Rewards Cards

As inflation nears a 17-year high, the high cost of everything we buy is forcing shoppers to find ways to cut their bottom line. One method I've seen touted is those "rewards cards" offered by stores as a way to offer discounts to their most loyal customers. Anybody have these out there?

I have a "Speedy" rewards card for the Speedy gas station chain. Makes sense as it's the station closest to my home. In the three years that I've had the card I've earned $30 in free gas. I would estimate I've bought $3,000 in gas at that station in three years, figuring $20 spent a week (we probably spend as much or more buying gas elsewhere, since it's often cheaper). So a one per cent reward. Sounds about right.

Now I should add that you get MORE reward points by purchasing snacks and other non-fuel products. You don't get that many points for buying gas at Speedy. It's a gimmick to get you to buy junk food which you usually can get cheaper at the grocer down the road.

Recently, they sent a mailer offering 7,000 bonus points on my rewards card. All I had to do was shop there ten times during the month of August. That sounds like a lot of points but I think you need close to 20,000 points to get $20 in free gas. I thought about buying a gallon a gas a day for ten days. But there's probably something in the fine print that disallows stuff like that.

That's one of my reward cards. I just got another recently--a Border's Bookstore Rewards card. They were offering a big one-time discount on any one item for new rewards customers. I'll take that discount, even if I never use their card again. But getting the card was just the first part, I had to sign up on-line to get the discount.

Tricky. I had to set up an account and give them my e-mail address. I made a big mistake. Gave them my work e-mail address. Then I saw a check mark next to "receive e-mail announcements of sales, special events, new products . . ." No way. I unchecked that box REAL quick. Has anyone noticed an increase in spam lately? I have. Don't need any more.

When I clicked 'finished', an error page popped up. I had to change or add something. That was highlighted in red. The rest of what I filled in was okay. Then I noticed something. That checkmark was BACK, next to "receive e-mail announcements . . . " Those dirty dogs. They thought they could change it back and I wouldn't notice. Can't pull the wool over Big Dave's eyes. I unchecked that box again. Made the other changes and clicked 'finished.'

Still, something else was wrong. And AGAIN they re-checked the box that would send spam to my e-mail account. I unchecked it, made the other corrections, and clicked 'finished.' Success! And I got my discount coupon.

And . . . yes, I get regular e-mail announcements from Borders on their specials of the week, discounts, sales, special events, new products, etc.

Rewards cards. The reward is more trouble than it's worth.