Tesco is reducing the amount of free train travel you can get with Clubcard points - but there's a way around it if you act quickly...
Unlike some of my colleagues here at lovemoney.com, I’ve never been a particular fan of Tesco Clubcard points.
For a start, I don’t like shopping loyally at one supermarket - I use mysupermarket to figure out which supermarket is selling my trolley of food the cheapest, and go with whoever offers me the best deal that week. Then I scour the web and my inbox for a money-off voucher (Tesco, Asda and Ocado constantly try to tempt infrequent shoppers like me back into the fold with discount email vouchers). So often, I’m actually rewarded for being disloyal - which makes me feel quite smug.
Plus, not having any kids, many of the Clubcard rewards didn’t seem particularly relevant. Why would I want to spend a day out at a children’s farm or Alton Towers?
OK, so admittedly, not all the rewards are family-orientated, but then again, free wildlife trust memberships, motoring activity days and magazine subscriptions don’t exactly set my world on fire either.
Sure, there are a few ‘treats’ I would enjoy, like nights out to Legally Blonde The Musical (don’t laugh!) and, oooh, the 17 different boxes of Thorntons’ chocolates.
And don’t get me wrong, I do have a Clubcard, and I collect points whenever I can - because there’s no reason not to, after all. But I have never considered shopping more loyally at Tesco as result. For me to do that, I would expect the scheme to actually save me money on stuff I would buy anyway, not stuff I may as well get just because it is free.
Freebies-in-disguise
Because, as much as I love a freebie, I hate a freebie-in-disguise. You know, those freebies that appear to be free, but actually just lure you to spending more money that you otherwise would have done. And very rarely does that extra spend turn out to be worth it in the end.
It seems to me that most Clubcard rewards are this way inclined, especially the airmiles. To me, this type of reward has all the hallmarks of a freebie-in-disguise. It can be a bit of a hassle to exchange airmiles for flights - you can’t always get the date or time you want - and if you are going on family holiday, it may mean you have to split up from your companions, who will travel more cheaply on budget flights.
Plus, you may find those taxes, fees and charges actually mean you pay the same as you would for the entire flight on another airline, despite your massive collection of Clubcard vouchers.
Does this ring true for you? Please share your experiences with other lovemoney.com readers using the comments box below.
Maximise your Clubcard points
It started when I switched to E.ON. I did it because it offered the most competitive energy tariff at the time, but as an added bonus I collected one Clubcard point for each £2 I spent on my bill.
Then I took out the market-leading 0% on purchases card so I could spend interest-free for 15 months. And guess what? That card happened to be the Tesco Clubcard Credit Card - so again, I got Tesco Clubcard points! Only one for every £4 I spent, but still, it quickly started to add up as every £1 I spent anywhere counted towards the total.
Red Spotted Hanky
So suddenly I found myself, sitting on £40-worth of Clubcard vouchers, wondering whether I would be able to drag my husband to Legally Blonde The Musical if I tied him up with some really strong string. But then, luckily for him, I discovered RedSpottedHanky.com. This oddly-named train ticket website (a competitor to trainline.com) is, in my opinion, the jewel in the Tesco Clubcard crown.
It allows you to exchange Clubcard vouchers for money off your train tickets. What’s more, every £1 of Clubcard vouchers will currently get you £3 worth of train fare. And you can still use your normal Railcard discounts if you qualify for them and buy cheap tickets in advance as you would normally.
Using this scheme, a £27 return ticket from London to Birmingham would end up costing you just £9 in Clubcard Vouchers. That’s still a whopping £450 you need to spend instore at Tesco to get the vouchers, but it’s a far cry from the £2,250 you’d need to spend to fly to a UK destination and back with BA Miles. Plus, even £5 of Clubcard vouchers will get you £15 off your fare - you don’t need to collect a huge amount in order to immediately get a benefit.
Most of us do, at some point, need to travel by train somewhere. It might not be as fun as a night out at the theatre, but it sure is a useful way to spend any Clubcard vouchers that have been gathering dust in your drawer.
As for me, I just saved £120 on train tickets, thanks to the Clubcard scheme. Who said I wasn’t a fan?
This deal is running out!
The bad news is, from December 1st, you'll only be able to exchange Clubcard points for double their value on RedSpottedHanky.com. So, come December, you'll only get £20 of train fare e-vouchers for each £10 of points you exchange, instead of the £30 you currently get. Boo!
The good news is, there's a way around this. If you're sure you're going to want to travel in the next six months, exchange your points now while you can still triple their value. You'll get e-vouchers that are valid for six months on RedSpottedHanky.com. So you'll have until May 2012 to travel for free, courtesy of Tesco, at three times the value of your Clubcard points!
This article has been updated from an earlier version.