@David_Spardo
Some shops decided to offer their clients the opportunity for Cash Back when there was no reasonably close means of the Shopper getting cash (ie no Hole in the Wall).
This was deamed to be a Service for the Clients and was used by those Clients who needed some cash without having to drive long distances to get to their Bank.
Locally, several shops finally stopped offering the Service. Whether this was because they couldn’t keep up with the demands for CashBack, since most of their customers pay by cheque or card…
(ie they’d have to maintain a large sum of available Cash just in case their customers wanted some.)
I don’t know the full reasons for them stopping the Service but it wasn’t a Con or a way to get the customers to spend more in their shops…
Thank you Stella, but the term cash back was a bit of a red herring, what I was trying to get at was, if I have a store card and build up some credit on it, can I only get that credit back in cash if I buy something else? In other words it is a way for them to sell you more.
For instance @JaneJones said she had built up €97 (I think it was) over the year in credit on a store card and that that paid for Christmas. But does it only pay for Christmas in that store or chain. Or can she take the money and go round the corner to a rival to spend it? That’s what I was trying to get clear in my mind. I suspect that she can’t but perhaps I am wrong.
Only in that chain. If you shop there anywsy its great, you haven’t paid more for the bonuses on your card that you can then spend when and where you like in store.
my Leclerc Loyalty Card used to get to nearly 100 euro in a year (not any more) and I’d spend that 100 euro to buy extra special things for Christmas, things which Leclerc had for sale but which would have been outside my budget.
If you have credit on a store card, you can only use that against goods bought in that store.
If a store offers ‘cashback’, then the sum you request is added to your total and deducted from your bank balance when you pay by bank card. Knowing you, you probably pay by cash anyway making the whole rigmarole a bit farcical
You obviously don’t know me then @_Brian, I use my debit card for everything that people allow me to. I hate cash and only visit the bank for another €100 every couple of months or so, maybe longer (just checked €100 just now, the same in November, but the time before that was in July). The butcher the baker (well no not her as she won’t give me a receipt, saving paper I suspect to pay the rental ) the fish market lady all accept the card.
But, having thought I had got to the root of the matter, you have raised another question. You seem to suggest that it is only if you pay by card that you can redeem your credit. Is that so?
you can “redeem”/use" the amount on your Loyalty card no matter which way you pay and the Loyalty amount will reduce what you actually do have to pay.
You can only get CashBack when using a Bank/Credit Card… as that withdrawal is guaranteed to be honoured (by your Bank etc) and the shop won’t lose out.
This year we have also had a perfectly reasonable cool bag, some picnic mugs and last week a much appreciated ceramic roasting dish which will do nicely to replace a cracked one in the gîte.
We never buy anything not on our list, but are not hugely brand loyal. So buy milk A rather than milk B, or cleaning vinegar C rather than D if it pops a € on the card.
Possibly adds an extra minute on each shop checking labels, but that 1 minute a week seems to be worth €1.86 by David’s assessment. Which is way above minimum wage as over €100 an hour for my time.
Today I did the rounds of almost every s/mkt in Vire.
I started at Eric the Cleric on the mistaken belief that it was he who was putting up a punt for winning 6 bottles champagne. Wrong. It was I/marche. Got some stuff. Eric does my fave chorizo Extra Forte.
Went to C4 on the mistaken belief that my photo printing papers were there in the collection point. Wrong. It was at the C4 City shop in town. Got some stuff - they always have a deal on 5L boxes v de t and I had a €4 voucher.
Went to I/marche on the mistaken belief I would win 6 bottle champagne. Wrong. Writ large on the gaming console screen was the equivalent of “Ya!Boo! Sucks!” Got some stuff. Nice fresh broccoli, not the yellowing stuff at C4.
Went to the C4 City in the town centre. Parking hell. Decided to park Frenchly. Pulled up outside the shop, parked on the pavement 1/2 blocking the footway across this side st. Left the flashers on …
A woman at the till a had some problem. To pay or not to pay, and for what. That was the question
The cashier took this person’s very large bag full of stuff and upended onto a vacant till. There ensued a complicated negotiation of what the woman could afford to buy and what to leave. Many items were transferred from one category to the other and back.
The person in front of me was also there to collect a package. Another staffer appeared and then disappeared for what [to me] was ages, bearing in mind my Frenchly parked car.
When my turn came confusion arose. Failure seemed imminent. Then it was discovered that it was all to do with the collection being logged under my prenom, not my nom.
Our lane is barree for works. This means driving the wrong way up the one way, parking and schlepping stuff on a trolley the 200m to my gate, rather than pulling up alongside and loading stuff into The Grotto.
I have a SuperU preference because the are very local produce bias and especially during lockdown they seemed proactive about promoting local produce, I find the fresh produce very good, but they are not all the same as a result of the local bias, our nearest 2 are in 79 where we are and in 85, we don’t really like the Vendéen one but the other one is excellent
€97 divided by 52 weeks. The only figure I have to go on.
Does that mean you only get credits on certain products then Jane? I didn’t know that. I know you don’t know my supermarket but I have not seen any markings that indicate which is which on the shelves.
I’m an old man with very short term memory loss, I have bits of paper around the house with pens available so that I can jot down any useful reminder that comes into my head. If I don’t have receipts for everything I buy on the card, and that is almost everything I buy, save for the odd petit cafe, there is no way I could have any control over my bank account. My memory is frightening, I can think of something I need to do and within 5 minutes, although I remember there is something, I can’t remember what it was. And I am certainly not going to bring the law down on the head of the only baker in a small village who otherwise is very friendly towards me.
) the fish market lady all accept the card.
