Speedway eliminates instant discount, raises points required on best items in Speedy Rewards program
6 comments Monday, 04-27-09 | Posted By Patrick | Commentary
In a bad PR move for Speedway, they’ve decided to eliminate instant discounts for all of Speedway Chase Mastercard members and raise the points needed for redemption of the best benefits for all of the chain’s Speedy Reward customers.
If you aren’t already aware, Speedway had decided back in March that it was going to eliminate the instant discount that its credit card users received purchasing gas at the pump. While this discount was small, it was the premise for many individuals signing up for Speedway’s Chase Mastercard. The program had been going for years. Initially, Speedway was doing it month-to-month, but that change became permanent as gas prices climbed. Now that prices have come down, Speedway has eliminated the instant discount, perhaps alienating many of it’s best customers (including yours truly if you didn’t know)
While that baffled me, what irked me even more was the letter I got just a week or two ago from Speedway. Again, this letter was in regards to the additional benefits millions receive. Again, it was a negative move, requiring it’s Speedy Rewards members to save more points for similar items. Starting May 1, the Speedy Rewards program is ELIMINATING the $100 Speedway Gas Card that had previously required 66,000 points. They are replacing it with a $100 gas card that has a whopping 3-cent discount per gallon (of regular gas- for midgrade it’s 5-cents, and for premium, 7-cents) of gas purchased using the card. This 3-cent “price rollback” is essentially a new feature that will cost users 30,000 more points. This new $100 card “with 3-cent rollback” will cost Rewards members 96,000 points. Here are some numbers showing the difference and providing the REAL COST:
At today’s price of $2.059 per gallon, the current $100 gas card will get you:
48.57 gallons of regular
At today’s price of $2.059 per gallon, the FUTURE $100 gas card “WITH ROLLBACK” will get you:
49.29 gallons of regular
So basically with the new system starting May 1, you will get 0.72 gallons more for a near identical item. HOWEVER, the new gas card will cost 96,000 points compared to the old 66,000 points.
66000pts= $100 gas card = 48.57 @ 2.059
96000pts= $100 gas card = 49.29 @ 2.059
Using 2.059 per gallon, if you used the Speedway Chase Credit Card, you get 40 points per dollar at Speedway. The amount of time it would take under the old program and new program to get the $100 card:
WITHOUT USING SPEEDY REWARDS:
PRE-CHANGES $1650 (801.36gals @ 2.059) on Chase card = free 48.75gals
POST-CHANGES $2400 (1165.61gals @ 2.059) on Chase card = free 49.29gals
USING SPEEDY REWARDS AND SPEEDWAY CHASE MASTERCARD:
PRE-CHANGES $1471 (714.6 gallons @ 2.059) on Chase card AND Speedy Rewards card = free 48.75 gals
POST-CHANGES $2140 (1039.41 gallons @ 2.059) on Chase card AND Speedy Rewards card = free 49.29 gals
When the new “Rewards” system is active on May 1, it will now take you roughly 45% more time to save to a near identical item. Sure Speedway isn’t changing the points needed for their in store food, they wouldn’t want to hurt their profit loaded in-store business, right? Ha. Back to using my BP card? Let’s do the math:
Here’s the math on comparing the two:
Speedway’s old system of points meant every $1650 gives you roughly $100 of free gas which means it was roughly 6.1% off purchases/gasoline there if you always saved for a $100 gas card.
Speedway’s new system of points means every $2400 gives you roughly $100 of free gas which means it’s roughly 4.17% off purchases/gasoline there if you always saved for a $100 gas card.
BP’s system is easy- 5% off all BP purchases which means every $100 gives you $5 of free gas, meaning it’s exactly 5% off purchases/gasoline there without having to keep track of points.
With Speedway, I’ve gotten probably $250 in “rewards” since 2006. With BP, I’ve gotten exactly $800 in rewards since 2002 (although I put many more everyday purchases on the BP card).
After doing all that math, I can only say one thing:
Goodbye Speedway and your fountain drinks!
Speedway- let me know when you’ve raised rewards. I should add for those curious, BP has ONLY raised rewards, never lowered them. In this economy when every dollar counts, I’ll not only save my money on not buying fountain and frozen drinks at Speedway, but I’ll be getting a better deal at BP.
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While I’m against this change since I will get less free gas, I think it brings the program back in line with the original goal. Originally, the speedway card gave you a statement credit for 4% of your speedway purchases. It was only later that they switched to giving you speedy rewards points. From you math above, it looks like they are simply trying to get back to that 4% threshold. Either that or they are just trying to be cheap
Makes that Exxon/Mobile .15 cents a gallon deal look all that much better doesn’t it? Been taking in the discount for some time now….watch it will go by the wayside tommorrow now that I commented on it!
But still, saved over a hundred bucks since the inception and thats just fine by me.
Dano
This gimmickie stuff never did appeal to me. Give the customer a reasonable no frills price and forget it. I know PENNIES add up BUT how much time and trouble is it all worth. Too many complications send me to the competition every time.
I’m deciding for me that the revisions to Speedy Rewards are tolerable, if not beneficial. Namely because I don’t have the MasterCard. Instead, I’ve been recharging a Cash Card for the bonus points, then using the Cash Card for every purchase. It was handy back when the pay-at-the-pump limit was $50 for credit cards and high prices, as my pump wouldn’t shut off unless the Cash Card balance was reached. I’ll likely keep doing the Cash Card recharge for as long as they offer the bonus points.
My preferred reward has been the $50 Cash Card for 34,000 points. So that’s gone come May 1st. But, the new $50 Food and Merchandise Card will be 33,000 points. I run in the store often enough for a fountain drink or 2 gallons of milk, so this will be okay. I’ll be saving 1,000 points.
Like “gasdealer” said, it’s “gimmickie.” I’m going to end up now carrying 3 plastic Speedway cards: the Rewards Card, a Cash Card, and a new Food and Merchandise Card. But then again, a few years ago, I was a Speedway customer without any rewards program. So adapting to the changing rules of engagement to keep getting something free that I’ll use is worth the little extra effort.
One thing to note — the points required to get a 10, 25, or 50 cent per gallon discount have not changed. So, after doing some math, I’ve figured out this is the best deal right now if you want cheaper fuel. All the discount levels require the same number of points for each penny of discount. As I have a Speedway MasterCard, I get enough points every month or so to get the 50 cent per gallon discount. This costs 8750 points and is worth $12.50 to me if I get the maximum of 25 gallons. Each dollar “costs” 700 points (8750/12.50). Under the old program, I would generally save up 34,000 points and get the $50 gas/gift card. This meant each dollar of savings cost me 680 points. The $50 gas card allowed for more flexibility (for example, buying a gallon or two to tide you over until prices drop), but under the newer program terms, the per gallon fuel discounts are still perfectly acceptable to me.
I have used the rewards for a few years now. I earned enough in those two years to get 2 Applebees 50 dollar gift cards at 37,000 points each. Now I just found out its 50,000 points and I was almost there at 35,000 WTF Speedway. unreal