PITTSBURGH Got milk? Giant Eagle customers no longer can fill their fuel tanks by drinking milk. That's because Giant Eagle will not be able to credit milk purchases toward discounts at its GetGo gas stations as part of the popular fuelperks! program, beginning Saturday, reported the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The Pennsylvania Milk Board believes that there are certain situations where the offering of fuelperks! on the sale of regulated milk products may place the price of regulated milk below state minimum pricing. Giant Eagle has agreed to comply [image-nocss] with the Milk Board's request to prevent this possibility from ever occurring, Dan Donovan, a Giant Eagle spokesperson, told the newspaper.
Introduced in 2004, fuelperks! gives consumers a 10-cents-per-gallon discount off gasoline at its GetGo stations for every $50 spent at Giant Eagle grocery and convenience stores.
Douglas Eberly, general counsel for the milk board, ruled the Giant Eagle program violated a 1930s law that prohibits discounts for milk, the report said. The board sets a floor for milk prices in Pennsylvania, a practice long criticized by consumers, but hailed by the dairy industry.
It was a close call, so to speak, but technically speaking someone could buy enough milk to qualify for the fuel perks! discount, Eberly told the paper. At some point, a person could buy enough milk to earn enough of a discount that Giant Eagle would be selling gasoline below what they are paying for it.
A Cumberland County supermarket offers a similar discount gasoline program, the report said, but it excludes milk from the discounted products. Eberly said the milk board was inundated with complaints about Giant Eagle's program.
Products excluded from the fuelperks! are all milks, sour cream, half n half, whipping cream and heavy cream. Milk purchases made before Saturday will be credited to a customer's fuelperks! fuel discounts.
This is not the first time Giant Eagle's fuelperks! program has raised eyebrows, said the Tribune-Review. A year ago, the Pennsylvania Petroleum Retailers & Auto Repair Association in Pittsburgh lost a bid to shut down the program. The state Attorney General's office rejected contentions that fuelperks! violated the state's Unfair Sales Act.
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