Gorceries for Gas--Can You Save?

From WSYR-NY. Quick answer: NO!

"One grocery store chain's gas program promises big savings to customers who shop in their stores, but how much would you have to buy in order to get the savings?

Recent advertisements tout Price Chopper's Fuel AdvantEdge program, citing an example of one woman who says she paid just $0.98 per gallon. That seems very attractive, considering that the average price in Syracuse for a gallon of regular was $3.67 Thursday. For program members to get prices that low, however, requires them to spend quite a bit of money.

Christina Howard-Ceterski says she makes it a point to use her Fuel AdvantEdge card every time she checks out at her local Price Chopper. For every $50 she spends, the program offers her $0.10 off the price of gas at the pump. She saves an average of "about $0.40 to $0.80, it depends. Usually I use it once I get to $0.80."

But to get $0.80 off per gallon, she has to spend $400 in groceries.

"It's like a bank account," explained Price Chopper General Manager John Levernosh. "If you don't use it then it continues to build up while you shop and then once you go to the gas station then you start back at zero again."

The accumulated savings also expires after two months. Additionally, only participating gas stations accept the discount.

A customer purchasing only necessities, like milk, juice, eggs and a few other items each week for one month could earn $0.30 off every gallon at the end of the month. That's equivalent to more than $4.50 off a 15-gallon tank.

Mike Baker bought a lot more than just the necessities, but even with the savings he doesn't feel like it's making much of a difference. "40 cents a gallon, that'll bring it back to what it was about four weeks ago," he said. "The cost of food is elevated so much more that you don't really feel it so you got to make it up anyway you can get it."

Price Chopper says it's seen a three percent jump in the program's usage in Central New York over the past few months."

These deals are as bad as my Holiday Dinner Ripoff stores! Around here, stores want you to spend $500 in groceries to get $1.00/gallon in gas savings. I'd rather put that money in my IRA account, thank you very much!

You know who this would hurt a lot? Extreme couponers--they may start out with a high dollar value of groceries, but the final tally's what generates the points needed for the gas discount.