6 Giant Eagle Mistakes Ohio Shoppers Make Every Week

Giant Eagle shut down Fuelperks+, its old pump-side loyalty program, on January 25, 2024.

Its replacement program does more than the old one ever did.

But even with that upgrade, some shoppers have bad habits that can cost them money.

These are the Giant Eagle mistakes some Ohio shoppers make without realizing it.

1. Skipping the Advantage Card at Self-Checkout

At Giant Eagle, many shoppers tap straight into self-checkout and start scanning groceries without scanning their Advantage Card first.

Giant Eagle’s kiosks are programmed to check for that card scan before applying a single sale price.

Scan it first, and the week’s sale prices load automatically as each item beeps through.

Shoppers who skip the scan don’t get flagged for it.

The discount on every item just doesn’t apply, all the way to the total.

Giant Eagle built that card-first step into its self-checkout lanes years ago, and shoppers who think tapping “self-checkout” covers it still get caught by it.

A quick trip for six dinner items can end up costing several dollars more than a shopper expected.

The receipt doesn’t itemize which scan was missed.

Scan your card first, then start scanning your groceries.

2. Shopping Before Thursday’s Ad Flip

Giant Eagle turns its weekly ad over on Thursday, not the Sunday reset many other grocery chains use.

That’s the trap.

A shopper who times a run to Sunday out of habit is still shopping last week’s Giant Eagle sale.

The mismatch means paying yesterday’s price on a BOGO that already reset, or missing a new one that just started that same morning.

Giant Eagle’s new ad posts every Thursday morning and runs through the following Wednesday.

Set a Thursday reminder, and the freshest deals are waiting.

3. Letting myPerks Sit Too Long

Giant Eagle’s myPerks points don’t sit in an account forever, waiting for a shopper to get around to spending them.

Giant Eagle guarantees those perks for at least 90 days after they’re earned, then can clear out whatever’s left unredeemed.

A shopper who shops every single week but only opens the app to redeem every few months can lose the points from that very first trip before ever cashing them in.

Just gone.

That’s savings handed right back to Giant Eagle for nothing.

Redeeming smaller and often beats stockpiling and hoping.

Check the balance before the 90-day floor comes due.

4. Fumbling Fuel Perks at the Pump

Giant Eagle built myPerks around its own GetGo fuel stations for years, so many Ohio shoppers still assume that’s the only place perks reach the pump.

Not anymore.

As of March 24, 2026, Giant Eagle expanded myPerks fuel redemption to 285 Circle K locations across Ohio, on top of every GetGo already in the program.

The catch is the mechanics look nothing like the old card swipe at the pump.

A shopper holds their phone up to a code posted at the pump, and the Giant Eagle app opens with the redemption already queued up.

Skip that step, expecting the old system to still apply, and the discount never touches the pump.

Giant Eagle didn’t cut the discount.

It just moved from a card to a phone.

5. Forgetting to Clip eOffers Before Checkout

Giant Eagle’s digital coupons don’t apply themselves just because a shopper is signed into the Advantage Card app.

Each eOffer has to be clipped first, either in the app or on Giant Eagle’s coupon site, before it ever reaches the register.

Scanning the card at checkout only pulls in whatever was clipped ahead of time.

Nothing clipped means nothing off.

A cart full of sale items can still ring up short of the savings a shopper expected, all because the coupons sat unclipped in a list nobody opened.

Ten minutes with a coffee before the trip, tapping through that week’s eOffers, is the whole fix.

6. Assuming Plastic Bags Are Still Banned

Giant Eagle reintroduced plastic bags on May 15, 2025, ending Cuyahoga County’s six-year run without single-use plastic at checkout.

Some Cuyahoga County shoppers still wave off a bag out of that old habit and end up carrying a full week of groceries to the car by hand.

It happens on every trip.

Giant Eagle also ended its free reusable-bag giveaway when it made the switch, after finding many of the totes it handed out were never getting reused.

Others still stock the trunk with fabric totes now that nobody’s requiring them.

Paper is still there for the asking.

So is a shopper’s own reusable bag.

The plastic option is just back on the list.

How Giant Eagle’s Rewards Program Got Here

Giant Eagle’s loyalty program has gone through more changes in the last two years than in the two decades before them.

Fuelperks+, the card-swipe gas program longtime shoppers grew up with, shut down on January 25, 2024, folded into myPerks.

Then Giant Eagle sold its roughly 270 GetGo stations to Alimentation Couche-Tard, the parent company behind Circle K, in a deal that closed June 29, 2025.

GetGo kept its own name and its own brand.

Only the ownership changed hands.

Every shift pushed Giant Eagle’s fuel and grocery discounts further from a single swipe at the pump and closer to a phone screen.

Where the Advantage Card Still Wins

Giant Eagle’s Advantage Card isn’t just a source of mistakes.

Used the way it’s built, it still pays off.

That part still works.

myPerks can be redeemed for up to 20% off a grocery order or up to 30 gallons of discounted gas, whichever a household needs more that month.

Giant Eagle has also said the money from selling GetGo is going toward lower prices, new store builds, and remodels, rather than propping up a separate convenience-store division.