Thai Stores Chains' Member Cards - Which Ones Are Useless, Which Help To Save ฿฿฿?

[belidofan]

Central cards seem to be quite useful. I managed to save enough points to get a substantial discount - several thousand baht, when buying something there. Generally speaking though, I never use supermarket points cards, it's mainly a way for them to track what everybody is buying and I'm not interested in helping them with their market research, or receiving targeted marketing material based on my purchases.

Even the hospitals here seem to sell private data, judging by the number of calls we received from companies touting their crappy milk formula products after having a baby. Never managed to get them to say where they got our details from but the hospital seems the only likely source.

you're wrong there....i continuesly save a lot with my Tops card,Villa Market Card & Boots card....The The Mall Card seems worthless though.....

[samlowry]

belidofan, what did you mean by the mall card?

[belidofan]

this leads to M Card (combi for The Mall, Emporium, Paragon)

http://www.mcardmall.../en/m_expat.php

gives you a visible direct discount every time you go shopping (total has to be over thb 800) and a few hundred or more cash thb towards the end of the year; hustle-free, just cash while you shop

mind you: the whole site in English

Tops, 1 point every 400 baht ; Villa, 1 point every 500 baht.....for a family of 2, those 800 baht is far too high ; already checked of locals also have to spend 800 baht?,.... may-be less....

[inthepink]

Central cards seem to be quite useful. I managed to save enough points to get a substantial discount - several thousand baht, when buying something there. Generally speaking though, I never use supermarket points cards, it's mainly a way for them to track what everybody is buying and I'm not interested in helping them with their market research, or receiving targeted marketing material based on my purchases.

Even the hospitals here seem to sell private data, judging by the number of calls we received from companies touting their crappy milk formula products after having a baby. Never managed to get them to say where they got our details from but the hospital seems the only likely source.

you're wrong there....i continuesly save a lot with my Tops card,Villa Market Card & Boots card....The The Mall Card seems worthless though.....

Well I'm not wrong about Centrals scheme as I got about 10-15,000 baht off the price of a cot and pushchair last year with their card (I never mentioned The Mall Card so don't see the relevance of that). I can't comment on Tops because I don't like their selection and the last time I went to one in Chiang Mai they were more expensive than RimPing. Don't shop at Villa Market either (not sure if there is one in CM?) and don't visit Boots often enough to make it worth getting a card, so you would know more about those than me. Edited January 30, 2013 by inthepink

[belidofan]

Central cards seem to be quite useful. I managed to save enough points to get a substantial discount - several thousand baht, when buying something there. Generally speaking though, I never use supermarket points cards, it's mainly a way for them to track what everybody is buying and I'm not interested in helping them with their market research, or receiving targeted marketing material based on my purchases.

Even the hospitals here seem to sell private data, judging by the number of calls we received from companies touting their crappy milk formula products after having a baby. Never managed to get them to say where they got our details from but the hospital seems the only likely source.

you're wrong there....i continuesly save a lot with my Tops card,Villa Market Card & Boots card....The The Mall Card seems worthless though.....

Well I'm not wrong about Centrals scheme as I got about 10-15,000 baht off the price of a cot and pushchair last year with their card (I never mentioned The Mall Card so don't see the relevance of that). I can't comment on Tops because I don't like their selection and the last time I went to one in Chiang Mai they were more expensive than RimPing. Don't shop at Villa Market either (not sure if there is one in CM?) and don't visit Boots often enough to make it worth getting a card, so you would know more about those than me.

seems to me you should slow down on the vinagar

[belidofan]

belidofan, what did you mean by the mall card?

as you probably know by now, i refered to the M-Card (M stands for The Mall Group) ; at also pays to know the egular prices of your groceries in each of the shops. Example : a package of Lay Chips goes for 49 baht at Tops, and just 30 baht at Villa.....who's more expensive with most things most of the time ; on the other hand, a bottle of Asbach Uralt goes for 799 at Tops, and (about) 999 at Villa's.....if you reguraly buy spirits, don't by at Villa's but best check out Foodland.....

Use your "Notes" function in your mobile!....sorry Chiang Mai, never checked the vinagar prices.

[belidofan]

belidofan, what did you mean by the mall card?

as you probably know by now, i refered to the M-Card (M stands for The Mall Group) ; at also pays to know the egular prices of your groceries in each of the shops. Example : a package of Lay Chips goes for 49 baht at Tops, and just 30 baht at Villa.....who's more expensive with most things most of the time ; on the other hand, a bottle of Asbach Uralt goes for 799 at Tops, and (about) 999 at Villa's.....if you reguraly buy spirits, don't by at Villa's but best check out Foodland.....

Use your "Notes" function in your mobile!....sorry Chiang Mai, never checked the vinagar prices.

Sorry Chiang Mai, that was ment for "Inthepink"

[inthepink]

Central cards seem to be quite useful. I managed to save enough points to get a substantial discount - several thousand baht, when buying something there. Generally speaking though, I never use supermarket points cards, it's mainly a way for them to track what everybody is buying and I'm not interested in helping them with their market research, or receiving targeted marketing material based on my purchases.

Even the hospitals here seem to sell private data, judging by the number of calls we received from companies touting their crappy milk formula products after having a baby. Never managed to get them to say where they got our details from but the hospital seems the only likely source.

you're wrong there....i continuesly save a lot with my Tops card,Villa Market Card & Boots card....The The Mall Card seems worthless though.....

Well I'm not wrong about Centrals scheme as I got about 10-15,000 baht off the price of a cot and pushchair last year with their card (I never mentioned The Mall Card so don't see the relevance of that). I can't comment on Tops because I don't like their selection and the last time I went to one in Chiang Mai they were more expensive than RimPing. Don't shop at Villa Market either (not sure if there is one in CM?) and don't visit Boots often enough to make it worth getting a card, so you would know more about those than me.

seems to me you should slow down on the vinagar

Sorry, no idea what you mean?

[market trader]

it used to be green stamps in the old days and I never played 'the game' then and don't bother here either. Why not forget the games and just lower the price by 5% across the board?? It must cost that much to maintain and promote the games.

Wives love it and she hates when i don't bother and refuse points.

I just ask for discounts from the independent merchants.....corporate shops don't give.

Your wife loves the points, so what skin is it off your ass if you just hand over the card and let her collect the points.

[stoli]

To me, Makro is all about finding things that you can not get elsewhere. Just like all of the warehouse clubs, you have to know your prices, because they are not always the best price. There are some good deals there if you know what the items cost elsewhere. Free to join.Just take a grocery bag with you, because they don't bag anything!

[bkk_mike]

The Asia Books card gives an actual discount when you use it, so is worthwhile. (although with a Kindle I don't buy many physical books any more and most of the savings are on magazines for the kids).

I have the "expat" M card, which gives a discount each time (so long as you spend above a certain amount), and a "1 card" that's got a spot reward card (for Tops) on the back, but I've never actually used any of the vouchers they've sent me for Tops. I think I get a discount with the one card (some of the time only though...)

[wpcoe]

I've had Villa and Central cards for years and never got s**t out of them. You have to spend at least 500 baht at Villa for it to kick in and, living alone, I rarely do that.

Villa Market changed that several months ago to a B100 minimum purchase required. Granted there was no notification, but one cashier asked me for my card when I bought B300. I asked why, and she explained.

I don't know how long I've had the card but recently I asked how much credit I had accrued, and it was B200, so I used it (I'm wary of expiration dates/limited time offers/cancel at any time without notice) so got B200 taken off my total that day. She pointed to the cash register screen, which I couldn't decipher, and said I was close to getting another B100 credit.

[LALes]

Thanks for the heads up on Villa. I haven't even been giving them my card anymore. I will start again.

[LongTimeLurker]

I use "The 1 Card" which covers Central, Zen, PowerBuy, Home Works, B2S, Office Depot, SuperSports and Robinsons.

Only had it a short time when I was able to knock Baht 300 off my bill when shopping at the grocery store in the food court area at Central Festival on Pattaya Beach.

I assume I should have enough credit to do something similar again now. Since I do shop fairly regularly in most of the places that accept the card, it's easy to build up a credit quickly. A few hundred baht back ever so often isn't all that exciting, but if it adds up to a couple thousand per year, why not go for it.

If someone wants to know what shampoo I buy or that I bought a new rice maker two weeks ago, it hasn't cost me any sleepless nights.

First time I used my 1 card it saved me 1,000 Baht.

The item I wanted was 3,000 Baht and the shop girl told me if I had the card there's a 30% discount so i immediately signed up for it for free and got the discount.

Haven't had much from it since, the wife has saved a few hundred Baht a couple of times when shopping at Robinson's or Central and I saved a couple of hundred Baht on a water heater at HomeWorks by redeeming points.

You have to watch out for the big promotions of 50% of with redeemed points that they have every few years to really make it worthwhile. The new card gives you a 5% discount on stuff anyway.

[jcnbkk]

I regularly use the rabbit card on the BTS. Signed up for Carrot Rewards by swiping the card at a kiosk at the station. Best offer was a small fries at macs if you buy a large. Just what I needed. The web site was kinda weak too.

[Suradit69]

I forgot when posting before, but I also have the Fascino Pharmacy's Gold Card. They give immediate discounts off the sticker prices on drugs etc. At least in some cases the sticker prices on their meds are probably higher than in other stores, so you have to do some comparing to see if you benefit after the discount is calculated.

I buy Celebrex, Lipitor, Zestril etc regularly and I think after the discount I save over most other places, but it would be impossible to check every alternative. Also Fascino produces a decent receipt in English with my name printed at the top that my US insurance accepts.

[LALes]

I just checked at Tops and the card doesn't kick in until you spend 400 baht. But they have a special until Mar.31 where you only have to

spend 200.

[Plastic Brontosaurus]

Tops is good. I go there about once a week and usually spend well over 400 baht so get the points. After 3 months of using the card I got a 200 baht voucher. Also they show the "Spots" you earn each time on your till receipt. They basically just give you back a bit of the money you spend, in return for data about your shopping habits. They ask for your "member card" at checkout which is convenient as you don't have to remember.

[impulse]

Well, I'm not keen on the big brother aspect of store cards but if you are quite happy to have all your purchases stored in a database somewhere for commercial organisations and government authorities to peruse, then of course it's nothing for you to worry about. Maybe I'm just odd.

I'm with you.

I have this vision of going into a hospital for million dollar brain surgery and my insurance company comes back and says; "you purchased a lot of aspirin back in 2008 so we think your brain tumor was a pre-existing condition- no coverage", or applying for a job and the employer comes back and say's "we don't hire anyone that buys more than 2 six-packs a month", or a life insurance company saying "we've found a correlation between the amount of bran cereal people buy and colon cancer, so we can't cover you".

Way too much information- and we have no clue how it will be used next week, much less in the next decade. If the past 10 years is any indication, they're going to mine it for all it's worth and that may not be so good for some of you.

Me, I don't have a Facebook account, no Twitter, no LinkedIn, and no other mass social networking beyond email. And no loyalty cards from any vendor. Heck, I'm still regretting signing up for a hotel loyalty account to get free wifi during one stay in Pattaya- but I figured they had my passport anyway.

I just hope that email stuff doesn't come back and bite me in the butt. (And no, I don't have a tinfoil hat.)

Edited February 2, 2013 by impulse