Tesco Clubcard

...opinion is about the standard Tesco Clubcard.

What is Tesco's Clubcard?
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It is a free loyalty scheme operated by Tesco’s and it was the first one of its kind to be set up with a lot of other supermarkets and shops following suit when they realised how successful it was.

You get 1p back (in the form of vouchers) for every full pound you spend in store, petrol station, ...
...and send it Freepost to Tesco or put it into the box provided in the larger stores. The application for will have a Clubcard attached so you are up and running straight away.

Another way to register is to log onto the Tesco website www.tesco.com. Pick up an application form with the Clubcard and then just log on and fill in your details – name, address etc. This literally takes a couple of minutes so easy peasy!

After ... more

I have always done my main shopping in Tesco’s. When we lived in the Midlands Tesco’s was literally across the road from the Town Hall where I worked so I could shop on my way into or out of work quite easily.

It followed that when Tesco’s brought out their loyalty card I should get one straight away. After all in my case as I was already a customer I would be getting money for doing nothing different to my usual routine.

Initially I had what was called a Clubcard Plus account. I don’t know if these are still available as I closed mine a few years ago and haven’t heard or seen anything in Tesco’s about them since.

It was basically a savings account where you put an amount in each month and then used it when you shopped in Tesco’s. For this you got interest on the remaining balance each month and double points on everything you bought using that account.

Anyway I digress because this opinion is about the standard Tesco Clubcard.

What is Tesco's Clubcard?
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It is a free loyalty scheme operated by Tesco’s and it was the first one of its kind to be set up with a lot of other supermarkets and shops following suit when they realised how successful it was.

You get 1p back (in the form of vouchers) for every full pound you spend in store, petrol station, on line or by shopping with any of their partner sites – so basically you are getting a 1% return on everything you spend.

How do I Sign Up?
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No problem! It is dead easy and it’s free – of course.

You can pick up an application for in your local store. All you have to do is complete it and send it Freepost to Tesco or put it into the box provided in the larger stores. The application for will have a Clubcard attached so you are up and running straight away.

Another way to register is to log onto the Tesco website www.tesco.com. Pick up an application form with the Clubcard and then just log on and fill in your details – name, address etc. This literally takes a couple of minutes so easy peasy!

After you have collected your application form and Clubcard you can register it by telephone. The Clubcard helpline number is on the application form.

You have no need to worry about the information that you provide to Tesco as they abide by the data protection act so you can be assured any/all of your personal information is safe. From time to time they may use the data to analyse buying activity but this is for their own records and will never be available to the public.

So what exactly is the Clubcard itself?
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The Tesco's Clubcard itself is blue in colour with the red Tesco logo and is the size of a credit card so it is easy enough to carry in your purse or wallet along with all your other cards. That way you won’t forget it when you go shopping and it will always be at hand to give to the cashier each time you shop at Tesco’s.

Tesco’s will also send you a small plastic key fob to attach to your key ring. The key fob has a bar code on the back which can be scanned at the till. In fact I think they sent me two key fobs if I remember correctly so I could have given one to someone else to collect points on my behalf! As my husband already has his own Clubcard I didn’t need this though.

So how do we collect points?
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You can earn points from purchasing goods in-store with the exception of National Lottery Tickets and prescriptions where the store has a pharmacy. Clubcards can be used in all the different types of Tesco stores - Metro, Express or Extra and of course at the petrol station.

As I said earlier you just hand the Clubcard to the assistant who serves you and it will be scanned through the till. Your points will be added to your account automatically. The total points for the transaction will be shown on your receipt together with the accumulated total to date.

If you have a 'Pay As You Go' mobile phone then providing you top-up using your swipe card in any Tesco store or Petrol station you can earn Clubcard points on that too. There are often bonus points to be had on this too.

Points can also be earned when you place orders online at tesco.com. You just register your Clubcard to your account and then any point's earned from online will be automatically credited to your Clubcard account.

Points can also be earned at various partners namely Avis, Powergen, Marriott Hotels, Johnsons Dry Cleaners, Nationwide Autocentre, National Tyres and Autocare and Nutri Centre.

You can forward your old mobile phone to Tesco’s using a special envelope and your account will be credited with 500 points. You can do the same with most printer ink cartridges and earn 100 points per cartridge.

Recently Tesco’s have introduced a new initiative to reduce the number of plastic carrier bags that get used unnecessarily. If you take your own bags with you when you go shopping (either old carrier bags from any shop, shopping bags or indeed anything in which you can carry your shopping) Tesco’s will give you one points per bag reused. These show on your receipt as green Clubcard points. It doesn’t sound much but it does add up and you can feel good because you are helping the environment.

How about bonus points?
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At one time there used to be numerous offers of bonus points throughout the store, the ones where you buy a particular product and receive extra points. These have all but disappeared now – at least I haven’t seen any for ages.

They often used to do a promotion offering double or even treble points on petrol but that hasn’t happened for some time either!

I do remember one from years ago where; if you bought a certain amount of bananas you got extra points. Tesco’s had made a mistake on this one because the value of the extra points was higher than the cost of the bananas. A man in one store bought all the available bananas and gave them away in the street outside still making a profit!

Nowadays the extra points tend to come in the form of vouchers which arrive with the quarterly Clubcard statement. These are usually things like 50 points if you spend £2 on bread, 100 points if you spend £5 on meat etc. There is often a voucher for double points on a whole shop, which I save for when I am doing a big shop so that I get the most benefit from it!

There are often extra points to be earned if you sign up for Tesco’s Insurance, Tesco Mobile etc.

If you sign-up for a Tesco credit card then you actually earn 1 point for every £2 spent using that card whether this spend is anything to do with Tesco or their partners or not.

Another way to get bonus points is to join any or all of the free clubs that Tesco’s offer. These are Tesco's Food Club, Baby & Toddler Club, Wine Club and Healthy Living Club.

Each quarter you will receive a magazine full of information together with a sheet of vouchers to redeem for bonus points.

OK so I have the points now what?
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Each quarter you will receive a Clubcard statement showing the amount of points that you have earned during the quarter. This is split into points from the store, petrol station, Tesco Finance, green points etc.

Attached to the statement will be the vouchers that you have earned by collecting the points. You must earn a minimum of 150 points per quarter to receive vouchers as the minimum amount of vouchers you can receive is £1.50. Don’t worry if you don’t have enough points to receive any vouchers – your points will be carried forward to the next statement.

So for example if you had 1216 points at the end of the quarter you would receive 2 x £6 grocery vouchers and 16 points would be carried over to your next statement.

The statements are sent out in February, May, August and November each year. That way the final quarter’s vouchers always arrive in time for Christmas.

As I said earlier there will also be a selection of coupons to redeem for bonus points in with your statement as well.

I believe that you can also choose to receive your vouchers in the form of e-voucher to use when you shop on line.

So what do I do with the vouchers?
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You may think that this is a silly question – you just take them into Tesco’s and spend them right? Not necessarily.

You can use them straight away to get money off your bill the next time you shop at Tesco’s.

The vouchers are valid for at least 2 years so you can save them up. I always keep all four quarters vouchers towards my main Christmas shop. It usually amounts to about £100 worth of vouchers and that makes quite a difference at a time of the year when any contributions are gratefully received I can tell you!

Another way to use your vouchers is to exchange them for Clubcard Deals. These range from Air Miles to days out at theme parks and meals at restaurants to magazine subscriptions. There is usually a booklet included with your statement to give all the details. If not they have them in store and all the details are also on line. Basically each Tesco voucher is worth 4 times its face value when exchanging it for a Clubcard Deal.

This then opens up another way of making money from your Clubcard vouchers. I have seen a lot of people selling their vouchers on EBay for much more than their face value to people who want to use them to buy Clubcard Deals!

So you see there are more ways of using your vouchers than simply handing them in when you next go shopping!

Further Information
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If you want more information then you can contact the Clubcard helpline by:

Telephone: 0800 591 688. Lines are open Mon-Fri 9am-8pm, Saturday 9am-6pm.

Post: Tesco Clubcard, Freepost, Tesco Sco 3145, Dundee, DD2 3ZR

Online: www.tesco.com/clubcard

A final word
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As I said at the beginning I have had a Clubcard of some sort since the scheme began. I have never had any problems either with the accumulation of points or with the redemption of vouchers. In fact I find it a really useful way to save a bit of money for doing what I was already doing anyway – if you see what I mean! 

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