GOLF

Joining a Discount Membership Clubs Helps to Make Savings on the Household Bills   by Alison Withers

Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers

Discount clubs have been around for many years and operate in some form in most countries of the world. They were pioneered in the USA but you can now find variations all around the world.

Unlike store loyalty cards they offer discounts up front rather than shoppers saving up points for a later discount.

The premise behind the concept is that once a company has reached break even point, new sales are limited to the variable cost of distibution, rather then to cover fixed overheads like rent, utilities and so on. Therefore, the percentage of the retail price previously allocated for fixed costs can be partially allocated as discounts to attract more customers while at the same time increasing bottom line profits.

Some of the earliest ones specialised in savings in restaurants but gradually they developed into clubs offering discounts from retailers and suppliers in urban areas.

Most discount/savings clubs offer a membership card and booklet. The reverse side of many club cards enable the restaurant to scratch off their number on the back of the card when it has been used.

While most organisations continue to use a booklet listing participants and a membership card, more recently, many fast food restaurants have started offering two for one meals as a standard policy and providing these benefits from their own websites and from stand-alone clubs such as ‘Taste of London’ etc

The membership discount idea has also developed into other fields from paying for energy supplies and utilities through to golf equipment.

Some companies are now using a combination of a booklet, online site and membership cards. Consumers can log on to the site online for a nominal annual fee and draw down any voucher that interests them.

One UK based membership club, a newcomer in the field, is one of the first truly online sites. It arose out of the owner’s existing business, a membership holiday club which allowed members to rent unused resort inventory and in-house stock to provide its members with a wide range of mostly self catering apartment holidays at affordable prices.

The idea was to offer the holiday club members year round savings rather than limiting their savings from holidays purchased once or twice a year.

The company’s new discount membership club is for ordinary consumers in specific population conurbations – matching both restaurants/pubs and retailers/suppliers with the local population. Consumer members print off a voucher of choice and take it to the establishment to receive the savings/offer.

Both merchants and consumers join on line. Unlike print media advertisements, affiliated businesses have 24/7 access to the website to modify, change, delete their offers. Consumers are emailed a weekly update on all new or modified offers.

You can be sure the discount membership club is reputable if it does not allow access to the discounts on its website before you actually sign up and pay the annual membership fee.

In the face of ongoing predictions of tough economic times for years to come, the membership discount club is likely to become more and more attractive to hard-pressed consumers and to innovative businesses looking for ways to continue trading profitably.

About the Author

Consumer writer Ali Withers talked to the owner of a new discount membership club in Suffolk, UK, and discovered that for a small annual fee to join members get some great savings on goods and services. It’s worth considering in economic hard times.
Unexplained Object Underwater Somewhere on Earth

Bubba Keg 34 Oz Travel Mug Black $9.99 Not your ordinary food jar. This jar does double-duty. Two Bubba TUFF compartments for wet and dry food storage. Your Bubba KEG® Comes Fully Equipped. All Bubba KEG® mugs, coolers, and food jars, personal and large-capacity coolers, are built with Bubba FAT heavy duty, dual-wall foam insulation….

Trash to Cash-Episode 1-A Garage Sale Adventure w/Lynn Dralle (Your guide to buying & selling at online auctions like ebay & Yahoo.) [VHS] $2.99 Lynn Dralle is a 3rd generation antiques dealer. She is an eBay Power Seller who sells up to $20,000 a month at online auction. She is an award winning author and her books I Buy and I Sell will help you keep track of what you buy and what you sell at online auction. In this episode, follow Lynn Dralle from Garage Sale to Garage Sale as she buys a carload full of stuff. Some of these finds are…

Fiskars 9653 Post Hole Digger $45.64 The Fiskars post hole digger features a unique handle profile that prevents you from banging your knuckles together when digging holes. The offset handles allow you to dig a full foot deeper than standard post hole diggers (up to 4-feet deep), while its all-steel construction lets you tackle the tough jobs. Pre-sharpened to cut through the ground easier, the unit’s blades are welded directly to th…

Caddyshack $2.20 A purely tasteless, moronic, guilty pleasure. Director HaroldRamis employs a mixture of Mad magazine/National Lampoon maturity and Saturday Night Live sarcasm in this goofball golf comedy set on the grounds of a posh country club. Somewhere buried in the slapstick antics, drug references, Marx Brothers-like insults, and gratuitous sex scenes are the intertwined, forgettable subplots of a poor cadd…

Penetrex® – The World’s Favorite Anti-Inflammatory Therapy. Pain Relief Treatment For Discomfort Associated With Tennis Elbow, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Arthritis, Bursitis, Tendonitis, Plantar Fasciitis, Sciatica, Fibromyalgia, Shin Splints, Neuropathy, Etc. $19.95 Penetrex represents nothing less than a revolution in the treatment of inflammation related repetitive strain ailments including Golfer’s & Tennis Elbow, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tendonitis, Bursitis, Arthritis, Plantar Fasciitis, etc. Utilizing a unique topical delivery system, Penetrex delivers Vitamin B6, Pyridoxine, Arnica, Choline, MSM, Cetyl Myristoleate, Glucosamine, Boswellia Serrata and o…

Animal Pak Get protein with a sparing energy boost and enhanced endurance. Universal Nutrition Carbo Plus is an all natural, cholesterol free high energy drink. Designed for serious athletes, Carbo Plus fuels your body with the freshest carbs available….

BSN Syntha-6 Protein Powder Syntha-6 is the ultra-premium dietary supplement with an excellent taste which is an all day protein (it is not an after workouts supplement and for better results you should take it throughout the day and before sleeping). It is a multi-functional protein powder (a.m. to p.m.) which contains diverse complete proteins (six). This is a high quality protein powder which enables you to increase your …

Digipower ACP-WTA World Travel Adapter with Built-in USB Charger (White) $29.99 Compatible with over 150 countries Small and lightweight for travel conveniencePower a number of mobile electronics directly from the universal AC power outlet…

Dynamat 10455 Xtreme Bulk Pack 9 Sheets $270.00 10455 Kit contains nine 18″ x 32″ pieces of Dynamat Xtreme for rear decks, doors, floors and trunk floors. Unlike Dynamat Original, Dynamat Xtreme is also recommended for trunk lids, roofs, quarter panels and under-hood installations. Contents: (9) 18″x 32″ (457mm x 812mm) pieces of Dynamat Xtreme Application: Use on rear decks, doors, floors and the floor of your trunk to get more bass, more musi…

Bushnell Velocity Speed Gun (Colors may vary) $75.93 The Bushnell(r) Velocity(r) radar gun offers easy point-and-shoot operation that can be used for tracking everything from racecars to pitching speeds. A large LCD display makes it easy to read the speed….