Speaker 1: Episode four twenty six, How loyalty points and programs cost
Speaker 1: you more.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your hosts,
Speaker 2: Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are talking about
Speaker 1: loyalty points and programs and whether they're a good idea
Speaker 1: or not.
Speaker 3: How loyal are you hell?
Speaker 1: And do they actually save you money or costs you more?
Speaker 3: Spoilers there probably a bit of all.
Speaker 1: It's both.
Speaker 3: It's both. If you listen to our big box store,
Speaker 3: what is the warehouse? Were hubs clubs?
Speaker 1: Yes, episode for a little bit of so this yeah,
Speaker 1: this will be a good one.
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Speaker 1: All right, So loyalty points and programs, if you're into
Speaker 1: things like this, like Jill was mentioning episode four oh
Speaker 1: two the.
Speaker 3: Grocery store versus.
Speaker 1: Warehouse Club savings analysis, I went on a six month
Speaker 1: deep dive immersive investigation to break this down. So episode
Speaker 1: four oh two is a really good one. And then
Speaker 1: episode three nineteen tips to stop shopping on Amazon. So
Speaker 1: while we are covering like these free loyalty programs, we're
Speaker 1: not covering memberships like Costco, Sam's Club or even Amazon
Speaker 1: Prime is considered a membership. So we're looking more at
Speaker 1: the gamification strategies, but those are on the membership side.
Speaker 1: And today we'll be looking at an article that has
Speaker 1: statistics for loyalty programs and then kind of going through
Speaker 1: some of these like what some like what are the
Speaker 1: questions like why do companies use loyalty programs, et cetera,
Speaker 1: answering it with these statistics and then kind of giving
Speaker 1: you some insight on whether you are in control of
Speaker 1: your use of the program or you're kind of being
Speaker 1: marketed to an influenced by it.
Speaker 3: We love to deinfluence ourselves and we've done this a
Speaker 3: couple of times where we kind of look at the
Speaker 3: other side of marketing, where we take a look at
Speaker 3: what are marketers saying to businesses that are selling to
Speaker 3: consumers about us consumers that can help us be aware
Speaker 3: of the ways that we may be tricked, manipulated, persuaded,
Speaker 3: influenced and spending money that maybe we would not have
Speaker 3: otherwise spent. So if we can be aware of some
Speaker 3: of these tactics and tips and tricks that people in
Speaker 3: the business space and marketing space are giving to these companies,
Speaker 3: then we can be more informed consumers. That's the whole
Speaker 3: goal behind this. So this article that we're looking at
Speaker 3: from X two e XTU, it's called Important Loyalty Program
Speaker 3: Statistics for twenty twenty four. This is really geared towards
Speaker 3: businesses selling products to consumers for them to understand how
Speaker 3: important it is to have a loyalty program. We're not
Speaker 3: saying that they're all bad, but it is helpful to
Speaker 3: know how business is like. Businesses aren't doing this just
Speaker 3: to be kind.
Speaker 1: They're not you, Y're not for you.
Speaker 3: That doesn't mean that you can't get benefit, but just
Speaker 3: to be really aware of this. But before we get
Speaker 3: into all of those statistics, I do want to talk
Speaker 3: a bit about just what a loyalty program is, just
Speaker 3: to set the stage. Many of you are I'm sure
Speaker 3: are familiar with this. It just is a company's program
Speaker 3: that they offer to you that you usually sign up
Speaker 3: for with either your phone or your email, and you
Speaker 3: get access to deals, discounts, sometimes free products for making
Speaker 3: purchases with that brand, and it's how they encourage you
Speaker 3: to stay loyal to that brand. So this is your
Speaker 3: Starbucks rewards program, this is your Ikia Family, this is
Speaker 3: Racketen Points, this is anywhere any restaurant or product that
Speaker 3: you buy. Chances are you've been asked, do you want
Speaker 3: to sign up for our rewards program? And it's free,
Speaker 3: So a lot of times we might choose to do
Speaker 3: that because there's some sort of incentive. We even talk
Speaker 3: about this in the friend letter. If you sign up
Speaker 3: for X's reward program, you'll get a free milkshake. That's great,
Speaker 3: do it if you just want to get a free milkshake.
Speaker 3: But then we'll talk about some of the underbelly of
Speaker 3: that and what to be aware of when you do
Speaker 3: sign up for this. But it is different from paid
Speaker 3: memoship programs. That's your Walmart Plus, that's your warehouse programs
Speaker 3: and Sephora Beauty Insider. There's even these organizations, companies, businesses
Speaker 3: that previously have provided free loyalty programs, but many I
Speaker 3: was in researching for this episode, there's a lot that
Speaker 3: are moving in the direction of paid loyalty programs. Oh, well,
Speaker 3: you might, and it might be a small amount, like
Speaker 3: I think Sephora are Alta is one of them, where
Speaker 3: it's going to be like a three to five dollars
Speaker 3: kind of like annual charge or quarterly or something like that,
Speaker 3: but still paying to be a part of it. So
Speaker 3: that especially is something we're going to need to be
Speaker 3: on the lookout for. If you are accustomed to being
Speaker 3: a part of these loyalty programs. They may start introducing
Speaker 3: fees for their loyalty programs. Maybe moving it into a
Speaker 3: membership program. So yeah, that's a little tea for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this is outside of stores too, Like so
Speaker 1: like what Jill said, racketin points, there's also I use
Speaker 1: this app called Paceline that that gives you rewards based
Speaker 1: on like working out, So if you work out one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty minutes a week, you get like so
Speaker 1: many points. And so that is a marketing strategy, not
Speaker 1: just for one store, but for a lot of different
Speaker 1: startups in the wellness industry will put their products in
Speaker 1: and you'll get disc like you can trade in your
Speaker 1: rewards for discounts to those stores. So it's you know,
Speaker 1: like fetch I bought. All of those are essentially loyalty programs,
Speaker 1: but with like a rebate kind of edge. So so
Speaker 1: that's yeah, that's what we're talking about. So why do
Speaker 1: companies use loyalty programs? So in this article from X
Speaker 1: two dot com, which I'm pretty sure this company does
Speaker 1: loyalty programs, I'm sure that's why they are publishing this,
Speaker 1: they say it's five to six times more expensive to
Speaker 1: find a new client than it is to reactivate an
Speaker 1: old client. And that's based on an American Express study
Speaker 1: so loyalty programs have, you know, a great incentive. Companies
Speaker 1: have a great incentive to do a loyalty program because
Speaker 1: it's much less expensive to just remind somebody who's already
Speaker 1: purchased from you or signed up for your email that
Speaker 1: you exist and you have things that they want that
Speaker 1: you want. There's also another statistic from HBr, which I
Speaker 1: think is Harvard Business Review. Companies with strong loyalty marketing
Speaker 1: programs grow revenue two and a half times faster than
Speaker 1: their competitors and generate one hundred to four hundred percent
Speaker 1: higher returns to shareholders. And then sixty five percent of
Speaker 1: businesses use their loyalty program to also tracked new customers.
Speaker 1: So it's not just to get current customers or pre
Speaker 1: prior customers to buy again. But we've all and we
Speaker 1: again do this in the friend letter. We'll tell you
Speaker 1: if somebody is offering something free if you sign up
Speaker 1: for their loyalty program, and that's how they attract new customers.
Speaker 1: I did this recently, read Robin. I signed up for
Speaker 1: their when I did my Instagram reel on Birthday freebies.
Speaker 1: I signed up for their reward program and then got
Speaker 1: their email that they do, like I think it's like
Speaker 1: five or ten dollars burgers on a day, and I
Speaker 1: actually wanted to try them, so we went on that day.
Speaker 1: We really liked them, and so I was really glad
Speaker 1: that I signed up for their loyalty program and got
Speaker 1: a discount and was introduced to a new restaurant that
Speaker 1: I had slept on for years. I mean that Red
Speaker 1: Robin's been over there for like years and years and
Speaker 1: years and I just like never considered it. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: then we went there and we actually really liked it,
Speaker 1: and they had balloons for the kids like they.
Speaker 3: Do like Red Robins. Yeah, good burgers.
Speaker 1: So these are not always bad, right. Our real goal
Speaker 1: is to make sure that we are not impulse spending
Speaker 1: because another like the reason we went is because I
Speaker 1: didn't feel like cooking. And then I saw that cupon
Speaker 1: in my email and you know, barrier to the barrier
Speaker 1: to entry is lowered. So where that's that is the
Speaker 1: purpose of this deep dive.
Speaker 3: Well, and once you sign up, yes, you get the
Speaker 3: freebeet And then how many times has Red Robin texted
Speaker 3: you emailed you afterwards trying to get you back in?
Speaker 3: And how easy is it to kind of keep saying
Speaker 3: those no's over and over and over again when they're
Speaker 3: offering you something that now you know you enjoy, and
Speaker 3: that can be the downfall of it. So it's interesting.
Speaker 3: The article also talks about how pervasive loyalty programs are
Speaker 3: and they cite they cite that the average US consumer
Speaker 3: has about is a part of about seventeen loyalty programs,
Speaker 3: but actively only uses half of them. So that did
Speaker 3: have me thinking, like, how many loyalty programs do I have?
Speaker 3: And probably a lot more than I think, and most
Speaker 3: of them are through email. But you've talked about this,
Speaker 3: the round up, the roll up, unrolling.
Speaker 1: Unroll me. Yeah, that was going to be something that
Speaker 1: I mentioned on this episode.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, so I won't get too deep into it,
Speaker 3: but I think depending on how we arrange our inboxes
Speaker 3: can be really helpful for us to take advantage of
Speaker 3: the loyalty programs when we want to and not see
Speaker 3: them when we don't want to. But the ones that
Speaker 3: I get kind of active notifications from, probably daily I'll
Speaker 3: get three to four text messages or emails that I
Speaker 3: will notice that this company is something and I don't know.
Speaker 3: Sometimes I'm just lazy to like not hit that unsubscribed button. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean it isn't for me, It isn't causing me
Speaker 3: to spend the money, but it is annoying to get
Speaker 3: the text message in the day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you never like you never know when they're
Speaker 1: going to be doing like their you know, their best sale,
Speaker 1: or when you're going to want the discount. Right, So
Speaker 1: it's like I don't want to unsubscribe to something I
Speaker 1: do want to get discounts on because that's a big
Speaker 1: Like the first thing you do when you want to
Speaker 1: save money is you unsubscribe from all of these loyalty emails, right,
Speaker 1: but what if so, yes, that's there's there. You can
Speaker 1: look through your emails. Definitely no reason to be getting
Speaker 1: text messages from companies. There's there's just no reason.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I get that. I agree.
Speaker 1: You can definitely unsubscribe from every text message like people
Speaker 1: that are marketing to via text. That is just too much.
Speaker 1: But so like there's all of these emails in my
Speaker 1: inbox and sometimes I want them there, you know, like
Speaker 1: I truly do. I am looking to like upgrade my
Speaker 1: wardrobe from ninety nine percent AF leisure to you know,
Speaker 1: downgrade to like ninety percent af Leisure and get some
Speaker 1: more like sustainable brands going and buy more from thread
Speaker 1: up or Poshmark. So I want to be like, I
Speaker 1: want to get those emails, but I don't want to
Speaker 1: be tempted by them. And so this is where I
Speaker 1: use unroll me. And I have been using this for
Speaker 1: over a decade, like before I met Travis, and it
Speaker 1: has been revolutionary. It's U n R L L dot
Speaker 1: me E and it will roll up all your subscriptions
Speaker 1: into one email and you get that email every day.
Speaker 1: You can choose whether you want it in the morning, afternoon,
Speaker 1: or evening, and you can go into unroll me and
Speaker 1: you can say I want these emails sent to my inbox,
Speaker 1: and I want these subscriptions sent to my roll up,
Speaker 1: or I want to just be totally unsubscribed from these.
Speaker 1: It's very user friendly and you can even switch like
Speaker 1: if I've got something in my roll up that I
Speaker 1: want to get to my inbox for a period of time,
Speaker 1: I just switch over for a period of time. And
Speaker 1: so it allows me to stay on these loyalty program
Speaker 1: emails but not be tempted by their very well crafted headlines.
Speaker 1: I can look at my roll up if I want,
Speaker 1: if I have time, if I'm intentionally going there, or
Speaker 1: I don't, I could just ignore it. So that is
Speaker 1: a really really good tool if you want to utilize
Speaker 1: some of these loyalty programs but don't want to get
Speaker 1: rid of all of them. So, speaking of being tempted
Speaker 1: by these well crafted headlines, how much more money do
Speaker 1: we actually spend bomb bomb because of them? Is this
Speaker 1: even a real problem? So returning customer spend sixty seven
Speaker 1: percent more than new customers. And this is looking at
Speaker 1: the lifetime value of a customer because again, it is
Speaker 1: less expensive to re engage an older customer, an older
Speaker 1: customer like a pre prior customer, a current customer, than
Speaker 1: it is to find new ones. And they do these
Speaker 1: through these loyalty programs, and they are much less expensive
Speaker 1: than doing Instagram and Facebook ads, website advertising, all this
Speaker 1: that stuff is expensive. But sending out an email that
Speaker 1: you got for free on a platform you pay monthly
Speaker 1: for you pay like pennies per email, that is really affordable.
Speaker 1: So that's why it like, not only does is it
Speaker 1: like it's cost effective to market to cur customers, they're
Speaker 1: also shown to spend more so loyalty program members generate
Speaker 1: about twelve to eighteen percent more incremental revenue growth per
Speaker 1: year than non members. So people who are getting these
Speaker 1: emails are and they work off of like gamifying it, right,
Speaker 1: Like you want to get to the next at least
Speaker 1: I feel like this is my Starbucks rewards, Like I
Speaker 1: want to get up to the two hundred stars, and
Speaker 1: I know if I put my if I reload my
Speaker 1: card and I pay from the app, I get double stars.
Speaker 1: So that's how Starbucks has become this quote unquote bank.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've likever seen it on there
Speaker 1: was a lot of like press. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was recently, but like the worst bank in the
Speaker 1: world is Starbucks because it's all these people reloading their
Speaker 1: Starbucks cards in the app because you get the double
Speaker 1: stars from the loyalty program and they just let the
Speaker 1: money sit there, and so they are essentially a bank,
Speaker 1: but they pay you no interest at all and you
Speaker 1: get no benefits except unless you pay them for their coffee.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, genius on Starbucks as part for sure genius
Speaker 3: and yeah, just stabilitating for the rest of us. Adjacent
Speaker 3: to that study, though, in doing some other research, there
Speaker 3: was this statistic put out by Antovo and Tavo that said,
Speaker 3: over a lifetime, consumers that are a part of a
Speaker 3: member loyalty program will spend six point three times more
Speaker 3: than non loyalty members, which similar to what you've described
Speaker 3: how it can increase revenue for these companies who have
Speaker 3: loyalty points. But I think part of that is because
Speaker 3: if you know you're going to shop there, then you're
Speaker 3: going to shop there more. But this piece of how
Speaker 3: much more incentivized are we to spend above and beyond
Speaker 3: just because we have a loyalty program, I think this
Speaker 3: is saying, yeah, it is higher than if we were
Speaker 3: just to opt out, unless we are very intentional and
Speaker 3: mindful and aware.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it kind of it takes away. There's
Speaker 1: a conversation to be had about taking away from local,
Speaker 1: locally owned businesses because they cannot provide in loyalty programs
Speaker 1: that are as I don't know flashy or exists at all.
Speaker 1: I know that there is a tie restaurant I went
Speaker 1: to and after your tenth like entre, you got a
Speaker 1: free entree. And that's kind of like the extent of
Speaker 1: these like local small businesses like what they can offer.
Speaker 1: But I think we do have to think twice before
Speaker 1: we are loyal to a company of just any like
Speaker 1: just any company, and really consider where am I shopping
Speaker 1: like Amazon? Like again, we're not chatting about Amazon because
Speaker 1: they don't have a loyalty program, but it does make
Speaker 1: it easier when you are a member, a paying member
Speaker 1: to Amazon. Why would you shop anywhere else? Right you're
Speaker 1: paying you're paying member, or you know, if I'm so
Speaker 1: close to getting this reward with this loyalty program, why
Speaker 1: would I go anywhere else?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: And that is their goal, but we should really consider
Speaker 1: if it's worth the discount or the freebie or should
Speaker 1: we just like stay you know, stay local when we can.
Speaker 3: And I think that's going to vary person to person
Speaker 3: as well, like what you're capable of saying yes and
Speaker 3: no too, like what are your kind of cryptonites and
Speaker 3: what works for you? And so I think, you know,
Speaker 3: one of the reasons that we might spend more as
Speaker 3: a loyalty member versus a non member is, like we said,
Speaker 3: we might already want to be shopping at that store,
Speaker 3: but this article and their statistics are also said. It's
Speaker 3: it's how these businesses are going about doing this and
Speaker 3: utilizing their loyalty program. So fifty percent of the business's
Speaker 3: surveyed list that building a stronger emotional brand connection with
Speaker 3: customers is their primary goal. Because if you have an
Speaker 3: emotional connection, if you can connect with people on a
Speaker 3: deeper level than just here's a thing by it, if
Speaker 3: they can sell you a lifestyle, a feeling, an idea
Speaker 3: of who you're becoming, then you are more likely to
Speaker 3: keep spending there. Out to Lulu Lemon.
Speaker 1: You have you bought Lulu Lemon because of.
Speaker 3: No but I just feel like it is stretch stretching.
Speaker 1: Pants and they are atleisure that.
Speaker 3: Is comfy stretch pants, but they're selling this kind of
Speaker 3: elevated fit girly life style.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you see that little silver circle on the
Speaker 1: back of the pants, and you're like, everybody at the
Speaker 1: gym is wearing this? Why am I not? Because you're
Speaker 1: not giving in to marketing culture. That's why.
Speaker 3: Good for you and the emotional connection. I see this
Speaker 3: primarily with commercials where especially around Super Bowl, you know
Speaker 3: the ones that want to make you cry. It's like,
Speaker 3: what was that that was? That was a Toyota? They
Speaker 3: want you to buy their car. Why are we crying?
Speaker 1: I think it's super that does cry. They do the
Speaker 1: most crying.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm surance companies are trying to get you to cry.
Speaker 3: Meal plan delivery kids are trying to get you to cry.
Speaker 3: I just think if tears are happening, then you know,
Speaker 3: let that be a little indicator sign to us. Hmm, okay,
Speaker 3: I had an emotional experience, But does that mean I
Speaker 3: need to spend my money?
Speaker 1: They kind of. It's so we're laughing about it, but
Speaker 1: it is a little more like insidious than that, in
Speaker 1: that when you are when your emotional guard is let down,
Speaker 1: you are more susceptive to influence. That's the real purpose
Speaker 1: behind it. Like, think about and this is why I
Speaker 1: love cults. Think about why people join cults. Very smart
Speaker 1: people join cults because these people target people who are
Speaker 1: emotionally vulnerable, and so when you make someone cry, you
Speaker 1: make them emotionally vulnerable. They're more susceptible to influence.
Speaker 3: Which that doesn't have anything to do with intelligence. It's
Speaker 3: a different part of our personhood that we're tapping into,
Speaker 3: and we have an emotional experience and then kind of
Speaker 3: flipping the script to then get you to make one
Speaker 3: of those other impulsive decisions, but we can still have
Speaker 3: control and influence over ourselves in those situations to be
Speaker 3: able to recognize and pay attention and be curious. This
Speaker 3: is one of the reasons we talk about curiosity so much.
Speaker 3: To be curious about what is happening inside of me,
Speaker 3: value your emotional experience or whatever you're dreaming up for yourself,
Speaker 3: your future, you your desires, but then be able to
Speaker 3: ask those additional questions of what does this mean though,
Speaker 3: about how I want to spend my money, even asking
Speaker 3: questions about what is this company trying to get me
Speaker 3: to do? Is that actually what I want? Another thing
Speaker 3: to be paying attention to the reason that loyalty programs
Speaker 3: work so much for businesses to make more money is
Speaker 3: that they will use their loyalty programs to gain insight
Speaker 3: and data about their customers. So a lot of times
Speaker 3: when you are saying yes to opting into a loyalty program,
Speaker 3: you're giving access to certain information about yourself which can
Speaker 3: help them sell better to you or a group of
Speaker 3: you to kind of identify, oh, these people are interested
Speaker 3: in this, Here's how frequently they buy, Here's how I
Speaker 3: can push them to buy this next thing? So that's
Speaker 3: something for us to be aware of as well, how
Speaker 3: much information we're giving away.
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this when I read it and realizing,
Speaker 1: like back in the seventies eighties, there was a company
Speaker 1: had one AD and they would put that one ad
Speaker 1: in and they would repurpose it for TV, for print,
Speaker 1: you know, but they had one ad campaign. Now, with
Speaker 1: technology and customization of algorithms, you can have hundreds of campaigns,
Speaker 1: and the more information you give a company about you,
Speaker 1: the more targeted they can give you one or two
Speaker 1: of those one hundred campaigns that are most like speaking
Speaker 1: to you, you know.
Speaker 3: Like social media algorithms, it's the same.
Speaker 1: It's so much easier to target us to where it
Speaker 1: almost feels like it's talking straight to us, right, But
Speaker 1: they're also wise enough to know you can't talk straight
Speaker 1: to somebody and make them feel weird because then they
Speaker 1: don't buy for you. They're doing, you know, they're doing
Speaker 1: the most that they can, and we're giving them this
Speaker 1: information to do it with. Especially like when we sign
Speaker 1: up for a birthday reward and we tell somebody our
Speaker 1: birthday and then they know we're you know, gen Z, millennial,
Speaker 1: gen X, and they kind of know where to hit
Speaker 1: us with the nostalgia or the trends, you know, like
Speaker 1: it gets it gets really deep in there, and I
Speaker 1: just wanted to the last thing I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: about is this study. It's in the Chicago Booth Review
Speaker 1: and it's called when Loyalty Programs are Bad for Consumers? Uh,
Speaker 1: and this so I don't believe that this is super common,
Speaker 1: but this is a possible side effect of loyalty programs.
Speaker 1: And so what these researchers did was they studied two
Speaker 1: gas stations in Italy I believe that had loyalty programs.
Speaker 1: And so for some reason, these loyalty programs had to
Speaker 1: start and an end date, and essentially you would get
Speaker 1: rewarded for being loyal to where you purchased gas. And
Speaker 1: so what they saw was that when the like at
Speaker 1: the end of the loyalty program, the average price different
Speaker 1: per leader of gasoline between these gas stations and others
Speaker 1: that when the they were on the like program, they
Speaker 1: were charging I think it was more, and then they
Speaker 1: charged even more after like. So the difference in gasoline
Speaker 1: prices between these stations, I'm totally I read this right
Speaker 1: before we started recording. I don't know why, but essentially
Speaker 1: it was when these gas stations increased their prices because
Speaker 1: of their loyal the end day of their loyalty program,
Speaker 1: the other gas stations around them also raised their prices
Speaker 1: too to compete with these two like gas stations, not
Speaker 1: as much because they still wanted to be like a
Speaker 1: little lower, I guess, but like the twenty closest gas
Speaker 1: stations to these literally were raising their prices because of
Speaker 1: these two gas stations, and the pricing pattern was around
Speaker 1: the loyalty program when the discounts were, you know, there,
Speaker 1: versus when they weren't. And so it really just showed
Speaker 1: this kind of insidious nature that these loyalty programs could
Speaker 1: cause a indirect effect for other people too in the
Speaker 1: increasing of prices. And they don't have to keep these
Speaker 1: programs forever. They can end them at any time they
Speaker 1: want or change them in any way they want. I
Speaker 1: was talking about the price line app price line Paceline,
Speaker 1: and it used to be a really cool app where
Speaker 1: if you worked out for one hundred and fifty minutes
Speaker 1: a week, you could get points and then after like
Speaker 1: a month or two, you would get like five bucks
Speaker 1: to Amazon, like a five dollars Amazon gift card, or
Speaker 1: it used to even earlier than that, you could get
Speaker 1: a one dollar Amazon gift card like basically every week
Speaker 1: or every other week. Yeah, and it was every other week.
Speaker 1: And now you can't get You can only get you
Speaker 1: can only buy discounts to stores, to wellness stores with
Speaker 1: your with your points. Yeah, so you have to spend
Speaker 1: money to essentially benefit from the from the app.
Speaker 3: So it's an interesting one because then you think about, okay,
Speaker 3: well what can be done? And we've talked a little
Speaker 3: bit about that sprinkled throughout, but even with your example,
Speaker 3: it sounds like that was a more mezso kind of
Speaker 3: macro level impact of a loyalty program where these because
Speaker 3: it had an end date, these other gas stations were
Speaker 3: able to then increase their prices knowing that the customers
Speaker 3: wouldn't have any other kind of choice beyond it. But
Speaker 3: what could they have done about that?
Speaker 1: Oh, that's what it was. When the when the thing
Speaker 1: was ending, they hiked up the prices because they knew
Speaker 1: everyone had to use their points, so they just hiked
Speaker 1: up the prices. So they were basically getting it for
Speaker 1: the same price as they would have been anyway.
Speaker 3: There was no discount right, and I think that's part
Speaker 3: of loyalty programs anyhow. You might get one freebee, but
Speaker 3: then across the board, are you really saving or are
Speaker 3: they adjusting prices to make it just seem like you're saving.
Speaker 3: That's that JC Penny study. All day long, every day
Speaker 3: low costs was not good for people. They wanted to
Speaker 3: feel like they were getting a deal. And so yeah,
Speaker 3: sometimes with coupons and rewards programs, you may not even
Speaker 3: actually be getting a deal beyond maybe the one time
Speaker 3: sign up or the annual discount that you might receive.
Speaker 3: So I think too, just being aware of typical pricing
Speaker 3: and what to expect on the things that you typically
Speaker 3: purchase to even know whether, oh that is actually less
Speaker 3: than I would typically pay for X item, and to
Speaker 3: use it in your favor like we've been talking about. Yeah,
Speaker 3: great to sign up, get the freebie, but if you
Speaker 3: know you're not going to go back, or you know,
Speaker 3: if you get multiple emails you're not like you're going
Speaker 3: to be tempted to keep going back beyond what you
Speaker 3: normally would have, then delete it. We can absolutely hit
Speaker 3: that on subscribe button or do the unroll me like
Speaker 3: you've talked about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, be intentional with your loyalty programs. If there's four
Speaker 1: or five that you really like, then do it, like participate, fully,
Speaker 1: play the games, be it, you know, be in it.
Speaker 1: That's fine, but there shouldn't be more than that, right, Like,
Speaker 1: if we value every loyalty program in every brand, then
Speaker 1: we really value no brand. We're just valuing consumption. So
Speaker 1: so be intentional with your loyalty.
Speaker 3: Do you know what else we can be intentional about?
Speaker 3: And have been for sex plus years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't need a loyalty program to be loyal to.
Speaker 1: This the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 5: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 5: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage. Maybe your
Speaker 5: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 5: that bill anymore. Dust built, blow built, Bill Clinton, This
Speaker 5: is the bill of the.
Speaker 4: Week, hiphergal friends. This is Renee, and I wanted to
Speaker 4: share my bill of the week. I recently was approved
Speaker 4: through my employer's childcare subsileute program so that my weekly
Speaker 4: childcare expenses could be eliminated. That's almost three to four
Speaker 4: hundred dollars a month that I have subsidized a percentage
Speaker 4: through my employer so that my child's after school expenses
Speaker 4: can be covered. So I'm extended, I can save and
Speaker 4: reallocate that those funds that are being saved to an
Speaker 4: investment or even savings. Thank you for a good friends.
Speaker 1: Oh, Renee Carl, that is so great. Childcare is it's hard.
Speaker 1: You know, we want to pay for it, we want
Speaker 1: good childcare, but it's expensive. So what a great benefit
Speaker 1: from your employer. Kudos to your employer for offering that.
Speaker 3: That's amazing. Well done being aware of this, taking advantage
Speaker 3: of it and finding out that you qualify. That takes paperwork,
Speaker 3: that takes forethought, that takes intention, but now you are
Speaker 3: saving and now investing hundreds of dollars weekly that would
Speaker 3: have just been going to childcare. Congratulations. I'm so excited
Speaker 3: about this, and it also reminds me again, I've been
Speaker 3: talking a couple of times about kind of employee benefits
Speaker 3: if you can't or your employer's not given you a
Speaker 3: raise to negotiate for other things. We talked about tuition
Speaker 3: reimbursement at one point, or better medical coverage or more
Speaker 3: paid time off, or childcare subsidies or health and nutrition
Speaker 3: incentives like you name it. There are so many benefits
Speaker 3: you could be asking your employer for and you've just
Speaker 3: highlighted another one for us. So yeah, thanks for that. Now,
Speaker 3: thanks for sharing. We're excited with you. If you all listening,
Speaker 3: have a bill that you want to submit, if it's
Speaker 3: about not paying for bills because other people are paying
Speaker 3: for them, or bills you're excited to pay, or what
Speaker 3: it's like to pay bills. When your name is Bill
Speaker 3: frugal friendspodcast dot com slash Bill, leave it for us,
Speaker 3: and now it's time for the light around.
Speaker 1: All right, When do you decide to join a loyalty
Speaker 1: program and when do you decide to skip? For me,
Speaker 1: I like a if I'm a frequent flyer. Right, So
Speaker 1: coffee is something I am part of. Two loyalty programs,
Speaker 1: Caribou and Starbucks and well three because I go to
Speaker 1: the Blend a lot and they actually do have a
Speaker 1: you get rewards for every time you buy oh nice,
Speaker 1: So that's mostly. And then the restaurants that we eat
Speaker 1: at a lot, we don't try new restaurants like we
Speaker 1: are very committed to the quick service restaurants that we
Speaker 1: go to. We are not sit down dinner people like
Speaker 1: mostly just because we have kids and it's torture to
Speaker 1: sit down at a restaurant with.
Speaker 3: You weren't before though you really did enjoy takeout.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is true. It is something we have not missed,
Speaker 1: or maybe maybe I do miss it a little now
Speaker 1: because I can't do it. Before I was just choosing
Speaker 1: not to but I could, right Yeah, So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: all quick service for us. And that's Torchies Tacos is
Speaker 1: the main one. Tor Cheese.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: I love Torchise Tacos.
Speaker 3: I've only been there once.
Speaker 1: It is uh has quickly become my love language.
Speaker 3: Wow, so amazing.
Speaker 1: I don't know say that that's it I have. I'm
Speaker 1: on some other loyalty programs. I sign up for a
Speaker 1: lot for the Birthday freebeets, but I am not trying
Speaker 1: to game that system. Like you know, we look forward
Speaker 1: to doing the torchiese thing because we get the points
Speaker 1: that we can get up to our free tacos. But
Speaker 1: it's actually I mean, you have to actually buy a
Speaker 1: lot of tacos to get your free taco, and we
Speaker 1: do because we love it. So it's worth for It's
Speaker 1: worth it for us to be on the loyalty program
Speaker 1: because we were going to buy it anyway. That's the
Speaker 1: true answer to this question. If I was going to
Speaker 1: buy it anyway, and I can get rewarded for doing so,
Speaker 1: I'm on the loyalty program boom, But I do not
Speaker 1: let the loyalty program dictate whether I buy from a place.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, there you can, And that takes some time, energy,
Speaker 3: attention to be able to get to that place where
Speaker 3: they're not dictating your spending. You're dictating your spending, and it's.
Speaker 1: Worth taking look at. So this is why a ninety
Speaker 1: day transaction inventory is so good, because look at your
Speaker 1: ninety day transaction inventory, what are the expenses that you
Speaker 1: really like that are really meeting your values? And then look,
Speaker 1: does it have a rewards program that I haven't signed
Speaker 1: up for?
Speaker 3: Yep?
Speaker 1: Can I get rewarded for doing the thing that I value?
Speaker 3: Yep? Uh yeah. That's basically my answer for when I
Speaker 3: will join a loyalty program is when it can give
Speaker 3: me a discount right in that moment without costing me money.
Speaker 3: And I'm not signing up for the credit cards you
Speaker 3: know all your stores. If you sign up for the
Speaker 3: credit card, you can get this discountsh new service.
Speaker 1: Don't ever, don't never let me catch you signing up
Speaker 1: for a store credit card.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but similar to how I take advantage of, you know,
Speaker 3: travel rewards credit cards, like, I use it for what
Speaker 3: it can do for me, not for what I'm doing
Speaker 3: for it. And that's the same way that I approach
Speaker 3: loyalty programs is if I'm already in the store about
Speaker 3: to make a purchase, I'll think, ooh, I wonder if
Speaker 3: I were to look them up online or sign up
Speaker 3: for their app, what sorts of additional discounts I could receive.
Speaker 3: That recently happened for us at Steak and Shake. I
Speaker 3: have not been to a Steak and Shake in a decade,
Speaker 3: but Eric heard from somebody that it's actually real decent
Speaker 3: for a very very good price, and can confirm Steak
Speaker 3: and Shake is the best prices around for fast food. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you're still talking like a five dollars burg or where
Speaker 3: can you get a five dollars burger? Nowhere know how
Speaker 3: really generous fry portions, at least at the one we
Speaker 3: went to. So I just found myself at a Steak
Speaker 3: in Shake and they're like, do you have the app?
Speaker 3: I'm like, well, what would I get if I did?
Speaker 3: They're like a free milk shake. So here here we are,
Speaker 3: check me out, download the app, and then it got
Speaker 3: rid of it again.
Speaker 1: Always before any purchase, check for a coupon or an
Speaker 1: app or anything. It's sometimes annoying. So don't be that
Speaker 1: annoying person.
Speaker 3: That, oh well, I'm going to be that annoying prora in.
Speaker 3: Do it ahead of time, ahead of time, ahead of
Speaker 3: time before I get to the line. Absolutely before I
Speaker 3: get to the checkout. This is especially true for like
Speaker 3: Michael's Joanne's never pay full price. Ever, they they anticipate
Speaker 3: that you're coming with the coupons, so they are they
Speaker 3: jack up their price so that by having their app,
Speaker 3: you actually pay what you should pay for this bed
Speaker 3: bath and beyond our uh huh friend, all of your
Speaker 3: makeup stores. Like, make sure you do if you're already
Speaker 3: on your way there, download the app while you're going,
Speaker 3: delete it after you after you leave.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well, thank you so much for listening. And
Speaker 1: we love reading your kind reviews. And we again we
Speaker 1: are bribing you to leave us reviews. If you leave
Speaker 1: a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it, send
Speaker 1: it to Jen at Frugal friendspodcast dot com or just reply.
Speaker 1: You send it in a reply to any of the
Speaker 1: friend letters, then you will be in a drawing for
Speaker 1: one hundred dollars gift card. We will put you in there.
Speaker 1: Like Liz T who says, I just listened to your
Speaker 1: sixth anniversary special congrats on six years and four hundred
Speaker 1: and six episodes, I listen to the podcast because it's
Speaker 1: playful and fun. So many others are serious, are all serious.
Speaker 1: It's a different way to get content and keep me
Speaker 1: focused on my goals that never makes me feel like
Speaker 1: I'm doing something wrong or I'm behind. I also like
Speaker 1: the mix of topics where one of you knows more
Speaker 1: about it than the other. It really gives us better
Speaker 1: information since one is asking the questions that the listener
Speaker 1: may ask. I didn't realize it was a requirement to
Speaker 1: be experts in all things to have a podcast. I
Speaker 1: think the best ones are when you are learning something too.
Speaker 1: Not sure why I felt like responding today, but I
Speaker 1: hope at least some of it makes you smile.
Speaker 3: Keep up the great work. WHOA, I am smiling. That's
Speaker 3: such a thoughtful review and actually really helpful. We love
Speaker 3: all of our five star reviews, but I think especially
Speaker 3: when we receive feedback that's specific to here's what we
Speaker 3: like and keep going with this. I am you're really
Speaker 3: Liz calling me out. I'm usually the one who doesn't
Speaker 3: totally know and I'm asking questions, and that has taken
Speaker 3: some vulnerability on my part to not be an expert
Speaker 3: on these things. But I'm so glad to hear. It's
Speaker 3: affirming to me to know that's helpful for you. So
Speaker 3: thanks Liz for sharing that. Thank you all for listening.
Speaker 3: If you haven't shared something, whether it's just helpful or encouraging,
Speaker 3: or just a quick little note that you like the pod,
Speaker 3: please do leave that review and again right now. If
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Speaker 1: Bye Gorugle. Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. All right, Jill,
Speaker 1: I had two things I wanted to talk about with
Speaker 1: you today.
Speaker 3: You're even starting to put that into the.
Speaker 1: Well, okay, so I have something interesting that I want
Speaker 1: to talk about it, and I was like, I always forget.
Speaker 1: We get to the after show and so today I
Speaker 1: want to talk about nuts. And if you were if
Speaker 1: you had to shill for big nut, which nut would
Speaker 1: you shill for?
Speaker 3: Ooh my favorite nut?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Oh man, that is.
Speaker 1: Tough, right, Okay? Should I answer first? Because I know
Speaker 1: the answer? That's my walnut. Walnut is the radical middle, right, Like,
Speaker 1: it's not peanut. It's not even like almond, which is like,
Speaker 1: you know, so basic. But it's also not like macedamia
Speaker 1: or Brazil. You know, it's not like up there's accessible.
Speaker 1: Walnut is she is elevated but still accessible.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, and tell us all of the ways you
Speaker 3: like to use walnut.
Speaker 1: I love walnuts mostly in baked oatmeal. I love doing
Speaker 1: a baked oatmeal. And I'll do a different fruit and
Speaker 1: nut combo. And that's where I had the thought of this,
Speaker 1: because I was, you know, I was doing strawberries and
Speaker 1: I was like, m what nut do I want to
Speaker 1: do with strawberries? And because I don't typically typically with strawberry,
Speaker 1: I'll do chocolate that you know, I don't typically do
Speaker 1: a nut there, and I did. I went with pecan
Speaker 1: for that one, and it was a good choice. No,
Speaker 1: I went with almond, sliced almonds for that one. It
Speaker 1: was a good choice. Good, But I do I found
Speaker 1: myself not wanting to use the walnuts because I feel
Speaker 1: like they're special, right, not too special to where I
Speaker 1: like wouldn't buy them, or I'd be nervous to buy them,
Speaker 1: but like I want to use it for a special
Speaker 1: oatmeal the wall.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh this is you're making me realize. I'm going
Speaker 3: through the rolodux of nuts in my head and realizing
Speaker 3: how much I appreciate each one for their different purposes,
Speaker 3: right yeah, and how difficult it is to just pick
Speaker 3: one if you're gonna force me, I'm backed into a corner.
Speaker 1: You literally are.
Speaker 3: I would probably say almond, but like neck and neck
Speaker 3: with cashew.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, cashew. But she's she's a wonderful so versatile, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so versatile.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh man, Now you're making me wonder if I
Speaker 3: would change my mind. But I just I feel like
Speaker 3: because you also said I'd have to shill for them, right,
Speaker 3: meaning I've got to convince other people to spend on it.
Speaker 3: And so I think I could more easily get other
Speaker 3: people on board with all the different things almonds could
Speaker 3: do before I could get them on board with cash together,
Speaker 3: like cashies or you don't. Almonds are just almonds, raw almonds,
Speaker 3: roasted almonds, chocolate almond flavors, almonds ground into peanut butter, like.
Speaker 1: The butter almond and butter.
Speaker 3: There's there's a lot slivered almonds on salad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot that I do.
Speaker 3: Get people with an almonds.
Speaker 1: I do. I love an almond, Yeah, I use them
Speaker 1: a lot more than walnuts. So yeah, I think you've
Speaker 1: gone with the utilitarian route and I've gone with the
Speaker 1: luxury route.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but still approachable luxury, which we love because yeah,
Speaker 3: we're not doing.
Speaker 1: Uh huh, yeah we're not.
Speaker 3: Or the what's the other version of almond, the mac?
Speaker 3: I want to say macaroon. That's not it. Do you
Speaker 3: know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 1: No, I don't know if there's another type of almonds.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's the fancy type. I'm just gonna have to google.
Speaker 1: But I forgot about cash cash is so versus Marcona
Speaker 1: Marcona almonds, Oh.
Speaker 3: Yeah, which I do like on a charcoterie board. But
Speaker 3: I'm not chilling for them. They're too much, right, they
Speaker 3: are extra uh huh. You know it's like yeah, around
Speaker 3: the holidays, like if I'm already shilling for almond and
Speaker 3: it's just a quick step over around the holidays to
Speaker 3: talk Marcona and champagne and then I'm here for it.
Speaker 3: But mainly I'm in my sneaks chilling for almonds.
Speaker 1: Eric eats so many almonds too, he does.
Speaker 3: He He particularly loves raw almonds, which he turned me
Speaker 3: on too. Usually I'm just like, you're insane. You should
Speaker 3: be on a watch list. And then I realized raw
Speaker 3: almonds do have such a nice little buttery flavor.
Speaker 1: I love a little salt, but I think the salt
Speaker 1: brings out the buttery flavor, so you can.
Speaker 3: You can have both. And I'm still making money off
Speaker 3: of almonds, so.
Speaker 1: That's so true. I'm not making much for walnuts because
Speaker 1: I like nervous to use it.
Speaker 3: I'm just just buy it and keep them. Oh here's something.
Speaker 3: I keep nuts in my freezer. The nuts I don't
Speaker 3: use that often. Yeah, so I don't. I have usually walnuts,
Speaker 3: maybe pistachios pecans. Those aren't ones I typically snack on,
Speaker 3: but I will like cook or bake with, and so
Speaker 3: I keep them in my freezer. Wow, Yeah, there you go,
Speaker 3: Thank you. Fact Nuts