The fuel crisis has been around for quite some time and higher fuel prices more recently.

It seems we've all got used to some grocers offering fuel discount vouchers with purchases over a certain amount. Now, you've got to admit that the discounts are not that great: generally about 4 cents per litre, which can not be much more than $1.20 per fill.

But I guess every little bit helps!

But I did wonder the other day: Who pays for that $1.20 when I redeam it at the pump?

It's not coming from the company's generosity of heart (see recent scandles): they have shareholders to answer to! The only answer I could think of has to be the people who do not redeam their dicsount. That is, the cost of selling discounted fuel must be factored into the mark up of the items for sale. But I'd assume that only a certain percentage of people actually redeem their discount and only a certain number of people purchase over the minimum limit.

Who are these people? Who doesn't redeam their fuel discount? Pensioners without cars? People who can't afford cars? So, in effect, am I taking from the "have nots" so that I can have more??

This got me thinking about Frequent Flier schemes. The only people who can be paying for the discounts offered to the frequent fliers are the prices paid by the non-frequent fliers.

So the people who get the most value out of the system are the haves, but notably, this is probably at the expense of the "have nots"!