I Got An Awesome Deal with PC Plus Rewards

One of our Canadian grocery chains, Loblaws, recently introduced a loyalty card program. The main idea is you get rewarded with points when you shop at their store. 1000 points = $1.00 in store credit, so add up enough points and you get free stuff.

The closest Loblaws chain to us is The Real Canadian Superstore. It is actually the grocery store I shop at the least. My only reasons to shop there are for the hot deli and various PC products (usually bacon or chips - and sometimes a combo of the two). From time to time they do have sales worth going for, but mainly I do my grocery shopping at the Food Basics.

I was interested in the PC Plus loyalty card though, as the flyer indicated that the bacon we normally buy would earn us 1000 points ($1.00 in store credit). The points never expire, so I really just thought I would buy bacon over the next few years and get my 20,000 points ($20), which is the amount of points you need to earn before you can redeem your rewards.

Then I looked at the flyer more closely. Last week value size Palmolive dish soap (1.1 L) was on sale for $2.47, and also came with 2,500 points. So basically spend $2.47, get $2.50 back. I thought that was a pretty stellar deal. Since you need at least 20,000 points to redeem them, I bought 8 bottles of Palmolive (obviously!). Each bottle earned me 2,500 points, so 8 x 2,500 = 20,000.

So 8 bottles of Palmolive with tax was $22.33, but then 20,000 points ($20) was put on my rewards card. Getting the deal was great, but the experience was made even better because the cashier was really excited for me. He said: "I know someone who is going to get a great deal if they have a points card!" The cashier even tried to use me as an example to the guy in front of me of why he should sign up for the program (it's free to join). The guy in front didn't want a rewards card, but it made me feel good to be a celebrated deal getter.

Here is why I loved this deal so much:
(a) what you spent and what you got back was equal (plus you got a lot of product too)
(b) the product was practical and non-perishable
(c) it was a low cost investment (I only spent $20)

Now it wouldn't be a deal for me if I just wasted my free money on just anything, so I went back to the store and bought what we usually buy: bacon.

We love this bacon and buy it regularly, dividing it into portions and freezing it for weekly meals. 1kg of this stuff (2.2 lbs) is $9.99. Two packs cost $19.98, but in order to redeem my points I had to spend at least $20. So I bought a grocery bag for $0.05! I normally take re-useable bags, but this was a great reason to buy one. The total sale was $20.04, but we don't have the penny in Canada anymore, and to my surprise, The Real Canadian Superstore rounds down their prices to accommodate the lack of the penny. So my total was $20 even, all paid for by the loyalty card.

Plus, the bacon also earned points (the flyer said 1000 points, but they each rang in at 2000 points). So I currently have $4.00 on my loyalty card. How cool is that?

So to summarize (because I am so damn excited about it!):

I spent $22.33, got 8 bottles of dish soap and $20 in store credit. Then spent the free $20 on bacon and a shopping bag, and currently have $4.00 in store credit. The way I look at it, I bought bacon like I normally do, but got over 8 L of free dishsoap and $4 in store credit.

Now having said all this, last week was the first week of the rewards program, which could be why they had such a great points deal. This weeks flyer didn't have any deals that appealed to me, so who knows if something so good will come around again. I know I will be watching for it, though. If it turns out this is my one and only PC Plus deal, I'm happy to say it was a damn good one!