It’s the beginning of the year and most parents, students or teachers are probably preparing for school term which will be starting soon.
Stocking up on stationery might be on one of your to-do list.
As with many other things in life, finding the bookstore that suit or fit your needs will make life a whole lot easier. But I won’t be going into the topic on ‘How to go about finding the bookstore that suits’. Rather, I’m going to share how you can save a few more dollars from your purchases at the Popular Bookstore. That is, if you have set your mind on Popular.
1) If you visit Popular Bookstore very frequently, do consider signing up for their membership.
It costs $12 for a normal membership which will last for a year. $30 if you sign up for 3 years at one go (save $6).
If you are a student or have a student among your network, you can consider signing for the student membership at $8 for one year ($4 savings from the normal membership rate). $20 for 3 years (it’s $4 savings off the student membership 1 year rate, $10 savings compared to a 3 year normal membership rate or it’s $16 off the normal 1 year membership rate!).
Membership rates get even cheaper for renewals.
So what are the privileges?
The most common privilege is 5% discount off school/Tertiary textbooks or 10% off other items*. Do take note that items on promotion may not enjoy this discount.
This in itself is already a advantage. I mean, if I buy textbook from Popular and my neighbour does the same too. But I’ll get a cheaper textbook if I use a membership card.
But because of an initial upfront costs associated with this membership, this is only worthwhile if you frequent Popular regularly. In another words, to “recoup” your initial “investment” (assuming all your purchases are entitled to 10% discount), you’ll need to spend at least $120 in a year (which will give you $12 discounts), for you to make back your membership fee (1 yr normal membership). All other discounts after spending $120, is then considered the savings.
If you don’t spend so much at Popular, then how? So Point 2.
2) Borrow it.
If you don’t want to spend money to on the membership but still want to enjoy a discount.
Or if you see someone in the queue with a membership, ask if you could borrow it. (But don’t say I say so. :p)
3) Get a Maybank Family and Friends MasterCard.
So why Maybank Family and Friends MasterCard?
On top of the membership 10% discount, if I pay using Maybank Family and Friends MasterCard, I’ll enjoy 5% rebates*. This will push my total savings up to about 14.5% off the retail price (compare to if I hadn’t use any cards at all)!
Ok, so if I don’t spend that much at Popular enough to cover my membership fees and I’m too shy to borrow from someone. Paying with this card will still save me 5% (in the form of rebates). So if you had bought something from Popular which costs $10, by using this card to pay, effectively, you are only paying $9.50 for the same thing compared to someone who bought the same thing but paid using cash. You save 50cents!
I simply love credit cards for such things. Don’t you?
