So, I’m sitting here having my morning coffee and reading the Sunday paper. Safeway (grocery chain) has a full page ad in the paper that says if you spend $50 in their store, you can get an extra 3 cents off per gallon of gas. If you car holds 15 gallons of gas, that’s a whopping $.45. So, what is that? Less than a 1 percent discount? Safeway is rather expensive anyway, compared to some of the discount grocers.
As I’m reading this paper and pondering how ridiculous that promotion is from a value standpoint, a commercial comes on the TV that says you can earn your credit card rewards quicker with CITI. Their example is a free blender. So, if I charge a bunch of money on my credit card, they’ll give me a blender? I personally think there is something wrong in our society when consumers are spending a bunch of money in order to get small kitchen appliances.
Why are consumers so illogical when it comes to things like this? Now, a rewards card that pays you cash back when you use it for only things that you were going to purchase anyway, isn’t a bad idea. I don’t do it, but I know a lot of the personal finance bloggers out here are doing it. I only have one VISA card through my credit union. The rates and fees are the best around (as a general rule) and I don’t carry a balance anyway, so I’m not all that concerned about the rate. Anyway, I just wish, instead of trying to follow along with all these finance companies latest gimmicks, people would spend a little more time figuring out how to avoid the cards in the first place. Oh well, I guess that’s just the way it is.