8 Food City Deals Tennesseans Only Get With Their Card Scanned First
Tennessee still taxes groceries at a reduced 4% state rate, according to the state’s Department of Revenue, on top of whatever a county adds.
A Food City ValuCard can’t change that.
It can cut down your bill, though.
These are the Food City deals Tennesseans only get with their card scanned first.
1. Everyday Fuel Bucks Savings
Food City turns everyday grocery runs into pump savings through its Fuel Bucks program.
The program only pays out through a scanned ValuCard.
Signing up for that card costs nothing, either online or at the customer service counter.
Every dollar spent earns one Fuel Buck, and 150 of them convert into 15 cents off every gallon, any day of the week.
That part never changes.
A cashier or a pump reader has to see the card first, or the points never register and the discount never applies.
The discount caps at 20 gallons per fill-up, and it even counts alcohol purchases toward the total, a detail many shoppers miss in the fine print.
What Happens to Unused Fuel Bucks
Food City’s Fuel Bucks expire at the end of the month after a shopper earns them.
The oldest Fuel Bucks always get spent first at the register.
A stockpile from two months back disappears before anyone touches last week’s points.
2. Wednesday’s Bigger Fuel Discount
Food City saves ValuCard holders 15 cents on every gallon every day of the week except one.
Wednesdays unlock a bigger tier instead.
Redeeming 300 Fuel Bucks that day knocks 30 cents off each gallon instead of the usual amount.
Same 20-gallon cap applies.
If a shopper skips that Wednesday fill-up, the bigger tier disappears until the following week.
The bigger payout only shows up at Food City’s Gas ‘N Go pumps, not at just any gas station that happens to take the card.
3. Double Points on Gift Cards
Food City hands out double Fuel Bucks to any ValuCard holder who buys $50 or more in shopping or dining gift cards.
That’s a fast way to stack points before a big grocery week.
It adds up quickly.
The bonus only posts when the card scans during that same gift-card purchase.
Buying the gift cards without that card scanned means the points come in at the regular rate, or not at all.
4. Pharmacy Bonus in Fuel Points
Food City’s pharmacy counter feeds the same Fuel Bucks account as the checkout line.
A qualifying prescription earns 25 bonus Fuel Bucks.
Wellness Club members can bank 1,000 more after 12 qualifying refills, and that club costs nothing to join.
Wellness Club members also get 10% off diabetic supplies, tracked through that same account.
Both bonuses need the same ValuCard on file at pickup.
No card, no bonus.
5. Grocery Discount Alternative
Food City doesn’t put a gas pump at every location.
Food City lists 137 stores under its banner, and only 123 of them have a fuel center attached, which leaves roughly 14 locations where a fill-up simply isn’t an option.
A ValuCard holder at one of those stores can trade 300 Fuel Bucks for 5% off the entire grocery order instead of a discount at the pump.
Same points, different payout.
That trade chips away at the 4% state grocery tax Tennessee still collects at the register.
The swap only works at the register, and only when that Fuel Bucks balance is tied to a card that scans.
6. ValuCard-Only Shelf Prices
Food City marks hundreds of shelf tags with a second, lower ValuCard price.
That lower number only rings up when the card scans before the total.
Not without a scan.
If a shopper forgets the card, the register defaults straight to the regular shelf price.
It happens on everything from produce to laundry soap.
The list changes with each new weekly ad, so an item marked ValuCard-only this week might carry no such tag by next Wednesday.
7. Digital Coupons on the Card
Food City’s digital coupons live inside the ValuCard account, not on paper.
A shopper has to clip each coupon online or in the app before it ever reaches the register.
Clipped is the key word.
An unclipped coupon and an unscanned card do the exact same thing at checkout: Nothing.
Skipping that step is the only way a coupon’s savings disappear before checkout.
8. Museum Store Discount
Food City’s ValuCard reaches past the grocery aisle and into a museum gift shop in Bristol.
Cardholders get 10% off one non-artisan item inside the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s store, one of the named partner perks on Food City’s ValuCard page.
The scan seals the deal.
Books, CDs, and festival tickets don’t qualify.
A shopper still has to show that same scanned Food City card at the museum’s register for the discount to ring up.
Skip the card, and the museum charges its regular sticker price.
The museum sits at Cumberland and Moore Streets in Bristol, a block off the State Street line that splits the twin cities down the middle.
Psst! How much do you know about Food City and Tennessee grocery history? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
Tennessee Grocery IQ
Answer these questions on Food City and Tennessee grocery history. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
K-VA-T Food Stores (Food City’s parent company) opened its very first store in 1955 as a franchise of which grocery chain?
More ValuCard Partners Worth Knowing
Food City's ValuCard partner list runs past one Bristol museum.
Every Food City 500 ticket bought at a Food City store adds 500 bonus ValuPoints to that shopper's card, on top of the ticket price.
Bristol Motor Speedway, Dolly Parton's Stampede, and University of Tennessee athletics round out the rest of the list.
Food City doesn't publish a set discount for those beyond the speedway's ticket bonus.
The rest stay unlisted.
A cardholder still has to ask at the gate or the box office to find out what that day's perk is.
Every ValuCard sign-up also enters a shopper into ongoing sweepstakes drawings.
That sweepstakes entry costs nothing extra beyond the card a shopper already carries to the register.
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