Fuelperks! Trimmed at Toledo Giant Eagles

TOLEDO, Ohio -- At the two Giant Eagle supermarkets here, the cents-per-gallon discount earned through the Pittsburgh-based retailer's fuelperks! rewards program will be cut in half, to 10 cents per gallon, this week, the Toledo Blade reported.

For four years, the stores have given customers 20-cent per-gallon discounts on gasoline for every $50 in groceries they purchase.

"The 20 cents [discount] per gallon was a promotion. And even though it was an extended [four-year] promotion, it was still a promotion," Erik Yorke, a spokesman for the retailer, told the newspaper, adding such promotions are evaluated and adjusted. He declined to give the reason for the change.

The Giant Eagle fuelperks! discount is popular in the Toledo area, with some customers building up discounts to get between $1 and $2 per gallon off on their next gasoline fill-up, the report stated.

The grocer's Cleveland area stores have offered a 10-cent per-gallon fuel discount on each $50 of groceries purchased for several years. At one point, stores in Akron had a 15-cent discount, Yorke told the paper. In some geographic areas, Giant Eagle at times has given a 20-cent discount if customers bought specific items, he noted.

Another area grocer, Kroger, has a fuel discount program that provides a 20-cent discount for every $50 spent, but several discounts cannot be used collectively to provide one large discount, according to the report.