Shell

[GOLFFRR]

Originally Posted by geneatals

you need your actual ralph's club acc number, not your phone number..at least that's what i used...

you can get it if you register on ralph's.com...just use your phone number to register the acc...then when you go into your acc info, it'll show the actual card # and not your phone #

sweet! going to do this tonight when i get home

[OC3]

Originally Posted by geneatals

you need your actual ralph's club acc number, not your phone number..at least that's what i used...

you can get it if you register on ralph's.com...just use your phone number to register the acc...then when you go into your acc info, it'll show the actual card # and not your phone #

Yes, the Ralphs Reward/club acc't number. Mine's a 12 digit #.

The phone # works at Ralphs checkout line, but not at Shell.

[OC3]

Originally Posted by Mahmood07

Not necessarily...we pay 1 dollar a gallon

Waa?? Who's "we"? >:I

[Mahmood07]

Originally Posted by OC3

Waa?? Who's "we"? >:I

Back home in Bahrain, where hybrid cars are non-existant.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by OC3

By the way, Ralphs club members get 10 cents discount on every gallon at Shell

What?? This might be the best thing i've learned in the past month. Nice info OC3. Thanks brother.

[OC3]

Originally Posted by Mahmood07

Back home in Bahrain, where hybrid cars are non-existant.

Oh, right. Addendum: with exception of most oil-rich nations.

Originally Posted by esquire

What?? This might be the best thing i've learned in the past month. Nice info OC3. Thanks brother.

Well, at 12,000 miles a year & at 14 mpg, it seems to amount to... only $85 of savings per year. To me, it's more of a psychological thing - pumping premium gas at $3.39/gal when the sign at the station says $3.49/gal just feels like I'm getting a great deal, for some reason. lulz

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by cmk227

well in europe it about 50% of the price of gas is tax. This is due to the gov't encouraging people to use the public transportation system.

Disclosure: I do own stock in oil companies...

Here in the UK it's closer to 65% tax

Here you are, don't get too depressed

http://www.abd.org.uk/fuel_tax_calculator.htm

[fishskis]

Originally Posted by esquire

What?? This might be the best thing i've learned in the past month. Nice info OC3. Thanks brother.

Sorry, not that simple. You need to earn Ralphs points, which are then applied to the discount. From Ralphs site:

"Ralphs rewards points can now be used for a fuel discount at participating Shell locations. You can redeem 100 rewards points and earn a discount of 10 cents per gallon. Fuel discounts are limited up to 35 gallons of fuel per purchase."

To get 100 points, you need to spend $100 at Ralphs. 100 points is worth $1.00 at Ralphs. So any fill-up under 10 gallons, you are losing money (since you could have received $1.00 from Ralphs). For a 15 gallon fill-up you save $.50.

Just think, you can spend $1,000 on groceries and save about $5.00 at Shell.

Wow! What a great deal.

[BobsM3Coupe]

Originally Posted by OC3

By the way, Ralphs club members get 10 cents discount on every gallon at Shell

True, but I have a Mobil/Exxon MC and they give a 15 cent discount on every gallon. I also don't like a lot of the Shell stations around here because they will charge an extra 10 cents a gallon for using a credit card, even if it's a Shell credit card. My car runs great on Mobil 91 which is a Top Tier type gas.

[OC3]

Coincidentally, received a Ralphs Rewards Statement in the mail today. And, made a call to manager of local Ralphs market for further info.

It would appear that fishskis' analysis is correct. The following is on said statement:

Total Points Earned: 2602
Fuel Points Redeemed: -1100
Points Available for Certificate: 1500
-----------------------------------
Rewards Certificate Enclosed: $15
Roll-over Points for Next Cycle: 0


Along said statement came a $15 Ralphs coupon (same as cash when shopping at Ralphs). So, as fishskis pointed out, 100 rewards points is $1.00 at Ralphs. But, that same 100 rewards points gets you 10cents off a gallon at Shell.

Originally Posted by fishskis

Sorry, not that simple. You need to earn Ralphs points, which are then applied to the discount.

True. But, where & how you apply the discount is where the difference lies.

Originally Posted by fishskis

"Ralphs rewards points can now be used for a fuel discount at participating Shell locations. You can redeem 100 rewards points and earn a discount of 10 cents per gallon. Fuel discounts are limited up to 35 gallons of fuel per purchase."

To get 100 points, you need to spend $100 at Ralphs. 100 points is worth $1.00 at Ralphs.

True. However, it's also true that 100 points entitles you to a trip to Shell station where, you get savings of 10 cents for each gallon. Meaning:

if you put in 5 gallons, you saved $0.50

if you put in 10 gallons, you saved $1

if you put in 15 gallons (M3), you saved $1.50

if you put in 20 gallons (SUV, truck, etc), you saved $2.00

And, how many ever gallons you put in, you've used up 100 points on that visit to Shell. So, clearly, you must put in at least 10 gallons to break even - i.e. to save the same amount as you would've had you just let the points accumulate towards Ralphs coupon/certificate and use it to shop at Ralphs. But, if you put in 15 gallons in your M3, then you've just increased the value of that Ralphs 100 points "unit" by 50%. Or, if you put in 20 gallons into your family SUV, you've just doubled the value of that Ralphs 100 points "unit."

In my statement, the line item "Fuel Points Redeemed: -1100" means that, between my wife and I, we made 11 visits to Shell stations and utilized the Ralphs Rewards system (since, again, each visit consumes the unit of 100 point). I made 6 visits & she (w/ her Acura MDX SUV) made 5 visits. Since I typically put in about 14 gallons per visit, I saved $8.40. She typically puts in 16 gallons, so she saved $8, for a combined savings of $16.40, and used up 1100 points. That same 1100 points, if mailed to us as Ralphs coupon/ceritificate would've been $11.

Originally Posted by fishskis

For a 15 gallon fill-up you save $.50.

So, this is also true. However, again, it would've equaled to $1 as Ralphs coupon/certificate, but you've used it as a $1.50 savings at Shell.

Originally Posted by fishskis

Just think, you can spend $1,000 on groceries and save about $5.00 at Shell.

Well, $1,000 on groceries would earn you 1000 points, and that would get you 10 visits to Shell stations. And at $.50 FURTHER savings per visit, the total FURTHER savings would be $5 at Shell.

My particular case of 1100 points, equaling 11 visits to Shell stations and a total FURTHER savings of $5.40 (1100 points valued at $11 at Ralphs vs valued at $16.40 at Shell).

Originally Posted by fishskis

Wow! What a great deal.

lulz, no argument there. My excuse is, I started doing this when my wife said "honey, start using Shell gas & put the member acc't # in. We'll save 10 cents on every gallon."

Anyhow, as I stated in earlier posts, for my use of M3, I'll simplistically save about $85 (actually, $127.50 (50% increase in value)) a year compared to when not using Ralphs system (of course, we'd have to continue to shop enough at Ralphs to sustain earning enough Ralphs points to do this, but we do anyways). Not a great sum of money, to be sure. But, it just feels good, lulz. Besides, I can use the savings to buy either a set of matte black kidney grills or side grills. Imagine, at the end of a year, you finding a discarded stack of bills at a gas station totaling $127.50.

Originally Posted by BobsM3Coupe

True, but I have a Mobil/Exxon MC and they give a 15 cent discount on every gallon. I also don't like a lot of the Shell stations around here because they will charge an extra 10 cents a gallon for using a credit card, even if it's a Shell credit card. My car runs great on Mobil 91 which is a Top Tier type gas.

Sounds good!