There are a lot of advantage cards that are available in convenience stores, supermarkets or malls these days. Advantage cards can be used to get discounts or some cheap items depending on the accumulated points in the card. These points depend on the amount of purchase that the holder of the card has made which is, of course, exclusive to the branches of the store or its affiliates (for malls).
However, before you could avail these advantage cards, you must buy it, first. You might find it obviously logical. But have you ever asked yourself if you these advantage cards are really giving you an “advantage” or are these stores or malls taking advantage of you? Have you ever computed your savings since you started using an advantage card?
When you buy an advantage card, you need to go back to the store or mall to buy items from there, so you could accumulate points which can give you discounts or you can convert those points to other not-so-expensive items.
For example, for a minimum amount of $6 purchase, you will have a corresponding point. If 100 points are equal to a discount which is worth $0.5 on your next purchase. Then, you must spend $600 dollars to have a discount of $0.5. Most advantage cards cost around $1 which means you have to spend $1,200 before you can break-even on your investment of $1 for the advantage card. If you just casually go to a store to buy a food which cost around $10 every week which would be realistic. (Eating the same kind of food everyday is unbearable most of the time, even if it is your favorite food.) Thus, if you consistently eat there every week for a whole year, you should have spent around $520. (assuming 52 weeks per year). This is still not enough to break-even. Moreover, advantage cards have expiration dates. You might not even had gained anything back from your $1. And your advantage card just expired without being aware of the date of its expiration.
Then, why are advantage cards still a cliché? It is because most of us are attracted to discounts. When you hear about discounts, you think of saving money without scrutinizing it. Advantage cards are ways of some businesses to borrow an additional capital from the costumers indirectly, and these discounts are like annuities given to them as a payment in small amounts. It would cost them more if they borrow the capital from the bank which has a higher interest.
Nevertheless, there might be some advantage cards that really give you an advantage like raffles or larger point equivalence. It is just up to you to do the math.
