In my haste to race back into town yesterday, I didn’t notice the yellow “you need gas” light until it became a blinking yellow “you need gas NOW” light.” Looking for the nearest gas station, I came across something new to me: Stop ‘n’ Shop gas. The same place that’ll provide your groceries has apparently stepped into the gas biz. I was suspect, but I was also running (literally) on fumes.
When I pulled up to the full-serve pump (!), the attendant asked for my Stop ‘n’ Shop card. Odd, but ok. Then he said “oh, you’ve got reward points, so your gas will actually be $3.58/gallon.
Gas right now is hovering around $3.85/gallon, and here I was paying nearly $0.30 less. Filling up the tank suddenly got a little more reasonable. Here’s how it all works:
For every $50 you spend at Stop ‘n’ Shop (on groceries), you get $0.10 per gallon off your next trip to the gas station. So, I had spent $150 (over the last 2 months…) and had 3 rewards waiting for me. There’s a little more to it, but you get the idea. Anyway …
Gas prices are ridiculous, and I’m not gonna stop eating any time soon, so this seems like a win-win to me. I”m not entirely sure how Stop ‘n’ Shop makes money doing this, but it’s actually a program that makes sense to the consumer. While I’m more of a Market Basket/Whole Foods/Trader Joe’s kind of guy, I’ll definitely utilize this perk and shop at Stop ‘n’ Shop. Market Basket doesn’t save me nearly as much money, and shopping there is like going into war armed only with a shopping cart (or wagon if you’re from around here…).
But wait, this is a music blog, right? How does this relate? Well, it doesn’t per se. But imagine a similar model in the music industry: For every EMI artist’s music you buy, there’re points given that you could redeem through Ticketmaster to see a show. It’d be EMI/Ticketmaster’s way of saying “we understand, it’s expensive, but we’re trying to help…we have a soul after all.”
Stop ‘n’ Shop knows that families need food, need gas for their cars, and are somewhat strapped for cash. They found a way to tie it all together and help people save a few bucks. If music is necessary, then is there a way for the music industry to do the same thing?
P.S. If you’re in the Boston area, check out the Stop & Shop gas program
