Budget Musings

Every time I buy diapers for my baby or any everyday purchase, I accumulate points that will eventually get me a free movie ticket. (thanks to Scene.ca) On top of that, one of the department stores I purchase the baby items from also has it’s own point system which again I use to buy things out of their points catalog. My mother-in-law was recently surprised to see that she had accumulated a large number of points that she then redeemed for a $130 gift card. She used it to purchase clothing for her new job and a birthday gift for our daughter. I have redeemed my gas station points periodically for a car wash. You do have to be careful to keep the use of your points cards current. A few years ago I hadn’t used one of my department store points card for a while, the department store put it in dormant state and I lost the points that were on there.
For the few seconds it takes to get your points card out and to have your points calculated… you can enjoy the true REWARD of cashing in on your regular daily spending activities.

Now, some people are worried about big brother watching your every move by collecting information about your purchase histories, etc through reward cards, but as far as I’m concerned (and I’ve worked in electronic commerce analytics for many years), this is all beneficial to us. We can have advertisements for sales on products we actually care about, rather than getting sprayed with annoying, generic ads. I appreciate that someone (or some machine) is working hard to figure out my likes and dislikes and offer me coupons, discounts, etc on things I actually care about. On top of that, this great service the stores provide is a reward for me Sure they are trying to increase their revenue, but I know that I’m strong enough to resist these…at least I hope… and in the end I’m just made aware of products and services I care about and would actually buy.

Have you had any good or bad experiences with Rewards Point cards?

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