Does anyone take advantage of the RM shopping or car lease perks?

Post by **postiewhite** » 15 Nov 2016, 17:39

This is the first time i've actually looked what perks we get. I'm not relly interested in the shopping vouchers or 10% of Ask Italian but I did think the Cineworld yearly pass was worth getting which works out about £60 cheaper than retail. Ive also wondered about the car lease because my car needs changing but Ive never been a fan of leasing a car. What perks do you use and what do you find beneficial?

Post by **woopesh** » 15 Nov 2016, 19:12

I got the Marks and Spencer discount card. 7% off. Pop in there after my round, buy up the discounted food that's often got 70% off. Eat what I can. Pack the rest in the freezer. Its halved my monthly food bill and I'm eating like a king!

7% might not sound like much but it adds up. If you spend £50 a week on food, that's around £2500 a year. 7% off that is £175. Thats quit a few pints down the pub.

If you put that in an index tracker that returns 8% a year and do that every year for 20 years you would have almost £10,000. Small amounts all add up. Come to think of it, saving money is a lot like delivering post. Shaving 3 seconds per delivery point on a 600 point walk will save 30mins. Saving 2% here, 5% there, if done across all your expenses will end up saving a few hundred / thousand quid a year.

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 15 Nov 2016, 21:00

I use the 4% off Tesco reloadable cards as it is the local supermarket I regularly use. You have to be careful with any of these cards/vouchers though
as they obviously encourage you to spend at shop concerned and have T&C's attached that are often not as good a deal as any
other deal available to the general public.

jetblack · Post by **jetblack** » 15 Nov 2016, 21:21

yellowbelly wrote:I use the 4% off Tesco reloadable cards

Whats the deal here - as we use Tesco quite a lot.

4% off my basket ? Does it work for online shopping ?

Or for £100 spent I get £4 equivalent in points on a points card ?

Post by **woopesh** » 15 Nov 2016, 21:25

jetblack wrote:
yellowbelly wrote:I use the 4% off Tesco reloadable cards
Whats the deal here - as we use Tesco quite a lot.

4% off my basket ? Does it work for online shopping ?

Or for £100 spent I get £4 equivalent in points on a points card ?

You prepay say £96, and get a Tesco Giftcard with £100 on it. You can spend that gift card where ever they will accept it. Never shopped online with Tesco but I bet they will take it.

jetblack · Post by **jetblack** » 15 Nov 2016, 21:35

woopesh wrote:
jetblack wrote:
yellowbelly wrote:I use the 4% off Tesco reloadable cards
Whats the deal here - as we use Tesco quite a lot.

4% off my basket ? Does it work for online shopping ?

Or for £100 spent I get £4 equivalent in points on a points card ?
You prepay say £96, and get a Tesco Giftcard with £100 on it. You can spend that gift card where ever they will accept it. Never shopped online with Tesco but I bet they will take it.

Thanks for response.

Golden question for me is, if I buy a £100 Tesco Gift card, and Mrs.Jetblack then redeems it via her online shopping at Tesco.com, will she still earn points on her Clubcard as well ? Or will using the Giftcard cancel out the benefits/points she would have otherwise earned on her Clubcard ?

Anyone ?

I've looked here and it would seem to be possible.

Post by **woopesh** » 15 Nov 2016, 21:37

You get Clubcard points when you spend the balance on the Giftcard, NOT for buying a Giftcard. One disadvantage is that the giftcard is treated like cash. If you lose the card, you are f****d. Tesco don't want to know. I tend to top up £50 a week because of this. Its done online with a few clicks, takes 3 mins so it isn't much bother.

I've used the Giftcard on discounted goods without problem also. Like I said, its treated like cash and you can spend it how you like / give it to someone else to spend the balance etc. I got two cards, one for me and one for the missus.

The systems don't know if its a "discounted" card or not.

jetblack · Post by **jetblack** » 15 Nov 2016, 21:51

Thanks - you could just have saved my family a good few quid.

Mrs.JB spends circa £160 per week on shopping (mostly online at Tesco). x52 = £8320. 4% of that is £333.

Not to be sniffed at and will definitely be looking into it.

Post by **woopesh** » 15 Nov 2016, 21:53

jetblack wrote:Thanks - you could just have saved my family a good few quid.

Mrs.JB spends circa £160 per week on shopping (mostly online at Tesco). x52 = £8320. 4% of that is £333.

Not to be sniffed at and will definitely be looking into it.

No worries. I should charge a commission on money saved!

Also, sometimes Tesco will do 5% off.

In your shoes, I would top the Giftcard £160, spend it then charge it up again straight after paying for the shopping online. It takes a few days for payments to the Giftcard to register.

jetblack · Post by **jetblack** » 15 Nov 2016, 22:25

Can't use it online for groceries.

Bollocks.

Oh well.

Post by **Lounge Lizard** » 16 Nov 2016, 01:21

The only ones I know to be of any use are ;
50 First Class stamps at Christmas,
Free entry to English Heritage Properties.

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 16 Nov 2016, 19:27

When they 1st started advertising, "Specially Discounted Deals for Royal Mail Employees" in the Courier I thought I'd check them out. After some pretty basic searches I was able to beat every deal they had to offer.

Judging by comments on other posts nothing much has changed. Theses deals might suit someone that can't be bothered to shop around but I'm sure you could find better deals yourselves. Always suspicious when the Company start telling me they've got a good deal for me (call me paranoid). I suspect as these schemes are deducted at source there are more Tax and NI savings for Royal Mail than there are for us.

Listonosz · Post by **Listonosz** » 16 Nov 2016, 20:22

Regarding the car leasing, do what I did. You choose the car you want, you fill in all your details, right at the end you have the option to test drive it for four days free of charge, a driver drops it off at your house and picks it up four days later, you have a free car for four days. according to the rules on the website you can choose to test drive a car three times a year.

toomuchcoke · Post by **toomuchcoke** » 17 Nov 2016, 10:46

postiewhite wrote:This is the first time i've actually looked what perks we get. I'm not relly interested in the shopping vouchers or 10% of Ask Italian but I did think the Cineworld yearly pass was worth getting which works out about £60 cheaper than retail. Ive also wondered about the car lease because my car needs changing but Ive never been a fan of leasing a car. What perks do you use and what do you find beneficial?

I've used C2W in the past, but I'm not really convinced by it. Mainly because where I live in the country I'm basically limited to picking from what Halfords offer. (And worse, what Halfords put together! In my experience the first thing you should do with a bike from Halfords is take it to a friendly local bike shop and pay them to re-assemble it!)

I've also used the discounted online Apple Store when I bought myself an iPhone about 6 months ago. Totally painless, just a couple of extra clicks to get 2% discount off the list price followed by wandering down to the physical Apple Store to pick it up! Okay 2% is hardly a discount worth shouting to the heavens about, but better than a 0% discount!

I do keep meaning to use the discounted reloadable Tesco card, but somehow never get around to it. I'm not sure why as a small amount of hassle for a 5% discount in Tesco seems worthwhile!

Scotland1 · Post by **Scotland1** » 17 Nov 2016, 15:52

I have a BMW 1 series through wages meant to. E £79.95 a week and after tax and NI I pay £55, yes it's only leasing and not my own at end of term but I'm happy with it