In yesterday’s blog, we addressed the topic of loyalty rewards programs and how important taking advantage of them during the holiday shopping season can be. On Moneyville.ca this past weekend, Patrick Sojka – CEO of The Frequent Flyer Bonuses Group – discussed how many rewards programs aren’t ideally used by customers, so they miss out many freebies.
Loyalty programs, however, are extremely popular throughout Canada, with the majority of shoppers earning points through an average of four different programs. With the holiday shopping season practically underway, this is the most important time of year for shoppers to be taking advantage of their rewards points.
Sojka offers up a number of suggestions that will help you to do so. “Cash in your points,” he says, practically stating the obvious. “The industry term for unclaimed points or miles is called breakage,” he writes, “All loyalty programs count on some portion going unused. The value worldwide of miles and points expiring each year is in the millions of dollars.”
Millions of dollars! We’d all love to get a million dollars worth of free stuff! So why aren’t we taking advantage of our rewards points? Sojka reveals that about 25 per cent of points from retail programs go unclaimed. For frequent flyer programs, it’s closer to 10 per cent. Of course, this favours the company who doesn’t have to spend money by having its customers redeem the points they’ve earned.
Be sure to check into your programs’ policies to see if there are expiration dates. After reading yesterday’s blog, one of our Synergy reps decided to call Air Miles to check up on his point total. A member of the program since 2003, our co-worker had not yet redeemed any points and wanted to make sure they still existed.
“Thankfully they haven’t gone anywhere,” he informed us, “My point total is what I expected it to be. Honestly, if they were gone, I’d be really upset.” According to Sojka, Air Miles points don’t expire unless your card is inactive for two years. Not all rewards plans are created equal, however. For Aeroplan, points disappear after one year of inactivity.
Finally, avoid seductive checkout pitches, says Sojka. Unless you are a frequent shopper at a particular store, don’t get caught up in signing up for a loyalty program that you aren’t likely to take advantage of. Educate yourself on the programs that you are involved in and learn how to make the most of your rewards. Happy shopping!
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