Gas under $4/gal. (if you live near a Publix)

[Tracer]

With gas prices through the roof, I try to catch every break I can. This week starting 6/2 Publix has their gas card promotion. The promotion is only good for 4 days through Sunday. They have this deal every month or two. For every $50 you spend you can buy a $50 gas card for $40. That's a 20% savings. They have many of the major brands (Shell, Mobil, Wawa, Marathon, RaceTrac, etc.). Gas around me is around $4.55/gal. Using the card I essentially will pay like $3.64/gal. I'll probably spend around $200 on my grocery bill allowing me to buy 4 cards. That should get me around 5 or so tankfuls at a nice discount. I live in Florida so there are Publix Markets everywhere.

 

[Koolau]

Here in the heartland, we have a couple of small gas chains that do similar kinds of "loyalty" discounting. They even have the equivalent of frequent-flyer points that can be redeemed in their mini-marts. Great for traveling in certain areas and grabbing road food - often for free with points. Gotta play all the angles when things get this crazy. YMMV

 

[street]

I get asked from one gas station if I want to get one of their CC. You get 5¢ off of every gallon on gas you buy from them. I don't bother getting one, but it would save me money because I use a lot of gas. I don't let the price dictate my life.

I don't know the details with the CC but I don't need another thing to complicate my life.

 

[pb4uski]

I get asked from one gas station if I want to get one of their CC. You get 5¢ off of every gallon on gas you buy from them. I don't bother getting one, but it would save me money because I use a lot of gas. I don't let the price dictate my life.

I don't know the details with the CC but I don't need another thing to complicate my life.

They have those up in our area too, but usually it is linked to your bank account. But I get 2% off with my credit card so at $4.50/gallon that's 9c so why would I get their card?

 

[Car-Guy]

I had the unfortunate task of driving around Houston yesterday. Mostly in the southeast area of town. I saw a good number of stations selling regular under $4... Like $3.89 to $3.99... Most were just over $4... Of course there are a lot of "refineries" in the area... I filled up before I headed home (~150 miles north) and when I got here it was $4.59 at the local stations.


For me I get a ~10% discount so I paid about $3.60/gal while in Houston.

 

[street]

They have those up in our area too, but usually it is linked to your bank account. But I get 2% off with my credit card so at $4.50/gallon that's 9c so why would I get their card?

Exactly!

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

With gas prices through the roof, I try to catch every break I can. This week starting 6/2 Publix has their gas card promotion. The promotion is only good for 4 days through Sunday. They have this deal every month or two. For every $50 you spend you can buy a $50 gas card for $40. That's a 20% savings. They have many of the major brands (Shell, Mobil, Wawa, Marathon, RaceTrac, etc.). Gas around me is around $4.55/gal. Using the card I essentially will pay like $3.64/gal. I'll probably spend around $200 on my grocery bill allowing me to buy 4 cards. That should get me around 5 or so tankfuls at a nice discount. I live in Florida so there are Publix Markets everywhere.

I save more than $10/$50 by shopping at Aldi and SAM's club and Walmart for my groceries instead of Publix. I occasionally treat myself to a Pub Sub or Publix brand icecream (so good and still a 1/2 gallon) when it is BOGO but otherwise it's not a place for deals. The stores are nice but too expensive. I did buy 40¢ of garlic at Publix this week since I didn't want to walk further to Walmart to save 2¢. I looked around for deals on things I need/use but nothing else jumped out.

 

[Montecfo]

I use Harris Teeter/Kroger points. I can usually fill one of the cars each month at $1.00 off per gallon.

It's not my primary store but have prescriptions there and get a lot of points for that.

 

[Koolau]

I use Harris Teeter/Kroger points. I can usually fill one of the cars each month at $1.00 off per gallon.

It's not my primary store but have prescriptions there and get a lot of points for that.

Yes, Kroger is available to me right now, but we usually shop Aldi/Sams when at the homestead. In the Islands, of course, Costco reigns supreme. YMMV

 

[Sojourner]

I use Harris Teeter/Kroger points. I can usually fill one of the cars each month at $1.00 off per gallon.

I use Kroger fuel points all the time, too, typically getting about 20-30 cents off per gallon. Just the other day, I filled up for $3.49/gal using a 60 cent discount, which I earned after an unusually large amount of Kroger shopping in April. But I've never gotten $1.00 off per gallon. That would require me to spend $1,000/month at Kroger!

 

[dvalley]

Still using my Penfed cc which gives me 5% back at the gas stations. I look at gasbuddy.com once in a while but mostly it's not worth driving out of the way to save 10c if that.

 

[aaronc879]

With gas prices through the roof, I try to catch every break I can. This week starting 6/2 Publix has their gas card promotion. The promotion is only good for 4 days through Sunday. They have this deal every month or two. For every $50 you spend you can buy a $50 gas card for $40. That's a 20% savings. They have many of the major brands (Shell, Mobil, Wawa, Marathon, RaceTrac, etc.). Gas around me is around $4.55/gal. Using the card I essentially will pay like $3.64/gal. I'll probably spend around $200 on my grocery bill allowing me to buy 4 cards. That should get me around 5 or so tankfuls at a nice discount. I live in Florida so there are Publix Markets everywhere.

I think you would save more money by paying full price on gas and only buying sale items at the grocery store. That is what I do. Regular prices at the grocery store are obscene and I buy NOTHING that is not on sale at a somewhat reasonable price.

 

[Tracer]

I save more than $10/$50 by shopping at Aldi and SAM's club and Walmart for my groceries instead of Publix. I occasionally treat myself to a Pub Sub or Publix brand icecream (so good and still a 1/2 gallon) when it is BOGO but otherwise it's not a place for deals. The stores are nice but too expensive. I did buy 40¢ of garlic at Publix this week since I didn't want to walk further to Walmart to save 2¢. I looked around for deals on things I need/use but nothing else jumped out.

I think you would save more money by paying full price on gas and only buying sale items at the grocery store. That is what I do. Regular prices at the grocery store are obscene and I buy NOTHING that is not on sale at a somewhat reasonable price.

I do most of my shopping at Aldi. You just can't beat their prices. But as you know their selection is limited. They just don't have everything I need. So I hit Publix when they have the gas card promotion to pick up what I can't get at Aldi and take advantage of what BOGO's they have because, as you correctly said, they are otherwise pretty expensive.

 

[Rico]

I save more than $10/$50 by shopping at Aldi and SAM's club and Walmart for my groceries instead of Publix. I occasionally treat myself to a Pub Sub or Publix brand icecream (so good and still a 1/2 gallon) when it is BOGO but otherwise it's not a place for deals. The stores are nice but too expensive. I did buy 40¢ of garlic at Publix this week since I didn't want to walk further to Walmart to save 2¢. I looked around for deals on things I need/use but nothing else jumped out.

Publix stores are expanding in the Atlanta metro area. Definitely positioned as a premium-branded retailer with pricing reflective of that. The gasoline discount promo seems enticing at face value, but the $50 spend usually involves overpriced items at Publix, so the net gasoline price savings are greatly diluted in the big picture IMHO.

As an Instacart shopper for a fun, w*rk-at-will gig, I prefer these stores for customer orders since they are predictably organized, clean and have super helpful employees. A downside is that most stores have relatively small real estate (e.g. floor & shelf space, facings allocated to products is minimal). So product outages are more frequent with "sorry for inconvenience" tags sprinkled everywhere. Newer stores are slightly more expansive space-wise, but not a lot more.

That being said, as a retiree, I personally am NOT their target demographic. I have been on the frugal, price-sensitive spectrum all my life. It's what allowed FIRE to happen in my mid-50's on below-average earnings during peak years.

Publix BOGO deals might be the exception, but grocery store competitors in this area can result in significant cost savings for my personal shopping.

Kroger and sometimes Aldi are my personal go-to stores (each with their own +/-'s).

Fun to have options, but the analytic part of my pea brain always gets awakened with 'deals & promos'.

Happy shopping!

 

[Trailwalker]

I get asked from one gas station if I want to get one of their CC. You get 5¢ off of every gallon on gas you buy from them. I don't bother getting one, but it would save me money because I use a lot of gas. I don't let the price dictate my life.

I don't know the details with the CC but I don't need another thing to complicate my life.

Shell has a loyalty program (use whatever credit card you want) that gives me 5 cents off per gallon. I signed up for BP's too, but its five cents per gallon seems to be tied to how much gas I buy.

 

[braumeister]

As much as I have become disillusioned with PenFed, my PenFed Visa gives me 5% cash back on all gasoline purchases everywhere, so it's probably the last credit card I'll give up. I think this specific card is no longer available (some sort of points arrangement now) but I've had it forever.

 

[REWahoo]

As much as I have become disillusioned with PenFed, my PenFed Visa gives me 5% cash back on all gasoline purchases everywhere, so it's probably the last credit card I'll give up.

+1

Don't want to jinx us, but I'm surprised PenFed hasn't changed the terms on this card in the 15 or so years I've been using it. I've saved a bunch of $ with it, especially all those years I was RVing and buying die$el fuel.

 

[audreyh1]

+1

Don't want to jinx us, but I'm surprised PenFed hasn't changed the terms on this card in the 15 or so years I've been using it. I've saved a bunch of $ with it, especially all those years I was RVing and buying die$el fuel.

I tell you what is a sticker shocker is the current diesel fuel prices!

 

[REWahoo]

I tell you what is a sticker shocker is the current diesel fuel prices!

Yep, and I understand it is going to get worse. I'm relieved to have sold my diesel truck a couple of weeks ago!

 

[audreyh1]

Good for you! We haven’t had our motorhome for a while either, thank goodness!

 

[Tracer]

As much as I have become disillusioned with PenFed, my PenFed Visa gives me 5% cash back on all gasoline purchases everywhere, so it's probably the last credit card I'll give up. I think this specific card is no longer available (some sort of points arrangement now) but I've had it forever.

I have the PenFed 5% off gas CC too which I use when I run out of the promo gas cards. A few years ago they put some restrictions on to keep it. I keep $1000 in a CD there which was one of the options just to keep that card.

 

[REWahoo]

I have the PenFed 5% off gas CC too which I use when I run out of the promo gas cards. A few years ago they put some restrictions on to keep it. I keep $1000 in a CD there which was one of the options just to keep that card.

There was a lot of blowback regarding those restrictions and I think they dropped them all a few months later.

 

[NW-Bound]

Wow, gas under $4/gal!

Where I am, regular gas is now $5.28-5.49. Costco is the lowest at $5.09.

 

[Tracer]

Another method I use to battle high gas prices is getting free gas. I just received in the mail today $100 in free Shell gas gift cards from Humana, my insurance company. By year end I'll probably have received around $250-$300 in free gas, courtesy of Humana. If you have Humana as your insurance company and don't already know about this, you may have one of their plans that has this benefit and would be well worth looking into on how to take advantage of this plan benefit.

 

[Scuba]

Lucky to find it under $6/gallon in CA. I paid $5.70 at Costco yesterday. Cheapest place I’ve seen within 20 miles.