Samuel's Blog

14 Comments

• 1. Tony  |  August 21st, 2007 at 10:05 pm

  I agree Samuel, the coffee was the bargain on that docket.

• 2. davky  |  August 22nd, 2007 at 6:08 am

  Yes, Sambo, but the coffee is a luxury item, not a necessity.

  If you are buying the petrol anyway, you are getting more value from the discount than if you receive something free which you were not compelled to buy otherwise.

• 3. Pen 15  |  August 22nd, 2007 at 7:44 am

  Good logic there, davky.

• 4. Mr-Pappadappadopolis  |  August 22nd, 2007 at 8:52 am

  Those petrol discount vouchers allow Woolworths and Coles
  to create a monopoly, and actually play a role in pushing up petrol prices by forcing smaller operators out of business.

• 5. davky  |  August 22nd, 2007 at 10:15 am

  Hang on, I didn’t think you drove anyway, Sambo. So of course you wouldn’t use the petrol docket. It is a non-contest! We’ve been duped!

• 6. Samuel  |  August 22nd, 2007 at 3:19 pm

  There are plenty of things you don’t know about me Davky (and probably everyone else reading this for that matter).

  As it happens, petrol is an expense which crops up about every week and a half, and many of the ptrol discounts only last for a week.

  The coffee discounts, whilst not a discount on necessary expense, is a welcome discount if I am in a shopping centre or similar. And when it comes down to it, if I save three dollars on a coffee I would have bought anyway, that’s three extra dollars I have for another expense (eg petrol).

• 7. Pen 15  |  August 22nd, 2007 at 11:21 pm

  So, do you drive, Sam?

• 8. Trent  |  August 22nd, 2007 at 11:35 pm

  I don’t know whether I am on the for or against regarding petrol discounts.

  I travel over 140kms a day, at least 4 days but usually 5-6 days a week. Saving a few dollars when I am at the pump makes me feel a bit better, plus the station I go to is not far off one of the freeway exit’s which is another bonus.

  I do see it starting to force smaller operators out of business, but I kind of think to myself if the fuel companies had done something about pricing in the first place Woolies might not have even got into petrol in the first place to cause this mess.

  If I was in your situation I may have used the coffee voucher to take a break from the world and think about this one a bit further!

• 9. davky  |  August 23rd, 2007 at 6:09 am

  I’m not sure that petrol vouchers would increase the price of petrol, MrPappadappadopolis. I agree that smaller operators are forced out (whch I think is a bad thing socially) and we would end up with a virtual duopoly. Would this necessarily mean higher prices, though?
  Considering that supermarket loyalty is the big moneyspinner, rather than petrol loyalty, wouldn’t the battle for supermarket business take price through the form of competition at the petrol bowser? (I’m no economist – pls correct me if I’m wrong!)

• 10. Pen 15  |  August 27th, 2007 at 6:02 pm

  I’ll assume thats a “no” then.

• 11. Tim  |  August 28th, 2007 at 10:16 am

  Yes he does drive Pen 15.

  Samuel must’ve got caught up with work, or got sick… it’s been a week since this last post now!

• 12. Mr-Pappadappadopolis  |  August 28th, 2007 at 12:41 pm

  Samuel. Why hast thou forsaken thy readers ?

• 13. Pen 15  |  August 29th, 2007 at 11:59 pm

  Are you sure about that, Tim? He seems to be avoiding my questions of late.

• 14. Samuel  |  August 30th, 2007 at 1:47 am

  Avoiding due to not having a chance to answer.

  I actually do have a general policy of avoiding directly answering that question for the simple reason that it has been answered here before, and I see no good reason to need to advertise the answer (the history of that decision is something I don’t intend on discussing), however on this occasion I will simply tell you that Tim is correct.