Big Lots recently started a loyalty program that rewards shoppers who make 10 purchases of $20 or more. That’s $200 of random crap. I mean, great deals!
But it got me thinking. What makes a good loyalty program? What makes you roll your eyes and shop somewhere else?
For instance, I think Barnes & Noble’s $25 membership is ridiculous. Whoever heard of paying to get a discount on books that are available for free at the L-I-B-R-A-R-Y?
Other factors that make for poor loyalty programs: buy-in fees, expiring rewards, blackout dates, fees to use rewards, and extra hoops to jump through to earn or redeem rewards.
Factors that make for valuable loyalty programs: free membership, choices for rewards, the option to receive occasional emails about rewards, easy redemption process, toll-free phone number for questions about rewards, website with info about the program.
I’m starting a list of stores with great loyalty programs. Please add your faves and ones you avoid.
REI: Buy a lifetime membership for $20 and get 10 percent off all full-price purchases. Plus, their return policy is as generous as it gets. If you aren’t satisfied with an item, bring it back. If you cited your membership number when you bought it, their system will remember exactly how much you paid for it.
Walgreens: You don’t even have to JOIN their loyalty program to get the benefits, called Register Rewards. Every month you can earn RR on certain items. A piece of paper will print out at the end of your transaction that you can apply toward a future purchase. Watch out! RR expire about 2-3 weeks after you receive them and you have to buy as many items as you have RR. I.e., if you are using three RR, you have to buy three items, so it makes sense to tack on extremely low-priced items to a purchase so you can use all your RR.
Safeway: Your loyalty card is tied to your phone number and using it can shed 30-40 percent off your tab.
Macys: The best way to get Macy’s coupons is to open a Macy’s charge account. Even if you only use your card once a year Macys will send you an un-ending stream of coupons, many of them good only when you pay with your Macys card. I frequently receive 20 percent off coupons and coupons for $10 off a purchase of $25.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
I like CVS’ rewards program. The coupons do expire, but you get some good stuff and the items that are discounted are based on things that you normally purchase from them. Plus you can take your card into a store and put it under one of their rewards kiosks to get coupons on the spot.
Valley Skate & Surf offers a shoe club card. After you buy 11 pairs of regular priced skateboard shoes (however long that takes), the 12th is free! If you know skateboarders like I do, they go through shoes every few months…and if you have more than one kid in the family, we’re talking a lot of shoes. Valley Skate & Surf will give you any free shoe up to $75 as your 12th pair. I’ve shopped other stores and no one else offers you anything. By the way, they also seem to have lower prices than all the mall stores.
I like Ralph’s and CVS for loyalty cards.
The Barnes and Nobel program is good if you are a student. Get your text books new at 10% off. Plus they send you extra coupons to use in the mail to add to your 10% off. Paid for itself in one semester for my masters.
I have Vons (Safeway) Albertsons and Ralphs grocery rewards cards – I use Ralphs the most, they have a loyalty program by which one can add up points that are redeemed by a refund coupon that is sent out every 6 months…
I have all the grocery rewards cards. I also use my Borders a lot. Staples also has one that’s pretty good. I stay away from ones that charge me to belong.
Borders Rewards. I must get a coupon every day or every other day for at least 20% off up to 50% off and sometimes there are free Seattles Best coffee coupons in the emails as well. They USED TO text you coupons too which I LOVED but they stopped that for some unknown reason. Still, if you forget to print out your coupon but have a phone that can check your email, you can just read off the number at the bottom and they will honor that. And the more you use your rewards card, the more Borders Bucks you get. The program is free too.
Rewards programs are a marketing scam. Give me cash when I frequent a store, not some “promise”. Rewards Programs are just like the unattainable brass ring used to entice people. These marketing “experts” are taking advantage of people with this type of program.
Big Lots cashback / discount program would work, but people don’t always buy a minimum of $20 each time. It should count all purchases for this.
I like Ralphs card the best. For every dollar you spend, you get one point. Each point is worth one cent. Every 3 months they send a “check” to use at Ralphs for the amount of points you have accumulated. They even give 5 points for each reusable bag you use. My last check was for $8.00 (for 2 people).
My favorite store card is Kohl’s. They send me 15% – 30% off coupons, to use for specific dates, about once a month. These coupons are good for any purchase, including clearance. I also have all the grocery store (Albertson’s, Ralphs, Vons) and pharmacy cards.
I don’t have a Macy’s card, but they always put 20% off, and $10 off a $25 purchase, coupons in the newspapers. Is this about the same as the ones you get if you have a Macy’s card?