The interest on savings in the bank is still low. An alternative is to save sales stamps. This sounds old-fashioned, but you can now save digitally via an app from the supermarket. But is it also financially smart to save sales stamps? What does it really deliver and are there any drawbacks?
Tamara Wedervoort (39) from Vlissingen has been saving sales stamps for years. “It was spoon-fed to me,” she says. “My mother used to save them too. Back then with a savings account. Sticking old-fashioned stamps had a bit more charm than via the app. But the goal is the same: saving.”
Saving sales stamps feels like a bonus for Wedervoort. “You have to spend shopping money anyway. With those stamps you can save for a nice interest without noticing.” She saves at various supermarkets and uses the proceeds for an outing, dinner or savings for her children.
Purchase stamps are a loyalty program
Retail expert Erik Mafait understands that people save sales stamps. “Consumers are looking for opportunities to save and earn more. In this time of low interest rates, sales stamps are an alternative that yields a better return than saving.”
“Buy stamps yield more than savings.”
Erik Mafait, retail expert
–
–
–
Mafait explains that you can see sales stamps as a loyalty program of a supermarket. “Every time you stand at the checkout and pay, you pay just a little more. In return you get the sales stamps. As a customer you bind yourself to that supermarket for a longer period of time, because you spend your money there. You can return a full savings book with stamps and you will get money back for this.”
According to him, sales stamps in the supermarket have a return of at least a few percent. “So there is a demonstrable price advantage, it yields more interest than at the bank.”
What do sales stamps yield?
A tour of the large supermarket chains shows that the most interest can be obtained at the PLUS supermarket. With every euro you spend, you buy a point for 0.02 euro cents. With 200 points, your savings card is full. This will cost you 4 euros, but you will receive 6 euros in return. This gives you a return of 50 percent. At Albert Heijn you buy a stamp of 0.10 cents for every euro. With 490 stamps you have a full card. This will cost you 49 euros, but the yield is 52 euros. That is an interest of 6 percent.
At Jumbo, just like at Albert Heijn, you save a stamp with every euro of products purchased. You also pay 0.10 euro cents for this. The only difference is that you need 250 points for a full card. This will cost you 25 euros. The proceeds? You get 26 euros in return. At 4 percent, the return is therefore slightly lower than at Albert Heijn.
“If you do your shopping at cheaper supermarkets, keep doing it. That is really cheaper than saving stamps.”
Gerard Spierenburg, Consumers’ Association
–
–
–
Supermarket Coop gives a stamp for every 0.50 euro cent of groceries. This will cost you 0.05 cents extra. You have a full booklet with 500 stamps, which will cost you 25 euros. Here too you will receive 26 euros in return. The interest is therefore, just like at Jumbo, 4 percent.
The disadvantages of sales stamps
It is clear that saving sales stamps pays off. But is it always so beneficial? According to Gerard Spierenburg of the Consumers’ Association, it works especially well for regular customers to save something. “You do your shopping in that supermarket anyway,” he says. “But stamps are more likely to be found at more expensive supermarkets than discounters. If you do your shopping at cheaper supermarkets, keep doing it. That is really cheaper.”
In addition, he thinks that sales stamps are especially smart for the supermarket itself. “These loyalty programs lead to demonstrably more turnover. The advantage is real for the supermarket. They bind you as a customer and entice you to buy more. Ultimately, you pay that as a consumer yourself.”
“Customers sometimes focus too much on filling the card. As a result, you are more likely to spend more.”
Erik Mafait, retail expert
–
–
–
Furthermore, Spierenburg thinks that as a customer you should be aware of a catch. “The account with which you save stamps consists of a lot of personal data. A supermarket uses that information to influence your purchasing behaviour. So you partly pay the supermarket with your data. Something to be aware of.”
Mafait still thinks it is good to be aware as a customer of the psychological effects of saving. “Customers sometimes focus too much on filling the card. This makes you more likely to spend more. Be aware of that and only buy what you really need.”
