Free gas? Who couldn’t use some free gas?
With gas prices at all-time highs, nearing $4.50 in some locations, any way you can save some money at the pump has to be a good thing. Most everyone in Northeastern Ohio is probably familiar with Giant Eagle’s fuelperks program. It’s pretty straightforward: You spend $50 at Giant Eagle, you get 10ยข off per gallon when you fill up at the Giant Eagle Get-Go gas station.
The problem is at $4 a gallon you have to spend $2,000 for a free tank of gas. That’s a lot of groceries. I’m sure there are families with 4 kids that can spend that much in a couple of months, but I want to find a way to get things done sooner.
I want to find a way to beat the Giant Eagle Fuelperks system and get free gas.
I don’t know of any full proof method right now, but here are some things you can do to increase your savings:
- Bring an extra gas can with you when you go to fill up. Giant Eagle will allow you to use your discounts on up to 30 gallons of gas. Considering that most cars only have 15 gallon tank, you’re leaving some of your discount in the pump. Put a 5 or 10 gallon gas tank in your trunk and fill it up when you use your discount. Just don’t store it in your closet.
- Buy gift cards for places you will be shopping. You earn fuelperks even when you buy gift cards, so if you know you’re going to Home Depot, why not buy the gift card at Giant Eagle and get the fuelperks too?
- Buy gift cards and then get rid of them. This is a big money saver. Buy gift cards at Giant Eagle. Then do one of three things with them: Sell them online, use them for something very inexpensive and get cash back or return the card to the issuing retailer for cash.
- Buy your prescriptions at full price. This takes more work, but you’ll have a free tank of gas in no time. Take your prescriptions to Giant Eagle, but tell them you don’t have insurance. Pay the full price on your credit card and then submit the receipt to your insurance company who will reimburse you for the difference.
There has to be more ways out there to beat the system. I’ve racked my brain, what do you think? Do you have a way to get free gas at Giant Eagle? Let everyone know in the comments.
Tagged with: Free Gas • Fuelperks • Gas Prices • Giant Eagle
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June 22nd, 2008 at 9:07 am
I once bought several Home Depot gift cards at Giant Eagle, knowing that I needed to make a big purchase that day. Learned the hard way that the gift cards (at least for Home Depot) are not valid until 24 hours after purchase. Keep that in mind for your next shopping trip.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:14 am
you really ought to check accuracy on your free gas tips.
June 29th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
your advice is pretty weak…smartest way to using the points to fill up at a discount is to buy a visa gift card for $50 or more…you then use your giant eagle card to get the points..then take that visa gift card and use it when your filling up….
June 30th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
@Kevin: Brilliant Idea except for the fact that they dont give fuelperks credit for visa gift card purchases, or AMEX, or Giant Eagle Gift cards….
July 7th, 2008 at 8:22 am
We used to try to fill up two gas tanks (14 gallons each) by putting the vehicles back to back. That doesn’t work anymore. The attendant stops the pump on you.
July 29th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Make sure your not making a special trip to Giant Eagle to buy gift cards or you’re just eroding the value of your fuel perks.
August 6th, 2008 at 8:18 am
You have to be on the lookout for GE to offer specials that earn you extra fuelperks over and above what you would earn on your total grocery purchase, such as recently they offered four boxes of Kellogg’s or General Mills cereals for ten dollars, with 20 cents in fuelperks. That was a very sensible offer, especially with two children at home.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Your fuelperk offer is very misleading and borders on being a scam. If you are entitled to purchase 30 gallons at the discounted price, what differencer does it make if the person decides to fill up a 55 gallon drum or another vehicle? Today I filled up one vehicle and used only 12 gallons. the other 17 gallons I could have used to fillup a second vehicle @1,59 were lost to me. Why?
If you do not want customers to use 30 gallon, but as you say most vehicle today do not hold 30 gallons, limit it to 15.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:19 am
The fueleperks offer is the biggest scam. No one is getting a free ride here. The fuel is paid for when you buy merchandise at Giant Eagle’s horribly inflated prices. On a 17 gal tank with $1.00 off, the customer “saves” $17. The merchandise the customer purchased to receive that discount cost $500, but would have cost at least 10% less at another grocer’s, and even less than that at a discounter’s like Marc’s, if you live in the Cleveland area. That’s a savings of $50! The math is simple: $17, or, $50?
Turning off the pump while the customer is filling two cars to get the full 30 gal. is another way Giant Eagle sticks it to their customers. A local manager for the Giant Eagle gas station turned the pump off for us and then tried to tell me customers were violating the law if they filled two tanks. What a lie. I asked her how that differs from filling gas cans. She said filling another car was a fire hazzard! WTF???!!! I don’t know who she thinks she’s talking to, but that’s the biggest spin I ever heard.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I purchased diesel fuel at the Giant Eagle in GIbsonia on Sunday, September 29 @ $4.35 a gallon, I had $1.00 Get Go points to purchase 30 gallon. I then went on a trip and passed the Giant Eagle on RT.356 in Sarver, PA and their diesel fuel was $3.95 a gallon???????? Why aren’t all Get Go’s the same? Had I known, I would have purchased my fuel at that location. SO I only saved $.60 not $1.00!!!
October 12th, 2008 at 9:09 am
my daughter worked at get go and it is realistic why you dont pump two cars it does cause a fire especially if not done the right way. alot of people are careless so they cant supervisor everyone. but gas cans is the solution then fill up other cars. as for building your perks, they use to have movie rental that helped and also alonger time to build your points. now you have to use them within 90 days or their tooken off. so my solution is my kids and i will go to the store together and build up one card of our cards when we build it up enough we fill one car and cans. and i dont do all my shopping there only sales. so we build it up within 90 days then make sure we get the whole 30 gallons. and for the gift cards thats only good if your going to need them, that is smart way but like for holidays i will buy my gift cards there. this is the other thing no getgo really will release over the phone the price of gas in barberton right now $2.81 and akron $2.99 but other gas station around them they keep up with, but as for other getgo that are around you cant compare to see where the cheapest is unless you drive to them and thats wasting gas. overall it adds up but it is good for the ones that shop there alot, especially for wic coupons they get perks! or people that get assistance. all i got to say is sales, double coupons, and gift certificates. is they only way………
October 26th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Giant eagle just came out with there new Credit card where if you spend $50.00 on your GE Credit Card you will get 0.04 on top of the 0.10 for every $50.00 you spend at there store. I take my grocery money I plan on spending and sit it aside and pay the bill off Evey month in order to make out on it!! And to the person who was complaining about the Get Go Stations not being the same price. Tell me one gas chain that has all there stations set at the same price and I will give you my fuel perks! Oh and the $50.00 Visa Gift Cards and AMEX Gift cards do count towards fuel perks. The red visa net spends and the Ge Gift cards do not count. but watch the fees on the Credit Gift Cards.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Not to sound like the enemy here but i deliver the gas for giant eagle in ohio. first off…. i dont care how much gas people try to take at the pump(more work for me)but i will comment on what Catherine Disantis above said. it is infact against the law to change between 2 cars,trucks or whatever(not just at gianteagle). and its due to the electrostatic charge your car and other variables puts off. it may sound like BS but i do this for a living. but by all means if you wanna turn your car and whatever else is around into toast be my guest….i get paid by the hour…LOL P.S. GIVE ME A 5 MIN HEAD START
November 30th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I use Fuelperks and haven’t paid for gas in a year; my 12-month savings is currently above $2800. I have a unique situation, because I buy gift cards that I use to buy inventory for my business, so I’m able to rack them up pretty quickly (there was a span where my balance hovered above $20 for a few months, and right now it’s above $10, which is MORE than 5 fill-ups). It also helps that there are a few Western PA stores that have double bonuses all year long.
If you want to maximize your benefit you MUST ALWAYS CARRY GAS CANS AND MUST ALWAYS TAKE THE FULL 30 GALLONS. Five-gallon cans are about $8 apiece. But 3 for about $25 and fill them up with 15 gallons at $2/gallon. You make the money back on the first fill-up if you have $2 in Fuel Perks built up. NEVER NEVER NEVER LEAVE UNUSED FUELPERKS BENEFITS IN THE PUMP. If you have $2 in Fuelperks and a place to store gasoline cans, there is no excuse.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I see all the comments above calling this a scam. This is, in my opinion, one of the best deals going. My brother and I have basically not paid for gas in a year now, other than long trips where there is no Giant Eagle. Plus, we don’t even buy their expensive groceries! The key is buying gift cards for anything you might use. On occasion, they carry amex or visa products that allow you to earn fuel, and you can spend them anywhere. Be careful with these though, as you have to do the calculation of the card fees to ensure you’re actually earning money.
And, absolutely bring gas cans with you! Why throw away free money? If the deal is to get a maximum of 30 gallons, then make sure you get 30 gallons each time you’re using your card. If you don’t, then you’re throwing your money away.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Remember that the gift cards have a $3.95 service charge. So if you were to purchase $100 gift cards during the double fuelperk promotions, you would be earning 40 cents off per gallon @ 30 gallons = $12-$3.95 (service fee) nets you $8.05 for that $100 gift card or $4.025 for regular promotion (10 cents). Now I know our economy is down in the dumper right now, but earning 4-8% on our money never was this demanding of our precise resource: TIME. We are always trying to beat the system. But remember, GE execs didn’t just cook this idea up overnight. They had number crunchers come up with all kinds of scenarios where: THEY WILL ALWAYS WIN. Like Catherine Desantis states “you could save 10% or more by shopping elsewhere”. Unless you are like Hal or Rich and purchase large quantities of gift cards and cycle through them on a regular interval, than this system of saving money is more work than it’s worth. …and that’s my 2 cents!!!!
January 11th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I used my fuel perks today (I had enough that the gas was free). I didn’t know that you could not fill 2 cars so I was shut off at 26 gallons. No problem, I know that next time I’ll take gas cans. HOWEVER— I checked my bank account and Giant Eagle had deposited $99.00 into my checking account today. I had enough points for another free 30 gallons and a discount on yet another fill. I wonder if they kicked me out of the program for filling up 2 cars? I had a lot of points because I gave my employees K-mart-Sears gift cards for Xmas. I don’t buy much groceries at GE – too expensive. Get most of what I need at Marcs, Aldis and Kmart.
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Look for the presciption coupons in the paper, 1 dollar off a gallon and new or transfer. They have them often…. Once they are at Giant Eagle transfer your next refill to another place(they have promos also(20-40 gift cards) and the back to Giant Eagle month three.
Okay sounds like alot of work, it does take some time, but say your family has 3 presciption to fill each month, this could save yourself over a thousand dollars a year.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:46 am
It is so Easy to get your gas pretty much for free from Giant Eagle. It is called Ebay. If you have Ebay you will need 2 accounts and 2 paypal accounts. All you have to do is buy the gift cards and then go home make up a fake Item and do it as a buy it now for $1. and do what ever amount you want for shipping. so $1 for the item and $399 shipping then the other person buy it now right away and pay for it through paypal. I have been doing this for a while On average if gas is 2 bucks a gallon after all fees through paypal and the small ebay fees I pay about 20 cents a gallon. It is awesome
January 30th, 2009 at 12:48 am
If you are going to do this make sure you have paypal accounts that are verified and not new. If they are new they will review and hold your money
February 12th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Hey Steve I was doing the ebay thing for quite a while.You will run into a problem when paypal shuts your accts down and freezes the cards and returns money from other accts these assholes now have $1000.00 in cards they say are fraudulent and after explaining that I get fuel perks for using cards they play stupid and will never release cards.I have contacted atty general in Ohio with no help
February 13th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Another pointer: When your perks are high enough to take the price down to $0, you may as well get 30 gallons of premium because it is the same price as the lower octane.
March 5th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
It amazes me just how very stupid most of society really is. Sorry, but that’s just how I feel. I don’t ever shop at Giant Eagle. People really think they’re saving money on gas by shopping at Giant Eagle. I don’t even bother with the stupid fuel perks. I save more money going to a family owned grocery store where the prices are customarily HALF of what Giant Eagle charges. With the money that I save on a weekly basis in groceries, I can afford to fill up my car and I’m not padding some corporate VP’s pockets so he or she can drive a nicer car than me. Why should I spend $3.99 lb for produce when I can get it elsewhere for $1.19 a pound. Do the math everyone. Check the prices elsewhere. Giant Eagle’s prices are COMPLETELY INSANE.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I don’t buy the groceries @ GE, but my wife does with a 20% discount on every $300 she spends. Thanks to every time we fill up our 30-gal SUV’s for free!!! Which is a byproduct of our buying GE’s Ebay/HD/Sears/Staples/etc… gift cards using American Express BLUE which additionally pays 5% cash back (over $4,000 was deposited into our account this January)
Everyone can save 12% on gas, 5% cashback, & $60 on groceries, OR… whine and complain that it’s completely insane. My guess is most lie somewhere inbetween.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:10 am
In response to Kelly: Giant Eagle does have items on sale…and sometimes the sale prices are good. Considering I’ve gotten over $2600 in free fuel in the last 12 months, I don’t consider myself stupid. I get a lot of gift cards there for what I would normally spend elsewhere.
Just so everyone knows, effective Friday March 13th, Giant Eagle is discontinuing sales of Ebay gift cards. I have a feeling they are doing this because of the above mentioned abuse (i.e. people using two paypal accounts to use them with a fake transaction). I used them all the time to buy my winnings on ebay. I am very disappointed!!!!
March 17th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Okie Dokie, I was just looking on Akron Gas Prices. com and there is a post about Giant Eagle Fuel Perks. This forum is a way to track gasoline prices and is consumer driven, I can post prices in my local area and also search them. I shop at several stores , but I still make enough on Fuelperks to make it worthwhile, so, some people will use only gas cards or Major credit cards that “pay” them, I do not like credit.
March 24th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
They will eventually find out how people are gaming their system… one friend of mine used to buy Visa gift cards there before they had any fees. He would buy a $500 card during double fuelperks promotion using a 5% cash back on ‘everyday purchases’ credit card which would get him $25 cash back and $2/gallon or $60 when using gas cans. He would then go to Wal-Mart, use the $500 Visa card to buy a $500 money order for 60 cents and then deposit the money order into his bank account to earn a little interest during the grace period of the credit card he purchased the Visa card with. So for that effort he would net $85 give or take, and he would rinse and repeat multiple times. He did it so much though, that Giant Eagle caught on and either stopped giving fuelperks on Visa cards or put in enough fees to keep it from being profitable. When he told us about this I even did an analysis to see if I could pull off a similar thing by reselling gift cards on eBay at a slight discount since the spread is 17% for very little effort, but when I looked at the going rate for gift cards on eBay and factored in all of the eBay and PayPal fees it turned out to be a net loss. Props to the people that can find a legit way to take advantage of this, though. And don’t forget about the more obscure gift cards they sell. Dropping $200 a seat on that once-in-a-lifetime concert? Ticketmaster gift card. Flying somewhere? Southwest or American Airlines gift card. Get your haircut at Regis, SmartStyle, Trade Secret, MasterCuts, HairMasters, Best Cuts or maybe a dozen other places that accept them? Regis Salon gift cards. I agree that buying actual food at Giant Eagle is not that smart (especially after they ran Tops out of town), but getting an 11% or 17% cash/gas back on purchases I am making anyways that would otherwise just give me 1-2% cash back is a no-brainer. And don’t fall for the extra $0.04 using the Giant Eagle credit card either – they are just trying to save money on fees they pay to process credit card transactions and in this case the house has the advantage; even the most basic rewards credit cards give 3% cash back at grocery stores.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:40 am
They did away with the “Ebay loophole” by not carrying the cards any more. Too bad.
April 11th, 2009 at 7:11 am
Because GE and Meijer are right across the street from each other, I buy gift cards and the loss leaders at GE and go across the street to Meijer and pay less for stuff.
May 27th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I think this is one of the best things right now if you shop smart. My kids get WIC and I am able to use all the WIC money towards my fuel perks. and we have been doing tons of remodeling around the house and have over15.00 right now in fuel perks. People complain about their outrageous prices. Well only buy the stuff on sale and then go somewhere else for all your other needs.
June 17th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
It is simple math. If you use the full 30 gallons, the fuel perks work out to exactly 6%. 10 cents off for every $50 for up to 30 gallons. Say you spend $100.00 You will get 20 cents off a gallon up to 30 gallons. That is $6.00. You spent $100.00 to get back $6 in fuel or 20 cents x 30 gallons = $6.00 However GE is way too expensive except if you buy ONLY the sale items and hopefully have coupons as well. On MOST sale items the prices are at least competitive. Non sale items are a no no. You are better off buying at WalMart. You’lll save more than 6%. You have to know your prices because sometimes even WalMart prices are high. In this economy all working class people HAVE to save a buck.Now GE has the food perks promo. A cross promotion to give you 1% back for every 10 gallons of fuel. They are master marketers and most people won’t do the simple math. This makes the formula more complex. But if you want to take the time to play the game, you could get enough perks for a free tank and get 3% off your food bill for up to $300 so you save an extra 9 dollars or 3%. Then that will get you 60 cents off up to 30 gallons or $18 off. Again that equals almost 6 percent. (They won’t count the discount toward fuel perks). All in all it’s BS, confusing, time consuming and not worth the time and effort. Keep life simple, Shop the sales buy everything else at Aldi’s, WalMart Plan your meals. DON’T BUY anything overpriced. All they will do is raise it more. If you don’t buy the item their inventory goes up and the price will come down.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Well, if you know how to watch the ads and shop smart you don’t pay for overcharged groceries AND you rack up the fuelperks. I plan my meals around the ads, use the double coupons, buy gift cards for places I’m already going anyway – get great deals, and free gas. It works well for us but you have to like doing that sort of thing or it’s probably not worth your time.
August 18th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Wow, i cannot believe i sat and read all of this; kinda like a soap opera– ridiculous but entertaining. Thanks!!
August 18th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Heh-
I’ve gone 3 years and 5 months without paying for gas. I’m a contractor and I generally load up on Home Depot gift cards when GE is offering double fuelperks (and if you use the Giant Eagle credit card you get an extra 4 cents off per gallon) IOW for every $50 you spend you get 24 cents off per gallon.
The Paypal/ebay gift cards were great while they lasted. And contrary to a previous poster- if you use the high grade gas it will cost more than the regular. Also, there is no “3.95 charge” for the gift cards.
Between loss leaders- coupons- double fuel perks and the Giant Eagle credit card bonus this is a great opportunity for save big bucks on your gas expense.
I really gotta shake my head when some folks call this a scam or some such nonsense. O well YMMV
September 14th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
When I get prescriptions from Dr., they always have several refills. I fill the prescription at GE with a $1 coupon as a new scrip then for the next refill I go to K-mart, Wallmart etc. with their coupon as a transfer. Then return to GE with another $1 coupon as a transfer etc…etc. If you take enough meds, you may never have to pay for gas. Always check around for GE grand openings, reopenings, anniversaries etc. They usually always have the $1 prescription coupons.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Say you have $50. Buying a Starbucks card under double fuel perks would get you $.20 off/gal. Then using the card at GE Starbucks gives you another $.10 off/gal when the $50 card is used up. However, if you buy your coffee at the Get-Go, you earn $.01 for each cup so perks add up alot faster for your $50. And, some might say buying a can of coffee, making you coffee at home and using the savings for gas…..So much to think about and I’m honestly just beginning to do it. Have to get my gas cans for sure. Thanks.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Did anyone ever question why some Giant Eagles give 20c in Fuelperks for every $50, but others only give 10c? The stores in Stark County, OH all give 20c, whereas many of the stores in Summit County, OH only give 10c. Some stores are just 10 miles or less from one another. Make sure you’re getting back what you deserve.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
I have been using fuel perks for a year now. I only buy what i normally would and mostly sale items. If I know I will be buying from another store I purchase gift cards. THis works out great with my construction business as well. I simply buy the home depot cards and buy normally what i would. This has allowed me to get most of my gas for free, even for the business.