The interest on savings in the bank remains low. The alternative is to save sales stamps. This sounds old-fashioned, but you can now save digitally via an app from the supermarket. But is it also financially smart to memorize sales stamps? What does it really offer and are there any drawbacks?
Tamara Wedervoort, 39, of Vlissingen has been saving sales stamps for years. “I was spoon-fed,” she says. “My mother used to save them too. Back then with a savings account. It was more magical to hold on to old stamps than to apply. But the goal is the same: saving.”
Keeping sales stamps seems like a bonus to Wedervoort. “You have to spend the shopping money anyway. With these stamps you can save for a nice favour without even noticing.” She saves at many supermarkets and uses the proceeds for a picnic, dinner, or savings for her children.
Stamps is a loyalty program
Retail expert Eric Muffett understands that people keep sales stamps. “Consumers are looking for opportunities to save and earn more. In this time of low interest rates, sales stamps are an alternative that pays better than savings.”
“Buying stamps produces more than savings.”
Eric Maffett, Retail Expert
Maffett explains that you can see sales stamps as a loyalty program for a supermarket. “Every time you stand at the checkout and pay, you pay a little more. In return you get the sales stamps. As a customer you commit yourself to this supermarket for a longer period of time, because you spend your money there. You return the savings book complete with the stamps and you get your money back for it “.
According to him, the sales stamps in the supermarket have a return of at least a few per cent. “So there is a demonstrable price advantage, and it yields more interest than that of the bank.”
What do sales stamps yield?
A tour of large supermarket chains shows that the PLUS supermarket can get the most attention. With every euro you spend, you buy a point for 0.02 euro cents. With 200 points, your savings card is full. This will cost you 4 euros, but you will get 6 euros in return. This gives you a 50 percent return. At Albert Heijn you buy a stamp for 0.10 cents per euro. With 490 stamps you have a full card. This will cost you 49 euros, but the return is 52 euros. This is a 6 percent interest.
At Jumbo, just like in Albert Heijn, you can save a stamp with every euro of products purchased. You also pay 0.10 Euro cent for it. The only difference is that you need 250 points to get a full card. This will cost you 25 euros. proceeds? In return, you get 26 euros. At 4 percent, the return is slightly lower than it was at Albert Heijn.
“If you shop at the cheaper supermarkets, keep doing it. This is really cheaper than keeping stamps.”
Gerard Sperenberg, Consumers Association
Cobb supermarket gives a stamp for every 0.50 euro cent of groceries. This will cost you an extra 0.05 cents. You have a complete brochure with 500 stamps, which will cost you 25 euros. Here, too, you will get 26 euros in return. Thus, the interest, just as with Jumbo, is 4 percent.
Disadvantages of selling stamps
Clearly, keeping sales stamps pays off. But is it always so useful? According to Gerard Spearenberg of the Consumers Association, it works especially well for regular customers to save something. “You’re doing your shopping at that supermarket anyway,” he says. “But you’re more likely to find stamps in more expensive supermarkets than discount stores. If you’re shopping at cheaper supermarkets, keep doing it. It’s really cheaper.”
In addition, he believes that sales stamps are especially clever for the supermarket itself. “These loyalty programs clearly increase sales. The advantage is real for a supermarket. They connect you as a customer and get you to buy more. And in the end, you pay that as a consumer yourself.”
Customers sometimes focus too much on filling out the card. As a result, you are likely to spend more.”
Eric Maffett, Retail Expert
Furthermore, Spierenburg believes that as a customer you should be familiar with hunting. “The account you keep the stamps in is made up of a lot of personal data. The supermarket uses this information to influence your purchasing behaviour. So you pay in part to the supermarket with your data. Something you need to be aware of.”
Muffett still thinks it’s a good idea to be aware as a client of the psychological effects of saving. “Customers sometimes focus too much on filling up the card. This makes you more likely to spend more. Beware and only buy what you really need.”