The Fine Print: Foodstuffs’ Club+ card

We waded through the terms and conditions of the supermarket giant’s new loyalty programme so you don’t have to. Here’s what we found.

What’s new?

Club+. It’s the new loyalty programme from Foodstuffs, one half of Aotearoa New Zealand’s mega-powerful supermarket duopoly. Club+ launched on 15 June and replaced the old New World Clubcard.

What’s in the big print?

Foodstuffs is proudly advertising the fact that while Clubcard was exclusive to New World, Club+ lets you redeem rewards (i.e. spend your accumulated “Club+ Dollars”) at all three of its supermarkets: New World, Pak’nSave and Four Square.

And earn rewards at all three, too?

You’d think so, but no. You can only earn rewards at New World and Four Square. Foodstuffs is no doubt hoping that this incentivises people to visit those shops, which are significantly more expensive than Pak’nSave.

What else is changing?

Not a lot, on the face of it. The value of the rewards stays the same: 0.75% at New World, meaning for every $100 you spend, you get 75 cents back. (At Four Square, the rate is just 0.38%.) And you can still choose to convert your rewards into Air New Zealand Airpoints instead of Club+ Dollars.

That all sounds good … but what’s hidden in the fine print?

The bit that really caught our attention was around fuel discounts. With Clubcard, every member could get an Everyday Fuel Discount of 8c/L at Z and Caltex just by scanning their membership card at the pump. That’s being scrapped completely with Club+.

Eight cents doesn’t sound like much.

Maybe not, but if you have a 50L petrol tank and fill up once a week, that discount would’ve saved you $208 every year.

So I have to go back to paying full price for petrol?

It depends. There is a fuel discount attached to Club+, but you can’t get it just by being a member – now you have to earn it by shopping at New World, Pak’nSave or Four Square.

What if I shop at Woolworths or FreshChoice?

Then you’re probably the reason Foodstuffs is making this change. Gone are the days of buying groceries wherever you want and getting that sweet New World Clubcard discount at the pump anyway. Now, you get one 8c/L fuel discount loaded on to your Club+ app for each shop at a Foodstuffs supermarket.

And I can redeem it at Z or Caltex?

Only sometimes. If the supermarket you shopped at has its own on-site fuel station, you have to redeem the discount there. Otherwise, yes, you can take it to Z or Caltex.

How is this different from the fuel discount I already get with my New World and Pak’nSave receipts?

Indeed. The standard Club+ fuel discount is basically a repackaging of something Foodstuffs was already giving its customers. And those old discounts (“Fuelup vouchers”, usually worth 6c/L) still exist – but now you’ll only get one if you haven’t swiped a Club+ card at checkout.

I’m confused.

Understandably so. In general, when companies take away benefits that you used to have, they don’t like to spell it out clearly. That’s the whole reason we’ve launched this series.

Any other fine-print discoveries?

A few. First, you can no longer redeem your rewards at Liquorland, like you could with Clubcard. Second, you now need to be part of the loyalty programme in order to shop online or do click and collect. And third, the list of excluded purchases – that is, purchases that won’t count towards your rewards balance – has grown.

What’s been added to the “excluded” list?

NZ Post services, delivery fees, click and collect fees, bag fees, online subscription fees and gas bottle exchanges.

Can you give me the short version?

Foodstuffs is replacing the New World Clubcard with Club+. The good news is you can now earn rewards at Four Square and redeem them at Four Square and Pak’nSave, as well as New World. The bad news is the automatic 8c/L fuel discount at Z and Caltex is disappearing and you can no longer redeem rewards at Liquorland.