YELLOWKNIFE - Members at the Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op have always received a discount when filling up at the pumps, but soon the nine-cent/litre rebate will arrive as a cheque twice a year.

New members of the Co-op are assigned a number upon paying the $60 membership fee.

Alex Marks, the new manager at the Co-op gas bar, stands in front of one of the store's pumps. Members will now receive rebate cheques twice each year rather than an instant discount when they fuel up. - Stephanie McDonald/NNSL photo

Currently, when they gas up their tanks at Co-op's gas bar, they give their membership number to the cashier and receive an instant discount.

Starting April 1, the Co-op is implementing a new system whereby members will still give their number to the cashier, but the rebate will accumulate and the savings will be sent out as cheques on Dec. 1 and in mid-June each year.

The change was made after complaints from members that people were using their friends' and relatives' numbers to receive a discount.

"At a number of our annual general meetings, for the past two or three years, people were saying, 'Well that's not fair,'" said Co-op General Manager Ben Walker.

The board at the Co-op looked at alternatives to ensure fairness for members, including special ID cards.

The best idea they came up with was the bi-annual rebate cheque. Now there is no advantage to using someone else's membership number.

While some members would like to see the instant rebate, "they can see the advantage of the new way," Walker said. "That way they can conserve and save their money for either Christmas or summer vacation.

"All the comments so far have been positive."

At the pumps, however, one person had a different view.

A Co-op member for the past seven years, Jenni Legge, fills her car up exclusively at the store at least once a week. She was unaware of the new program coming into effect, but had reservations about it when informed.

"It just leaves room for error if they enter the membership number wrong," she said. "You will have to track your purchases more closely now."

Walker said he doesn't think there will be any problems.

"Your member number is printed on your receipt," he said.

People can verify the number is correct at the time of purchase, and if it's wrong the clerk can instantly fix the mix-up.

The Co-op has budgeted for a slight drop in sales when the program begins April 1, as there will be no immediate advantage to people buying memberships.

Walker expects sales will climb after the program is underway.

"We expect that after we pay our first rebate cheque sales will really go up," he said.

Back when the price of gas was well under a dollar, the discount was nine per cent on each purchase.

"Since the price of gas goes crazy now, we set it at nine cents. If there's a price war or profits are excessive, the board can change that, to put it up or down," Walker said.

"It will give people who are not Co-op members another reason to join."

- with files from John Curran