Trailer Trashy Savings: kmart’s Gas Coupon Program | brokeGIRLrich
How do you pick which mass market retailer you shop with? I think it’s interesting that they have different “vibes” in different areas of the country.
Where I grew up in central NJ, Target was the only really socially acceptable mass market retailer. There was no stigma at all about shopping there – and I get it. I barely even shop there now because it seems too classy most of the time. I could easily destroy a paycheck in there. I actually like their clothes. They have a line of scented candles I like way too much (and really, how many candles does a person need? I’m already set for Armageddon over here). There are recent release DVDs and books – so many books. Exciting cosmetic lines…
I went to school in Virginia for a few years and down there Walmart was the socially acceptable, especially for college students. The town I lived in was so exciting that going to Walmart was pretty much the only thing to do after 11 PM anyway.
But when I would go home, my mom would tease me for shopping there. Whatever Mom, I have learned the cheaper way of the Walton’s. I’m a convert… assuming we don’t look too closely at their possibly questionable wages and sweat shop lovin’ practices. But that’s a post for another day.
Unanimously though, everywhere I’ve lived the trailer trashy winner of a mass market retailer is K-Mart. So much so that I even stumbled across this recent post called Why Kmart Still Sucks without even trying.
What could make K-Mart a real contender among these other retailers? Enough of a contender that I would consider shopping there regularly, even over my beloved, super cheap Walmart?
.60 off a gallon at Shell. I know K-Mart doesn’t have the only gas saving program, but .60 a gallon is ridonkulous. For every in store transaction where you spend more than $50, you get a .30/gal discount.
Furthermore, they’re cumulative! Which I learned by accident. I can’t find anything anywhere on how many you can combine, but I had two different coupons for .30 off per gallon. I handed the attendant one to use that time and it automatically rang up as .60 off on it’s own.
How high does it go? I wonder. If any of you know, you better leave a comment.
K-Mart’s customer service is bottom of the mass retailer barrel. The selection isn’t on par with Walmart or Target either. Even the savings aren’t necessarily greater. Fact of the matter is, I still feel kind of trailer trashy when I shop in there.
BUT the gas coupons really make me consider it. And occasionally I shop there now.
I’ve shopped at all three, Target, Wal-Mart and K-Mart. I found that K-Mart was as cluttered to the point I thought it was dangerous with the amount of overstock packed in on the overhead shelves. We rarely shop there now. A local grocery store Stop and Shop offers a gas rewards too, but its higher priced groceries weren’t worth it in the long run.
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We used to hangout at Walmart after 11, too! 🙂 Oh, tiny towns.
K-Mart is trashy when I live, too. Cents off a gallon isn’t enough for me to consider it. There’s a nice regional grocery chain where I live. They offer cents off per gallon with the purchase of certain items. Trouble is, those items are over-priced already but people still buy them for cents off per gallon. Unless you’re filling up a semi, the numbers hardly work out.
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I feel like 1/2 of that People of Walmart website is photographed in small college towns after midnight.
Brian just mentioned that it was overprices items that are worth gas rewards where he lives too! I wonder if that’s a thing. It’s a rare day when you can find rewards for much of anything in NYC – granted there are a lot less drivers here too.
I don’t have a Wal-Mart in S.I.unless I just don’t know where it is so it’s always Target for me. I have yet to step foot into a K-Mart in the US. In Canada, Wal-Mart still wins big time over Target for the time being. Target is still contending with billion dollar losses due to it’s badly managed mass expansion into the Great White North. K-Mart used to be very present in Canada but stores were sold off several years ago.
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I actually went rafting in Watertown a few weeks ago and we needed to stop and get water shoes. I pulled off at the exit and we found Walmart, kmart and Target all right next to each other and couldn’t figured out how they were surviving AND thriving. When we got to the hotel though, it was full of Canadians who drive down to shop for a day or two… we were like, what?? At Walmart and Target? But apparently it’s a thing there.
I shop at Stop and Shop and get the gas discount and I would rather shop there than Kmart for the discount. I keep thinking that I want to like Kmart more, but every time I check out the one near me, I just want to get out as soon as possible. They don’t seem to have quite the discounts that WalMart does that makes you overlook the crappy appearance and there stuff isn’t as nice as Target so you just end up feeling like you are in a run down crappy store with no good deals and nothing of quality to interest you.
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Before there was Target or Walmart in our area, there was Kmart. We shopped there when I was a kid and I never felt like it was trashy or unacceptable. However, the store hasn’t changed much at all since then! It just feels so outdated in there now. I like their shoes, since they’re cheap and I can usually find something cute, but I never get groceries or personal care products from there. If they revamped and looked more like Target, I might be more inclined to shop there.
When I was little, our same kmart was there and I don’t remember it having the stigma it has now. Something has clearly gone awry along the way.
If it’s a deep discount for something I need then I would consider, but unless I’m going to buy my groceries at Kmart, I’m really not buying much of anything these days.
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When I was a kid K mart didn’t have this stigma. As I grew up, so did the trailer trash image. Since Sears took it over it’s really gotten bigger despite the image, though. And I find their prices to be a lot lower, especially on kids’ stuff. Wouldn’t buy everything there, and I have to drive half an hour to get to one, but if I’m in the neighborhood most of the time I prefer it over Walmart.
Target is a total paycheck assassin, though. Too classy and too cute.
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Very interesting, I didn’t even realize they had a gas program. But I don’t even think we have a kmart where we live so I guess it is not an option.
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You should Google Fuel Rewards Network and check it out. It seems to be connected to a few different stores.
Does anyone remember Ames? It went out of business in 2002 but the ones near me closed when I was still young. I remember it being (socially) a step below Kmart.
I’m not sure what made them so “trashy”. But then I read this on Wikipedia:
“One of the causes of the bankruptcy appeared to be Ames’ policy of extending consumer credit to almost anyone who asked, without first checking their credit rating in an attempt to increase their market share. This often resulted in their giving credit cards to customers who were already in debt to them, and they tended to attract high risk borrowers who tended to default on their debt payments. ”
So that is one explanation. I just remember people in my family sneering when we passed an Ames store. And that’s saying a lot.
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When I was a child Kmart did not have that reputation. We did not have a Target or a WalMart back then. I even worked at Kmart the summer after my freshman year at college. It was spotlessly clean, neat and well run. I don ‘ t know what happened. Our Kmarts are disgusting now…I will not shop there.
There is a stigma with shopping at Kmart where I live, but that doesn’t stop me. They don’t have that offer though where I live. If they did, I would be there a lot. Kroger and Jewel Osco has a gas card like that though that gives offers for the more you shop there.
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I would have to go to that store regularly in order for it to be worth it to me. I would check into it if there was some where by me that had this offer.
Kmart nearly went bust here 2 years ago. They scaled right back, overhauled everything and now are cheaper than the $2/super discount stores, have a surprisingly good array of stuff, a rewards program and their kids clothes are ridiculously cheap. I never really like Kmart before, but after chatting with the woman who overhauled them and saved them, I was intrigued. Target has better quality for a lot of things, but stuff like kids clothes, toiletries, toys etc. Kmart is great.
I wish we got the gas coupon!