Add one more to the "I used the gas card too" list. It was a good reason to stop at their store. As for Marine General, they will always have the majority of my business. I'd be scared to add up what I have spent there on tackle, rods & reels, electronics, downriggers, boards, boat stuff, clothing, etc... I should get in the habit of thanking him for sponsoring the league every time I am in.
I have no problem working with Russ or Scotty for sponsorships, they are easy. They know that sponsoring brings people into their stores. The Eagle's Nest is also easy, they like us stopping by. Chalstroms likes to be involved too, but they just want to encourage more trips to the lakes by them. That's business to them.
I know of a lot of people that used the Little Store cards, the vast majority did. But the number of times they didn't record or write it down was very high. Some locations never did. None wrote down purchases without gas, etc. So they did not in any way have an accurate count. The printing is pretty cheap, I've done it for us before. I can add up my own purchases from Little Store from mid May to the end of August and go over $3000. That's one person and we had a hundred cards out. Even if 1 in 3 didn't use it, they made a ton of sales. I think a nickel off nearly $3.60/gallon is cheap. And certainly no way all their profit. My opinion. I liked the people I spoke with and they were great people, I just don't know how they did not make money off it. I know they will lose way more this year from me alone than those cards and all the time it took for them to add the pennies together. I'll bet my BA in Math on it..