but when they are dearer i will go to the independant when they are cheaper.

[uranium_death]

There simplest and most tried and true rule of finances...

"If it's sounds too good to be true, then it almost probably is."

Fact is that although it sounds great, of course they will fork the prices up. As if they'd give a fair discount out of the goodness of their hearts. Nothing is free, except maybe Tibet (refer to Family Guy).

Often, if people have a load of groceries at 25 bucks, they'll spend an extra 5 just to get the fuel discount. But then they only save $1-$1.50 average per refill. Kinda dumb.

There is no solution to fuel discounts (and I am only including LAWFUL solutions here!).

[brenx]

Originally Posted by Falcon Coupe

I would rather pay full price than use dodgy independant fuel.

I've been using independant fuels for the last 5 or so years. Can't say I find anything different. When checking plugs, fuel filters etc theres nothing that I don't find when using a big chain servo's fuel.

My worst experience servo wise is actually from Shell. I dare say their tanks were low. I managed to get a very expensive tank of mud which took weeks to completely clean out of the system. After I filled up (full tank) around 50k's later the car stopped dead, everything blocked. I took 4 hours to get home from Melb. It would start run till it'd block again. I was roughly getting 1-2k's per start. Damn annoying! Can't say I've had this issue at an independant.

[uranium_death]

I filled up at Wang Cars, a second hand car dealer.

Petrol wasn't bad. Got me quite revved up actually.

:P

[Falchoon]

Originally Posted by xr8svo

If you sit down and work it out you can save money. The worst things at coles and woolies are fruit and veg and meat so we buy them at small independant butchers and a fruit and veg market and get huge savings and quality of product is great.

You have to buy groceries somewhere. I have a small independendent supermarket about 5 mins walk from my house that offers no petrol discounts and it is generally a very expensive place to shop (except 2lt Milk is about $1 cheaper than the "big two"!). So once a week I drive an extra 2km to the nearest shopping mall that has both a Coles and Woolies (and Aldi) and spend my money there. I drive past a Woolies servo on the way. Nearest Shell is about 5km away. Nearest fruit market is about 15km away so I'm sure the savings with the cheaper food there would be eaten up with fuel costs.

I would rather pay full price than use dodgy independant fuel.

Yes. Especially if you have a car that might be edited or tuned for a premium quality fuel. If you have an old banger get-to-work car then it is probably ok to use independents.

[You Yangs]

I get my vouchers from Coles buying prepaid phone recharge so the grocery prices mean bugger all to me, but I'm probably being screwed with those as well!

[desGT]

Originally Posted by new2ford

Fool's paradise. See: http://www.seven.com.au/todaytonight/story/?id=29347

You pay for the "discount" with higher prices at the supermarket. If you want cheaper petrol, shop at Franklins or Aldi and buy petrol from an independent servo in an area where there's lots of competition.

I just got a Citibank/BP Mastercard which gives me 5% off BP fuel (to a limit each month - $300?), and I shop at IGA. May not work for everyone, but the BP near me is always one of the lowest prices (Melb), and I get the discount, no vouchers required, and I do not support the (supermarket) overpriced big guys.

[ls f6]

Originally Posted by uranium_death

There simplest and most tried and true rule of finances...

"If it's sounds too good to be true, then it almost probably is."

Fact is that although it sounds great, of course they will fork the prices up. As if they'd give a fair discount out of the goodness of their hearts. Nothing is free, except maybe Tibet (refer to Family Guy).

Mate, there are no smoke & mirrors in their pricing policies. Anyone in business, however large or small, will charge as much as they possibly can charge, without sacrificing sales. Charge too little, then no profit margin, therefore no profit, or at least too little profit to keep the shareholder happy.
Charge too much (in comparison to your competitors).. demand (and hence sales) will fall, and profits slump.

As it is, supermarkets are a high volume, low profit margin industry. An increase in volume (as a result of increased demand) partially offset by a small decrease in profit margin, equals greater profit. That is why they offer fuel vouchers.

In summary, they can fork prices up... then they do, fuel voucher or no fuel voucher. If the consumer votes with their feet.. they come back down again.