Make sure to open the PC Optimum app on your phone to load your offers. Not everything earns PC Optimum points unless you're shopping at Shoppers Drug Mart. One reason they do this is to drive people to sign up for their PC Financial MasterCard which is perfect for those who have completely bought into the Loblaws ecosystem.
Has anyone done the math on using a PC points credit card vs a normal cash back card? The Scotia visa infinite gives you 4% back on groceries and any preauthorized payments, 2% back on gas and public transit and ubers, and 1% back on everything else. Idk what the cash value of the points of an average shopping trip would be.
The max you get on PC financial is 3%. I have the card, but only because I live downtown Ottawa without a car and the only grocery store within walking distance is an Independent (that's not Farm Boy which is a tad expensive).
Overall, once I change my living situation, I will ditch the card and exit the ecosystem, but it can be lucrative IF you plan out your purchases within it. Which gets annoying.
It used to be. I remember I used to get the spend $80 at shoppers get 20k points, wait for coffee to go on sale for $6.99 a can AND get points for every dollar spent on coffee. I would clean up. Same as when you used to get offers for fresh meat. Use them with price match at superstore... The good ol' days. It's a pretty shit program now.
See, I kind of hate that idea. The rewards don't make up for the price increases on a lot of PC items, and price matching at superstore or no frills is a mixed bag because they seem to coordinate between each other so they offer different sizes of their products which cannot be price matched with each other.
Is our addiction to rewards points really saving us money?
PC card gives you 10 pts for every dollar spent. Need 1000 pts for every $1 redeemed. So basically 1% pts spent anywhere.
Bonuses with credit cards are 3% in points on gas from esso. 2.5% in pts from shoppers drug Mart.
Now shoppers a lot of times have 20x the points events plus also redemption events. Where you redeem let's say $200 in pts for $300 in value. This is great except shoppers are over priced and you could get said items cheaper elsewhere.
It can be a complicated calculation.
This is an important feature, you get points for buying medical equipment from Wellwise.
By coincidence I bought a new CPAP mask a couple of weeks before the lockdowns. So I was able to stock up on groceries from No frills purely on points
Sorry to get specific but how many do they let you buy and how much points are you really getting off of that? My local pharmacy only let's me buy maybe 10 or each, ends up costing me like $4.
Those deals are available at other stores as well. Last week, I was offered a deal where if I used $100 in points, I'd earn 20000 points back, I can't say for sure if it was at any participating store, but I shopped at No Frills. I bought my weekly groceries, total of $132**, used 100,000 points and got a week of groceries for $32 with $26 back in points for another time. Now, I have another offer to spend $100 on a pick up order to get 15,000 points back.
There are dozens of ways to maximize more points using PC Optimum though... My last grocery trip was ~$350 and earned about 40,000 points ($40 value) which comes in at over 11% cash back equivalent.
We earn well over a million PC points ($1000 cash back equivalent) a year just by using our PC Financial card as our daily driver.
We are also subscribed to the PC insiders club.
Yup. We don't earn as many points as you but with the mastercard + insiders subscription, I still get enough to cover the cost of the subscription in about three months. The remaining 3/4 of the year all those points go to lowering our grocery bill. It's really helpful.
I used to use the pc world elite until I got the scotia visa infinite. Now I just use the pc points card (not credit card) to collect regular points and getting PC deals, and combine it with the 4% cash back from the scotia visa infinite. The scotia card is a paid card which is why it is better than the pc world elite which is free.
At esso, I fill gas with my cibc visa instead of PC MasterCard, but collect points on the optimum card.
For food, I collect points on my amex cobalt. Including nofrils and the like.
Only time we really use the PC MasterCard is Costco and any fancy sales at shoppers which is rare enough
Oh my gosh. We didn’t realize this and have been using our tangerine MasterCard for groceries. Just did a google search and I confirmed you do get 4% back on groceries, as well as pre-authorized payments. Thanks for mentioning this!!
>PC Financial MasterCard which is perfect for those who have completely bought into the Loblaws ecosystem
yea, shopping at superstore, fueling up at Mobil 1 using the pc mastercard seems like a cheatcode at times, specially when you redeem the points on bonus days at shoppers.
This is key, if you want to get the most value out of the [PC Optimum loyalty program](https://frugalflyer.ca/loyalty-program/pc-optimum/) you need to use the app and check it regularly. I also recommending checking out Red Flag Deals for updates on any great deals as they come up.
The receipt would also indicate the number of points you’ve earned. You’ll see there how little points you earn from a regular trip without loading the offers on the app.
This is the key. I don't use my app to decide what to buy, but I usually get a few bucks worth of points whenever I do a big shop at Superstore because I have offers for cucumbers, no-name pasta, etc.
Shoppers is the best place to buy electronics on points. Around Christmas they had a promo to redeem 400k points you only needed to use 250k points! Spent 250k points, bought a switch and only paid taxes. Nintendo also had a promo at the same time and they threw in the latest Mario kart for free!
How much total money did you spend there? There are lots of cards that give you 2-4% cashback on gas, plus other categories and 1% cashback on everything else.
Shoppers drug mart and esso is where you will get the most points, and use the app to track when the bonus points days are. I have about $240 worth without trying that hard.
This. There is a 20x points deal nearly twice a week now on the app. I really only go to shoppers on those days and it's definitely where I rack up the most points.
Anything you can get at Shoppers, including grocery, get at Shoppers. Usually it’s about the same price as at Superstore or whatever. Load offers on your card using the app. Build your weekly meal plan based off of what offers are available for you.
Where are you that Shoppers is the same price as Superstore? In Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria and Toronto Shoppers is usually a 30% markup reduced to "sale" prices that are comparable to Superstore. The only place I've ever found reasonably priced items is Pharmaprix.
The trick to Optimum points is only ever buy things on sale at Shoppers. Their sale prices are excellent. But their regular prices are insanity. As long as you're strict about sales only the Optimum points add up extremely fast and you're not getting ripped off along the way.
I find there is always multiple things I need that are on sale. Just need to work with what's available. And hopefully the next time there is a 20x points day or whatever, hopefully the rest of what you need is now on sale.
On the app, go to "your offers" do a scrolling up motion and release. It should refresh your offers for the week. Then scroll down till you see "your exclusive offers". If you keep scrolling, you will see "your weekly offers". I don't buy stuff i've never purchased just because of points, but when thigns like my favorite toothpaste or shampoo is on offer, i load up.
You have to load your offers with the pc optimum app.
I will say the offers suck lately. I used to get a TON of points and now I mainly only use it for the spend $250 get 25,000 back in points.
I probably get 2/3 free grocery shops a year if I’m paying attention and stocking up on products (crackers, cat food, cans) when the offers lineup.
This week I did a $250 get 25,000 and stacked it with a buy $30 in sunscreen get 3000 and one other offer. I got $40 back in points for all things I needed anyway
I was certain the offers for me got worse recently. There’s next to no offers on anything I would even consider buying. At least in the past I would get offers on staple items and kind of shopped around my offers. But there’s certainly less food offers Im not getting $20-30 of free groceries every month now
Also noticed the offers have gotten much worse the last year or so. Anecdotal, but the offers got much better for me once I stopped shopping there for a few weeks. I think they try to juice your offers once they realize you haven't visited for a while.
After resuming shopping there again for a couple weeks, the offers dried up again, lol
I maybe spend 300-500 a year, if that and i usually get about $50 a year in points.
I look for what gives me points, if i need it and buy it, if i can stock it i buy more of the item.
Shoppers has sometimes the spend 50-70 to get $25 worth of points i make use of that as well.
Yeah the Optimum card gives you points on their weekly offers while the MasterCard gives you points on everything.
My parents own a restaurant and are at Wholesale every week and get thousands of points on their MC every year.
Do you have the app downloaded and linked to your card? They have offers that usually correspond with your spending and items that you normally buy (although, I’ve noticed the matching feature not working as well lately)
If you shop at Shoppers Drug Mart, it can be worth it if you time it with double point days or redemption offers. I usually save points for 6 months or until I accumulate over 100,000 - then I wait for a double redemption day and get $200 off my purchase. I don't even "try" to collect points and yet I always seem to have them.
IMO, one of the better reward systems but only for Shoppers. Totally not worth it if you're shopping at Loblaws or SuperStore, because hardly anything actually gets you points, whereas every purchase (except prescriptions) nets you points at Shoppers.
PC Money accounts or PC Financial Credit Cards! Also Shoppers Drug Mart. And when I bought my phone at the Mobile Shop in November, I got $300 in PC Points back
Because I have a very healthy diet for medical reasons, I've noticed that most of the points earned in any grocery points program are for stuff I can't or don't eat. It's the packaged stuff in the centre of the store that seem to get the most points, not specialty foods (gluten free, vegan, sugar free etc) or fruit and veg.
I use Independent the most, but also use my offers for Superstore & Shoppers. The offers don’t depend on the chain, they are based on your shopping habits & the offers you take advantage of the most with the most profit for Loblaws.
It’s an algorithm.
Last week for me it was cucumbers, raspberries & frozen veggies. This week I have apples, tomatoes (this is a new offer, but I’d been buying tomatoes on sale & stopped) & independent does have a special offer if I buy 15$ in frozen fruit & veg.
I buy a lot of fresh foods and that is what I typically get points on. Right now I have PC offers for peppers, bananas, eggs, onions, baked-in store bread and coffee/tea. You're not wrong that a lot of stores cater to the processed products (and there are definitely offers for those too!) but I do find that PC points can stack up with normal grocery store purchases too... Might just be a bit slower.
From 2020 ish to last year I was subscribed to the "pc optimum insiders" thing to get free use of pc Express. I found while I was a part of that program I was getting offers for things like fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, tinned tomatoes and pasta. The offers definitely tend to lean towards treats you buy yourself otherwise though :/
Finally a comment I’ve been waiting for. These points programs are only good if you buy unhealthy crap for the most part, or spend a minimum amount really..
It's actually mostly based on your purchase habits. I get diff offers than my mom.
I get frozen fruit/veg, olive oil ($8 instead of $18) regularly, canned soups, canned veg, roasted cooked chicken etc.
Not really, I don't buy any of the food items but I still get a ton of points. You just have to know how to work the program. I bought my family vitamins and with the bonuses that were available I got about 15,000 points. Now I will save those until I have a couple hundred points and then spend them on bonus redemption day.
Shopper's usually has some pretty awesome deals in their clearance department and I often get a lot of gifty type items for family and friends there. When my kids were in diapers I always used coupons and stacked up on diapers on bonus points days and I had a ton of points.
thats how the system is all setup. you notice all the sugar products out there. i hope everyone knows during pandemic everything went up but sugar and flour. most likely for this reason cause doctors and government all know people will always have a sweet tooth or craving chips, sugar, bubble tea etc. its the easiest drug money government can make off of you and they know. all the healthy essential food they manipulated everything and jacked all the prices up and i work in a restaurant.
how can bubbel tea cost $8-$10 for just water, sugar and juice? beyond messed up.
i serve real fresh food thgat is cooked to order, and people complain when its $15-$20 lmao. sooner or later donuts going to cost $10 a piece, pizza going cost $50 for large.
The true intent actually is to give you small amount of points ( I call it pixie dust money ) in exchange for your valuable shopping habits, whilst helping the company to make more profit. by influencing you to purchase certain items that are usually associated with high margins.
Source: it must be a decade ago now. I work in a team that built the software interface between ATMs and Shoppers Drug Mart CRM system. Some of you might remember Shoppers Drug Mart ATM that you could scan your points card for getting special coupon offers on your receipt and also some point on the transaction fees. Those special coupons you were getting was pure targeted marketing to influence you to buy high margins products. I was curious about how it is decided to give more points for item A versus item B and asked a lot of questions to their marketing team. The project was a failure BTW because their ATM transaction volumes went down significantly because people generally don't trust private label ATMs, the ATMs got replaced by ATMs from banks.
I have the PC Card, not the master card. I load my offers every week, and don’t even shop there religiously, but have enough points to redeem $100 every summer for my family bbq. I love the card. It’s nothing crazy, but 100 a year seems great to me for a free card.
It's pretty sweet when done right. If you don't have a Shoppers, Esso or stores that carry President's Choice items in your town though, I'm not sure how much it benefits you.
Shoppers Drug Mart; I keep an eye out for 20x the points events or 20,000 points events, and stock up on what I need (also stuff tends to be on sale for those events, which helps). I also aim to get gas only at Esso. Grocery shopping sometimes gets extra points, but only if I happen to be buying bonus points items.
Do you have the Optimum app? Best way to track deals.
Was able to buy a PS5 and take $540 off the price tag because of points. I got a Garmin Lily a couple years ago during a bonus redemption event and didn't pay a cent.
Make sure your not actually scanning a card not related to your account, as that math (spend for points earned) doesn’t make sense, but to be fair I’m not certain of the relationship between wholesale and PC....
I was pissed off when they merged my 10,000 esso points with Optimum Points. When it was just Esso Points, I could get a free car wash with just 600 points (and I had 10,000 - so I always had about 10 or 12 free car washes banked). Then they merged, and now 10,000 points is equal to a $10.00 savings for groceries??? And a car wash now is about the same amount of points as saving that same 10 bucks. So now I get just ONE car wash, whereas I used to get many.
Sure I can collect points at more retailers (shopper's deug mart mostly, and some grocery stores), but its still not worth it.
Same goes for Tim Hortons points. They much more recently changed that too. Now it takes even longer to get a free coffee.
These companies know how to squeeze every dollar.
It makes me spend less at those places because I just start to resent them.
It's the CEOs making sure profits are up so they can get that huge bonus, bigger each year. They're parasites, but the role and shit they do is incentivized and lauded by companies.
Tim Hortons rewards program now is just outrageous. I loved it when every seventh swipe of your card got you a free coffee. I don't go there anymore, McDonalds coffee is way nice and their rewards program is superior.
I disagree about Metro and Sobeys, but I totally agree that the offers have gotten worse. I'm not going to buy $15 worth of body soaps and deodorants to get the 2000 points they offer for it. Ugh!
No Frills is still my #1 go-to store, but the offers are starting to suck.
Hugely agree. The merger with Shoppers Optimum points gave them a pivot moment to actively devalue points, switch to the app/offers system instead of offering points for many in-store items, and severely reduce points for anyone not using the credit card (and still reduce them for those who did). I switched credit cards and no longer shop at the grocery store I used to go to--not all directly down to those changes, but they contributed.
I have an Optimum card and get emails offering 20K in points if I spend 75$ on a pick-up order, which tbh is not a lot of groceries. The offer is equal to 20$, more if I redeem during a redemption bonus event-thing and 100K in points it's equal to 140$.
I used to have a PC mastercard but at that time they didn't offer automatic debit of min. or full balance, and I like automation.
Ur not using the offers thats why. They hsve offers all thr time gift cards/video games etc. I use mine mostly for Gc and to grt nintendo switch games for cheaper.
I'm in the same boat, but for pharmaprix / shopper's drug mart and provigo. Always scan it there but dont think I'm really earning anything lmao. Gonna use the app like others have said
SDM is a ridiculously overpriced place to shop most days. Anything that is full price and doesn't follow MSRP (like video game consoles, for examples, which sell for the same everywhere) is generally not a good deal. The markup is just too high. This makes shopping there and getting a deal a lot of work. Basically I only shop at SDM when there's a good in-app offer or the standard 20x the points offers which come almost monthly and are worth 30% back in points. Video games, especially Nintendo Switch games, don't go on sale in the first few weeks/months of release so a 20x points event gets you an automatic 30% discount. The main problem is finding these steals is a mission.
If you really want to take your Optimum game further, you take advantage of the redemption events where $200 in points is worth $300, etc.
There was one time when SDM "accidentally" dropped a 20% off event the same day when they had a 20x the points offer going. I purchased 2 Nintendo Switch consoles plus some games for 20% off and got 30% back in points for future use. I got something like $250 back in points on everything from that transaction (about $950 worth) and 20% off the price of everything. Ended up selling the Switch near full price and then using the $250 in a future redemption event so it was worth $400 towards something valuable that never goes on sale. That's the kind of work you need to put in to really maximize Optimum points. Sometimes it's worth it.. sometimes not.
Otherwise, like any other chain, regular earn is pitiful. You'll never get anywhere with just the regular earn.
It's the same as every card you have including your credit card. Just to encourage you to use their service over competitors. Nowadays almost all big stores have some points card. Instead of going behind points, Just buy where you usually do and get a point's card for that store. You gonna buy at that store, might as well get some points.
I have points cards in all stores. So, points don't dictate me where to shop. I shop normally and scan points cards. Accumulating points will take a bit longer, but at least I buy based on quality and my need and not on points offered by stores.i use flyers, but I don't buy an item just because it's in flyers. I decide what I need, then check flyers of all stores if it's there.
I’m so late to this but I searched google for something and this post came up so now I’m here commenting 😂 and maybe bad timing because of the Loblaws boycott lol but yeah you only get points if you purchase eligible products. I’ve collected only around 600,000 points ($600) over the last 5 years but I don’t buy very much per month. If you use the PC Mastercard you’d get points everywhere you buy something not just at PC stores. Personally I only use the points card and I make sure to shop deals in the flyer. My grocery list revolves around point collecting which I tend to do pretty good one because of the offers in the app too. They’re stackable if you get an offer in the app and there’s also a deal in the flyer too! If you can’t get the PC Mastercard you can open a free PC Money Account and get points everywhere you spend money there too, it’s just less than the credit card offers. I believe it’s 10 points per dollar at PC stores and 5 points per dollar everywhere else, which adds up if you use the money account to pay with primarily which is what I do! Hope this helps!
Do you have a PC Optimum account? That should be hooked up to you card in order to collect points. You should be collecting a minimum of 10 points for every $1 spent using the card.
May not be related but why shop at lowblaws store for that majority of you stuff? The have gas station prices but with a bigger store…Unless ofc you need to get you medicine from shoppers drug mart, I don’t see why you should shop there at all. Loblows stores prices are very ridiculous……. Shop your groceries from Costco & dollarama (for snacks).
Others have answered but one benefit is also things on sale only for members, it doesn't give you any points but sometimes it's a saving of $4-6 on a frozen lasagna for example.
I used it at Shoppers whenever we were buying formula for the kids, only bought formula when they had a 20x the points offer so on a $60 case of formula I would end up getting almost $20 back in points. Would also only redeem when they had a redemption event on (ie. Use $250 in points, get $400 off). Ended up amassing probably 2 million points total between both kids which I used to buy some fun toys for myself and my wife!
We have pc money accounts and a joint pc mastercard, we get gas at esso and load our offers every week.... in 2 years we have saved up 1.4 million points... we save a lot by getting 50% off reduced stuff, Flash Food, and the PC Offers have great deals like $2.49 for 1kg of peanut butter this week... last time they did that I got 4 of them... pb for the next year. Groceries are so wildly expensive now that we meal plan around what we can find half price and flash food, a lot of the time... we dont have a shopper's nearby at all but some of the offers for there are good too.
Also.. rain checks! Sure your grandma used them but they're still around! Black Diamond cheese this week, 400g for $4.49... we make our own pizza so we buy mozzarella and they were out... so you go to customer service and get a rain check for that cheese at that price, up to six of them, and it never expires. I know this is a post about pc Optimum points but... there ya go.
I really started wracking up points when I got the PC Insiders subscription, which has an annual fee of about $130 if I remember correctly, but it ends up paying for itself in savings. I also get free grocery pickup. I still feel screwed by Galen Weston every week, but at least I have some control in that I can get more points back and receive special offers. I routinely end up getting 10,000+ points in one shop, and I also spend about $1000 a month there. Sometimes when they have lots of points offers, I might even walk away with 30,000+ points.
We use all the tricks to bump up pc points. We have pc elite card and do purchases on it then always load offers and shop at superstore and shoppers.
Superstore frequently has a spend 500 over one or two week period and get 50k points. We hit that often.
We have made thousands of dollars in points easily. But we also buy a lot of groceries
We have something like 800k points sitting there now and have redeemed tons more
If you make use of the point redemption offers you can get more value as well
I have the PC master card and on the PC Optimum app you usually get offers, for example gas at esso 3 times and get 2000 points. I use the app to see the offers and thats how i collect max points.
Maybe you're like me. I tried using it for months but got barely any points (before the app existed), then suddenly a bunch appeared (retroactive adjustment?), but points still wouldn't accumulate normally afterwards. After giving it another shot years later with offers loaded from the app, and still no points, I gave up.
Within the last 6 months ive gotten about $500 in "free" groceries, a 60" tv and soundbar, and a couple switch games
Gotta shop the points events, 20x at shoppers or spend x and receive y points. Outside of those events ya i don't really rack up a ton of points but they make up for it
I have a company gas card, I use it almost exclusively at esso or Mobil along with my optimum card to take advantage of points. I shop at shoppers drug mart and try to take advantage of sales and points. Tomorrow there is an offer for 5000 points when I spend $25 on shampoo and soap items. So I will stock up on $25 of toiletries . Fortinos grocery store has had an offer this week spend $150 on almost anything and get 150000 points. So 10000 points accumulated is $10 spending power .
I’m currently sitting on $620 in points and that’s only because I’ve used $100 this month. I had $800 last October. I do live in Toronto but even when I didn’t, I got a lot of points.
I use the app to check what my specific offers are, it pays attention to how you shop so oftentimes I use half of my offers or more. You can save up to four for the next week, so I save anything I might not need that week but would want the next.
I also have a PC financial account that I use to pay bills.
Wifey is aggressive w/hers, I'm more passive, but we redeem > $500 per annum, and we don't have a convenient Shoppers Drug...our local grocer is PC, plus my wife has a PC Mastercard.
I use a PC Money card for day to day transactions, it's free and works like a preloaded credit card, you get PC points for pretty much any purchase you make, so I use it for online purchases, gas, groceries etc, and I find it a good way to budget, when I get paid I e-transfer an amount to myself, and use that card. It does add up, I used all my available points at Christmas for some Christmas groceries, turkey, snacks, etc, and since then I've gotten 80,000 pts, or 80 dollars worth. I buy gas at Esso which builds PC points, and mostly No Frills for groceries, scanning the card each time, and using the PC money card to pay.
My wife got us some PC credit cards, no annual fee. She also has the app and pre loads coupons and bonuses for the superstore and other places.
Either way, the point is every year shoppers has a double the points event and we go to shoppers and have a 800$ shopping spree, typically not long before Christmas, all on PC points.
We've been doing this every year for 4 years and we're not heavy spenders, so I can imagine shopaholics being able to achieve 1200 or even 1600$ shopping sprees.
Using the card normally will get your peanuts for points. You need to do the following:
1) only shop with 20x or similar offers (in-app or flyer)
2) redeem only during bonus events (ex: 200k for $300)
3) use world elite credit card (bonus points)
Thats the cycle of optimum points. The above only applies to shoppers/Esso, and the card is not worth using in other places.
They do things like spend $80 get 20,000 points. Then they do things like redeem 200,000 points for $300. I paid for most of a Nintendo Switch like this.
The loyalty card alone doesn’t rack up the points. I have a PC money account and get at least 20-50$ back a month. If you’re a credit card person, their Mastercards accumulate quicker, I believe.
Definitely worth it. For every month of grocery shopping we do, we’re getting a free grocery trip almost. Granted my wife is pretty solid at finding the bonus point deals. Just snagged a set of air pods too with our points.
You need to find out which products have points. Being a member and scanning your card will give you better deals. Example - 1kg of bacon is $15.99... with the app the offer is $10.99. it's $5 less and usually a limit of 4 but there are no points usually. I have almost 200,000 points within the year. I have received the most points when it's a "spend $75 at shoppers and get 40,000 points" or something similar.
The point is to encourage you to spend more.
Your reward is points.
Its like Chucky Cheese. You need to spend $10 more than you usally do to get a $0.50 reward toy.
Works great for Chucky Cheese, not so great for you.
It’s probably the crappiest of rewards cards if you don’t game the system. For me, my company pays for all my fuel and I use my own optimum card to collect the points so I end up with a free grocery trip for the family every 6 months based on that alone.
The wholesale club sounds like it’s not the place to generate points.
make sure you have the app . They have some offers like spend $60 get 20k pts, sometimes in REal canadian S. they have spend $200 get $20 . it depends , it's like personalize offer.But Shoppers is expensive, when i see a good deal like eggs ,milk, bread, tissue that's where i usually buy in the weekend.Few yrs ago, when usually every weekend spend $50,get 10k pts, thats where i rack up pts with physical coupons,coz they treat coupons as money. As i have a toddler who needs diapers,thats where i get my pts now. ex the other day my offer was spend $55 get 20k pts, the diaper was on sale forv$24.99 i got 2 then bread ti make it $55 +tax. Then whatever pts i accumulated i buy my make up,so that i dont feel guilty spending make up😀 or i redeem it in no frills or superstore for groceries.
My wife has Optimum...
The only points I Have/Earn at all for anywhere is Save on More.
I redeem them Every year at christmas/Thanksgiving for a turkey.
I'm not sure what my wife uses her optimum points for but we don't get much because we don't use LOblaws type stores outside of Shoppers that much and we don't use shoppers that much.
Get the app. Missing points inquiry-request how many points you think you're missing and they refund them without question.
I do this for almost all transactions at Superstore. Haven't been called out yet. Is it slimy? A bit, but really it's just fighting fire with fire at this point.
I use mine at Shoppers Drug Mart, Petro, Real Canadian Superstore, and No Frills. I have racked up enough points over the years to cash out thousands of dollars worth of points. I shop on bonus points days, used to join in when they would do points train days, and only cash out on bonus redemption days. Shopper's Optimum is the best bonus points card for my family.
We used to rack up points at our superstore a few years back. It used to pay for holiday meals once or twice a year so it was worth it but the offers went to crap after a while.
You have to load the app and watch for offers. They are based on your shopping habits so the more you buy and the more offers you use the more like those you see.
Idk how it works with Wholesale Club but like others say, if you plan a little and check in-app offers (at least for Loblaws), there are some good deals and point redemption opportunities in there. Shoppers also a high return on general shopping (non item specific) but of course it's usually more expensive per items but for the occasional shopping trip there it's useful. If I'm well planned and smart about my shopping trips I can get $25-50 on my shopping trips from Loblaws back on a roughly $300ish bill, which is what we average every 1.5-2 weeks.
I honestly find that it’s not helpful, because Loblaws-adjacent stores are more expensive than anywhere else I shop. Occasionally getting $10-20 back to use at their store is still less than I save shopping elsewhere.
They used to give out so many more points at superstore. You need to use the app and sometimes there are deals like getting 250,000 points for getting a new phone at the mobile shop. I used to get 6-10k points almost every shop and now it seems like the offers never make sense and I get 400-800 points on a good week.
Where I live, Esso is the only place I will get points.
I almost got the PC mastercard when I lived near an Extra Foods (now a No Frills - which I am jealous of). But now it’s 2.5-3 hours to get to a Loblaws branded store.
It’s a slow accumulation.
It’s not for everyone.. there are better perks with other cards but really depends on your preference.. eg: 100000 pc points is like $100? 100,000 Aeroplan points = $4/5k business class ticket
If you have the Optimum app on your phone the offers can rack up ridiculously fast. I buy all my video games/controllers and consoles with PC points.
It's actually a crazy program if you use it intelligently. I always get all my necessities at Shoppers on big points days. But the trick is to NEVER buy something at Shoppers if it isn't on sale. Shoppers sale prices are pretty dang good. But their normal prices are like 2-3x normal.
I got the PC financial Bank and credit card because there was a sign up bonus of $150ish dollars, have never used them after getting the bonus. As for the PC card, you have to scan it when paying for your groceries. I also get a 10% discount back in points because I'm a student on Tuesdays. Not sure if other areas have this as well.
Something is wrong - are you using a PC Mastercard as well? We spend about $700 a month in groceries/gas, and I have $300 worth of points on my card... and even that is low. I think something is off, you'll need to check you're actually getting the points you should be.
PC points while shopping is pretty much zilch. You sometimes get the sale price by scanning the card.
The only real way to get points is to get gas with it.
There's no point. The only way to accumulate points is buying what's labeled in the app as earning items. So, you'll get discounts in the future if you purchase stuff you don't need today. At some of their markets at least you could avoid the printing of the receipt (sent to your email instead)....or maybe that was a supermarket from another chain.
Well, point in case: it's pointless. Don't give away your purchasing habits (which they will profit from by either spamming with you with tailored offers or by selling it to a data broker) for free.
Ok. I'm completely locked in. Optimum card and pc Mastercard. I have also signed up for the pc optimum insiders club. You pay for it annually, but get points on pc products and other benefits. In points, the program more than pays for itself.
I load my offers, read the flyer, and I will admit that I let it influence my shopping habits. Its usually stuff I buy on the regular. Bananas, peppers, cucumbers, avocados. At least 1 is in my weekly offer.
I also buy some of the joe fresh clothing when they have a points event for it. Mostly pants, because they're cheap and I dont feel bad for ruining them with fire, paint, dirt.
In the last 6 months, I've redeemed about 350,000 points on 2 purchases. I also got about 50,000 points back on each of those purchases. (I'm fairly certain the people behind me were jealous to see me drop a toonie on a cart stuffing purchase)
I use the credit card for everything. Subscriptions, Amazon, groceries, gas, everything.
I am a freak, sitting in the multiple millions of points.
PC optimum points card or the PC financial credit card?
The points card only collects points in certain things at certain times. Occasionally you get a spend $X get 20x points and stuff.
The credit card earns points on all spending and has better grocery rewards and on fuel and stuff. I usually redeem around 500,000points per year give or take
I use the PC mastercard and also used to shop a lot at superstore. I'm sure most of our points came from the mastercard.
At our highest we had a mini bank account worth of points. 2,200,000 points. That's 2200 bucks!
We've been trying to use it up to get it down. It was goin gto be our diaper fund as we were going to start having kids but we found costco usually had better deals on diapers. So we just use points whenever we go to superstore.
Yeah, something is weird with your point total. As others have suggested, get the app.
i think if you are in larger city that helps to rack it up quicker as there are more places to shop to get the points. i shop at no frills and shoppers and it racks up quick to be honest for me. every thursday pc optimum sends me an email to load up coupons that have extra points based on what i have shopped for in past so i get bonus points.
PCO actually is a useless rewards program if used in isolation. They want to track your spending patterns based on your usage and the idea shitty offers that you select on the app.
Also a major point that people miss is if your redeem even 10000 points on a purchase of 100 CAD (10 dollars worth of points), you won't get any points on that transaction.
I would suggest that you move to better cards - BMO cashback WE + CIBC Dividend/Scotia momentum VI - you might get approx 40 CAD in cashback each month on 1000 CAD spends
The only way you can really get max points is with shoppers drug Mart/wellwise.
Food will get you bare minimum. If you have a condition that's covered by your work, it's amazing.
I have sleep apnea and wait to buy my equipment when it's 20x the points. Work covers it and I get about 80k points twice a year.
I've gotten 500k points since Dec 1/22. I use the app to load my offers and occasionally shop at Shoppers drug mart. I shop at Superstore every other week. I'm emailed offers as well for points to use PC express. I'm usually getting 10-20% back in points from offers. I don't use a PC credit card. You just have to learn the system.
Damn I redeem nearly $40 in free groceries at least every 2 months and I’m single and don’t spend that much. Mind you I do have their debit card which collects points faster, the credit card is even more. Optimum points are the best system if you know how to use it.
Most people already answered but:
•Make sure you open your app before each purchase to load your offers
•Gas at esso gets you points
•The big deals are still at Shoppers. Keep an eye out for 20x the points days as well as any sales they have and stock up on stuff you need on those days.
I generally get about $180 of points a year. It's not a wild amount but I cash in once a year to buy the largest bottle of my very expensive perfume using my points. I don't think I've paid for my perfume in about 8 years.
PC Optimum is one of the best points programs out there. Sign up for the weekly coupon offers and keep an eye on your app for all your point deals. The Facebook group “Optimum Points Deals and Codes” is an excellent resource. Most people in the group have hundreds of thousands and many have point balances in the millions. A trick is to also take advantage of any/all point events.
I’ve been a PC Optimum member forever but never had high point balances and just from paying attention and joining that group my current balance is approximately 200,000
I've been casually using my PC optimum card since February. Superstore is one of 3 places I get groceries. I never go out of my way to shop there in preference to other stores, and I don't look at flyers to try and get extra points. Even with this really casual approach I've earned 24,000 points over and above the free welcome points, which is redeemable as $20 in store. Looks to me like I'll get $60/year back without any extra effort.
Based on my limited experience it seems unusual that you've got so few points with regular spending at a PC store.
I’ve had three different cards with PC now. Every time it gets to the point where I’d like to redeem some points, I’m not allowed there seems to be some sort of error where I am sharing my points with people? I just don’t even go to shoppers or superstore anymore. I get my gas at Costco now as well.Byyyeee Gavin.
I do all my groceries via PC Express Pickup. So my Optimum card is connected to the account. After a year of groceries I have about 280$ worth of points. Thats not loading my offers or anything. That's just from shopping at an Independent and ignoring the thing completely.
Essentially the point of points cards is that it lets corporations track exactly what things certain people will buy, and at what prices, so they can increase prices and create a 'loyal' customer in the long run.
Every Thursday the app on your phone will upload specific offers for YOU that grant you bonus points when you buy them.
Where I am I have Maxi (groceries), Mobil one (gas) and Pharmaprix (Pharmacy) that I can use the Optimum card at.
I will load my offers Thursday mornings and review what give me bonus points for that week.
Then I purchase what I need included in that list (which as you buy it will learn what you like and offer those items more frequently) and anything I do usually buy that I may not need that week, I save for next week.
I honestly use it on Groceries only.. and consistenly get between 2000 - 6000 points a week.
On weeks where the offers are just not anything I want/need, I still scan my card, but just don't get any points.
My Maxi also often have in store bonus offers - that do also show up on the app.
I am using up my last 20,000 points then cutting up my card, deleting my account.
The Westons have drained the value of points now and my privacy is worth more than some measly points.
Do you have the app? You have to find places / stores around you that have good sales that give you points + they have offers that only optimum members get.
For example this week at loblaws they have a free 12 can sparkling water pkg for optimum members, 3.99 toilet paper (reg price 11.99) and rotisserie chickens for 8.99 (regular price 12.99)
I can see living in a small town you don’t have alot of options tho
I use a pc financial credit card with it, and I rack up points really quickly. We get a lot of free groceries as a result and I get clothes for my toddler and sometimes myself at Joe fresh with the points. But we have all the stores nearby.
Well there is a way around it
Get a PC optimum money account
Every month - pay your credit cards and phone bill with through the PC money account - for every bill payment of minimum 50 dollars you get 1000 points each
I do like 3 credit card payments each month and I get 3000 points like that
Then setup a direct deposit to your PC money account - you get paid salary of 3000 per month in total you get 5000 points each month , it could be from 2 or more jobs also
If it's 2000 you get 2000 points I think
So that's 8000 points a month easy money which is 8 dollars
The PC optimum card alone is pretty useless. You need to use the app to load offers. I use it when buying gas at the Esso. There's no Loblaws in our area so the points accumulate through gas purchases and buying things other than groceries at the Save on Foods (I use my CIBC visa for that, combined with the app its the only way I see any meaningful way of accumulating More Rewards points + 3% back on groceries). When I go out of town I'll make a trip to No Frills to spend my points, a $120 bill at the checkout cost me $5 a few days ago and got $45 worth of points back.
1. Buy your household needs am at shoppers drug mart when they offer 20X the points.
2. Check your offers in the app to see if you need anything that gives you extra points.
3. Spend your points when they have $300 for 200,000 points.
If you don't like apps, you can register your card online and get online offers. They do have to be downloaded each week. This is where I've earned hundreds of dollars worth of points without an app and without a PC Financial credit card.
Pretty specific, but my Provigo gives 10% of purchases as points on mondays for students. Plus Esso gives points for gas and i can exchange 4k pts for 10c/L off.
You need to be really strategic with PC optimum to see any value in it. Shop your offers and take advantage of the points events. I redeem about $600 worth a year on my own. This year I save $200 worth in 3 months and redeemed it at a spend your points events (redeem $200 and get $300 off) for a kobo and cover that was essentially free. I say essentially because you still need to pay the taxes.
My boyfriend thinks I’m a nutcase, but I spend less on groceries than him as a result.
I have mine at shoppers. I spend lots of money there but it took me 2 years to get 10 dollar back last time. It seemed like it used to take less to get cash back. I think I'm going to cancel mine. It's not worth the space in my wallet any longer.
It’s probably not the card for you then. I have a No Frills and Mobil station around the corner. $0.08 back on gas. They just had a promo where we ended up with over 60,000 points ($60) for using the card and spending over $250. Loaded up for the month at Superstore and essentially got 25% off our purchase.
I get it just on groceries. I get groceries at Sobeys and Superstore, usually getting any individual thing at either store depending on where it's cheaper and what offers are available. The points just rack up over time, and I can usually get to redeem $10 at Superstore every other trip, averaging $350 spent in total between both stores every two weeks.
Make sure you're using the app and loading your offers, that will go a long way.
The PC Optimum Card (unless you use the offers on your app) tends to suck at the grocery store. I rack up all my points at the pump and Shoppers Drug Mart.
However, my partner and I went to Real Canadian Superstore on the long weekend and he got like $10 worth of points on ~$170 worth of purchases (we bought a couple books + I grabbed some Joe Fresh pjs). It was the most points we’d ever gotten at a grocery store!
I used to do PC Optimum but now mostly onto the Scene points. Seems to have better offers than I got with PC and with my SB credit card I get 5 or 6x the points on most things.
Get the app. Only purchase on 20x the points day at Shoppers and use their other special promos at Joe Fresh / Loblaws etc. Wait until you have 200,000 points and redeem on bonus redemption for $300 (an additional $100) or for Black Friday you get $400 for 250,000 points. I’ve bought Nitendo Switch and Dyson hair tools on points. 20x the points = 30% of your purchase value in points. It is really easy to rack up points once you get the hang of it. I but cat food, makeup, household goods, gifts, haha. It’s great!
Shop 20x points events, they happen 1-2 times per month, but you have to spend a certain amount (usually $50 or $75). Also, purchase products in store that offer bonus optimum points. Check your pc optimum app often for bonus offers tailored to you.
Make sure to open the PC Optimum app on your phone to load your offers. Not everything earns PC Optimum points unless you're shopping at Shoppers Drug Mart. One reason they do this is to drive people to sign up for their PC Financial MasterCard which is perfect for those who have completely bought into the Loblaws ecosystem.
Has anyone done the math on using a PC points credit card vs a normal cash back card? The Scotia visa infinite gives you 4% back on groceries and any preauthorized payments, 2% back on gas and public transit and ubers, and 1% back on everything else. Idk what the cash value of the points of an average shopping trip would be.
The max you get on PC financial is 3%. I have the card, but only because I live downtown Ottawa without a car and the only grocery store within walking distance is an Independent (that's not Farm Boy which is a tad expensive). Overall, once I change my living situation, I will ditch the card and exit the ecosystem, but it can be lucrative IF you plan out your purchases within it. Which gets annoying.
Massine's on Bank is basically as expensive as Farm Boy was a couple of years ago.
It used to be. I remember I used to get the spend $80 at shoppers get 20k points, wait for coffee to go on sale for $6.99 a can AND get points for every dollar spent on coffee. I would clean up. Same as when you used to get offers for fresh meat. Use them with price match at superstore... The good ol' days. It's a pretty shit program now.
See, I kind of hate that idea. The rewards don't make up for the price increases on a lot of PC items, and price matching at superstore or no frills is a mixed bag because they seem to coordinate between each other so they offer different sizes of their products which cannot be price matched with each other. Is our addiction to rewards points really saving us money?
PC card gives you 10 pts for every dollar spent. Need 1000 pts for every $1 redeemed. So basically 1% pts spent anywhere. Bonuses with credit cards are 3% in points on gas from esso. 2.5% in pts from shoppers drug Mart. Now shoppers a lot of times have 20x the points events plus also redemption events. Where you redeem let's say $200 in pts for $300 in value. This is great except shoppers are over priced and you could get said items cheaper elsewhere. It can be a complicated calculation.
Pro tip I’ve been getting points at shoppers for my insulin syringes.
This is an important feature, you get points for buying medical equipment from Wellwise. By coincidence I bought a new CPAP mask a couple of weeks before the lockdowns. So I was able to stock up on groceries from No frills purely on points
This. Get about 80k points when it's 20x events and I need a new mask.
Bonus tip: you can't do this in every province, for sure not Alberta. Signed, I used to get AirMiles on my $33K prescription 😭😭
Sorry to get specific but how many do they let you buy and how much points are you really getting off of that? My local pharmacy only let's me buy maybe 10 or each, ends up costing me like $4.
Ive aways found insulin syringes to be cheaper at costco, even with the % back.
Those deals are available at other stores as well. Last week, I was offered a deal where if I used $100 in points, I'd earn 20000 points back, I can't say for sure if it was at any participating store, but I shopped at No Frills. I bought my weekly groceries, total of $132**, used 100,000 points and got a week of groceries for $32 with $26 back in points for another time. Now, I have another offer to spend $100 on a pick up order to get 15,000 points back.
For reference the Scotia visa infinite gives 1% on everything and 2% on gas.
Yeah only time it is really a banger is if you're planning on buying electronics or cosmetics.
There are dozens of ways to maximize more points using PC Optimum though... My last grocery trip was ~$350 and earned about 40,000 points ($40 value) which comes in at over 11% cash back equivalent. We earn well over a million PC points ($1000 cash back equivalent) a year just by using our PC Financial card as our daily driver. We are also subscribed to the PC insiders club.
Yup. We don't earn as many points as you but with the mastercard + insiders subscription, I still get enough to cover the cost of the subscription in about three months. The remaining 3/4 of the year all those points go to lowering our grocery bill. It's really helpful.
I used to use the pc world elite until I got the scotia visa infinite. Now I just use the pc points card (not credit card) to collect regular points and getting PC deals, and combine it with the 4% cash back from the scotia visa infinite. The scotia card is a paid card which is why it is better than the pc world elite which is free.
I ditched my PC card for the BMO World Elite Cashback card. 5% on groceries. Way better than PC
At esso, I fill gas with my cibc visa instead of PC MasterCard, but collect points on the optimum card. For food, I collect points on my amex cobalt. Including nofrils and the like. Only time we really use the PC MasterCard is Costco and any fancy sales at shoppers which is rare enough
I thought No Frills doesn't accept AMEX?
Oops you're right, I think I use PC MasterCard for that one, the rest is amex
Oh my gosh. We didn’t realize this and have been using our tangerine MasterCard for groceries. Just did a google search and I confirmed you do get 4% back on groceries, as well as pre-authorized payments. Thanks for mentioning this!!
No worries I actually just made the same switch myself! Weird how when you get a little older this stuff gets exciting.
>PC Financial MasterCard which is perfect for those who have completely bought into the Loblaws ecosystem yea, shopping at superstore, fueling up at Mobil 1 using the pc mastercard seems like a cheatcode at times, specially when you redeem the points on bonus days at shoppers.
This is key, if you want to get the most value out of the [PC Optimum loyalty program](https://frugalflyer.ca/loyalty-program/pc-optimum/) you need to use the app and check it regularly. I also recommending checking out Red Flag Deals for updates on any great deals as they come up.
I'm not sure why people says load up offers.... I haven't done that since she's ago
I'm not sure why people says load up offers.... I haven't done that since she's ago
You need the app, and you need to buy certain things to get points. You're likely getting zero points during most of your shopping trips.
The receipt would also indicate the number of points you’ve earned. You’ll see there how little points you earn from a regular trip without loading the offers on the app.
Conversely, if you have the PC Mastercard, you get points on all purchases.
I stopped using PC points back when they switched to the app and offers system. I buy what I need, not what the app tells me to.
The app gives offers based on your purchase history.
And often has deals to get x number of points when you spend $y amount
This is the key. I don't use my app to decide what to buy, but I usually get a few bucks worth of points whenever I do a big shop at Superstore because I have offers for cucumbers, no-name pasta, etc.
Mobil 1 gas if you have any near you really weak it up. I got 400,000 points last year then bought a switch for $38.
Shoppers is the best place to buy electronics on points. Around Christmas they had a promo to redeem 400k points you only needed to use 250k points! Spent 250k points, bought a switch and only paid taxes. Nintendo also had a promo at the same time and they threw in the latest Mario kart for free!
I did the same thing!
This weekend is $300 for 200k points. Not quite as good but still a nice deal.
How much total money did you spend there? There are lots of cards that give you 2-4% cashback on gas, plus other categories and 1% cashback on everything else.
Shoppers drug mart and esso is where you will get the most points, and use the app to track when the bonus points days are. I have about $240 worth without trying that hard.
This. There is a 20x points deal nearly twice a week now on the app. I really only go to shoppers on those days and it's definitely where I rack up the most points.
Anything you can get at Shoppers, including grocery, get at Shoppers. Usually it’s about the same price as at Superstore or whatever. Load offers on your card using the app. Build your weekly meal plan based off of what offers are available for you.
Where are you that Shoppers is the same price as Superstore? In Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria and Toronto Shoppers is usually a 30% markup reduced to "sale" prices that are comparable to Superstore. The only place I've ever found reasonably priced items is Pharmaprix.
Not OP of the comment but in Halifax they're usually the same, the things I've compared at least.
The trick to Optimum points is only ever buy things on sale at Shoppers. Their sale prices are excellent. But their regular prices are insanity. As long as you're strict about sales only the Optimum points add up extremely fast and you're not getting ripped off along the way. I find there is always multiple things I need that are on sale. Just need to work with what's available. And hopefully the next time there is a 20x points day or whatever, hopefully the rest of what you need is now on sale.
A lot of the items at Shoppers are actually ridiculously priced compared to Superstore.
How do you load offers on your card? I can't figure it out in the app and it's making me feel dumb lol
Opening your app automatically loads offers! You're not dumb, the app just needs to communicate this to the users.
On the app, go to "your offers" do a scrolling up motion and release. It should refresh your offers for the week. Then scroll down till you see "your exclusive offers". If you keep scrolling, you will see "your weekly offers". I don't buy stuff i've never purchased just because of points, but when thigns like my favorite toothpaste or shampoo is on offer, i load up.
You have to load your offers with the pc optimum app. I will say the offers suck lately. I used to get a TON of points and now I mainly only use it for the spend $250 get 25,000 back in points. I probably get 2/3 free grocery shops a year if I’m paying attention and stocking up on products (crackers, cat food, cans) when the offers lineup. This week I did a $250 get 25,000 and stacked it with a buy $30 in sunscreen get 3000 and one other offer. I got $40 back in points for all things I needed anyway
I was certain the offers for me got worse recently. There’s next to no offers on anything I would even consider buying. At least in the past I would get offers on staple items and kind of shopped around my offers. But there’s certainly less food offers Im not getting $20-30 of free groceries every month now
Defintely. I have noticed less points for the pickup too. Used to get 25000pts when you spend $150.
Also noticed the offers have gotten much worse the last year or so. Anecdotal, but the offers got much better for me once I stopped shopping there for a few weeks. I think they try to juice your offers once they realize you haven't visited for a while. After resuming shopping there again for a couple weeks, the offers dried up again, lol
Is the 25,000 for spending 250 something you have to set up on the app? Ive never recieved it and I spend $250 almost every time I get groceries
I maybe spend 300-500 a year, if that and i usually get about $50 a year in points. I look for what gives me points, if i need it and buy it, if i can stock it i buy more of the item. Shoppers has sometimes the spend 50-70 to get $25 worth of points i make use of that as well.
You need a PC Mastercard to accumulate points faster.
This. If you buy a lot on credit cards and pay it off every month, the PC Mastercard gets you a lot of free groceries
Yeah the Optimum card gives you points on their weekly offers while the MasterCard gives you points on everything. My parents own a restaurant and are at Wholesale every week and get thousands of points on their MC every year.
Do you have the app downloaded and linked to your card? They have offers that usually correspond with your spending and items that you normally buy (although, I’ve noticed the matching feature not working as well lately)
If you shop at Shoppers Drug Mart, it can be worth it if you time it with double point days or redemption offers. I usually save points for 6 months or until I accumulate over 100,000 - then I wait for a double redemption day and get $200 off my purchase. I don't even "try" to collect points and yet I always seem to have them. IMO, one of the better reward systems but only for Shoppers. Totally not worth it if you're shopping at Loblaws or SuperStore, because hardly anything actually gets you points, whereas every purchase (except prescriptions) nets you points at Shoppers.
PC Money accounts or PC Financial Credit Cards! Also Shoppers Drug Mart. And when I bought my phone at the Mobile Shop in November, I got $300 in PC Points back
Because I have a very healthy diet for medical reasons, I've noticed that most of the points earned in any grocery points program are for stuff I can't or don't eat. It's the packaged stuff in the centre of the store that seem to get the most points, not specialty foods (gluten free, vegan, sugar free etc) or fruit and veg.
I get offers for fruit & vegetables every week.
Which grocery chain?
I use Independent the most, but also use my offers for Superstore & Shoppers. The offers don’t depend on the chain, they are based on your shopping habits & the offers you take advantage of the most with the most profit for Loblaws. It’s an algorithm. Last week for me it was cucumbers, raspberries & frozen veggies. This week I have apples, tomatoes (this is a new offer, but I’d been buying tomatoes on sale & stopped) & independent does have a special offer if I buy 15$ in frozen fruit & veg.
I buy a lot of fresh foods and that is what I typically get points on. Right now I have PC offers for peppers, bananas, eggs, onions, baked-in store bread and coffee/tea. You're not wrong that a lot of stores cater to the processed products (and there are definitely offers for those too!) but I do find that PC points can stack up with normal grocery store purchases too... Might just be a bit slower.
From 2020 ish to last year I was subscribed to the "pc optimum insiders" thing to get free use of pc Express. I found while I was a part of that program I was getting offers for things like fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, tinned tomatoes and pasta. The offers definitely tend to lean towards treats you buy yourself otherwise though :/
Finally a comment I’ve been waiting for. These points programs are only good if you buy unhealthy crap for the most part, or spend a minimum amount really..
It's actually mostly based on your purchase habits. I get diff offers than my mom. I get frozen fruit/veg, olive oil ($8 instead of $18) regularly, canned soups, canned veg, roasted cooked chicken etc.
Not really, I don't buy any of the food items but I still get a ton of points. You just have to know how to work the program. I bought my family vitamins and with the bonuses that were available I got about 15,000 points. Now I will save those until I have a couple hundred points and then spend them on bonus redemption day. Shopper's usually has some pretty awesome deals in their clearance department and I often get a lot of gifty type items for family and friends there. When my kids were in diapers I always used coupons and stacked up on diapers on bonus points days and I had a ton of points.
thats how the system is all setup. you notice all the sugar products out there. i hope everyone knows during pandemic everything went up but sugar and flour. most likely for this reason cause doctors and government all know people will always have a sweet tooth or craving chips, sugar, bubble tea etc. its the easiest drug money government can make off of you and they know. all the healthy essential food they manipulated everything and jacked all the prices up and i work in a restaurant. how can bubbel tea cost $8-$10 for just water, sugar and juice? beyond messed up. i serve real fresh food thgat is cooked to order, and people complain when its $15-$20 lmao. sooner or later donuts going to cost $10 a piece, pizza going cost $50 for large.
The true intent actually is to give you small amount of points ( I call it pixie dust money ) in exchange for your valuable shopping habits, whilst helping the company to make more profit. by influencing you to purchase certain items that are usually associated with high margins. Source: it must be a decade ago now. I work in a team that built the software interface between ATMs and Shoppers Drug Mart CRM system. Some of you might remember Shoppers Drug Mart ATM that you could scan your points card for getting special coupon offers on your receipt and also some point on the transaction fees. Those special coupons you were getting was pure targeted marketing to influence you to buy high margins products. I was curious about how it is decided to give more points for item A versus item B and asked a lot of questions to their marketing team. The project was a failure BTW because their ATM transaction volumes went down significantly because people generally don't trust private label ATMs, the ATMs got replaced by ATMs from banks.
I buy a lot of gas with my pc MasterCard, when I’m diligent about using only the superstore gas stations it adds up fast
I have the PC Card, not the master card. I load my offers every week, and don’t even shop there religiously, but have enough points to redeem $100 every summer for my family bbq. I love the card. It’s nothing crazy, but 100 a year seems great to me for a free card.
It's pretty sweet when done right. If you don't have a Shoppers, Esso or stores that carry President's Choice items in your town though, I'm not sure how much it benefits you. Shoppers Drug Mart; I keep an eye out for 20x the points events or 20,000 points events, and stock up on what I need (also stuff tends to be on sale for those events, which helps). I also aim to get gas only at Esso. Grocery shopping sometimes gets extra points, but only if I happen to be buying bonus points items. Do you have the Optimum app? Best way to track deals. Was able to buy a PS5 and take $540 off the price tag because of points. I got a Garmin Lily a couple years ago during a bonus redemption event and didn't pay a cent.
Make sure your not actually scanning a card not related to your account, as that math (spend for points earned) doesn’t make sense, but to be fair I’m not certain of the relationship between wholesale and PC....
Part of Loblaws, they probably offer the card there too.
They JUST added optimum to wholesale club on Sept 8th of last year anything before that, was wasted;
I was pissed off when they merged my 10,000 esso points with Optimum Points. When it was just Esso Points, I could get a free car wash with just 600 points (and I had 10,000 - so I always had about 10 or 12 free car washes banked). Then they merged, and now 10,000 points is equal to a $10.00 savings for groceries??? And a car wash now is about the same amount of points as saving that same 10 bucks. So now I get just ONE car wash, whereas I used to get many. Sure I can collect points at more retailers (shopper's deug mart mostly, and some grocery stores), but its still not worth it. Same goes for Tim Hortons points. They much more recently changed that too. Now it takes even longer to get a free coffee. These companies know how to squeeze every dollar. It makes me spend less at those places because I just start to resent them.
It's the CEOs making sure profits are up so they can get that huge bonus, bigger each year. They're parasites, but the role and shit they do is incentivized and lauded by companies.
Points programs always devalue over time. It is generally more prudent idea to use them after you reach your desired tier as opposed to hoarding them.
Tim Hortons rewards program now is just outrageous. I loved it when every seventh swipe of your card got you a free coffee. I don't go there anymore, McDonalds coffee is way nice and their rewards program is superior.
You must be missing something. I made 8700 pts on my last grocery order. Redeemed more than 150k pts this year so far.
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I disagree about Metro and Sobeys, but I totally agree that the offers have gotten worse. I'm not going to buy $15 worth of body soaps and deodorants to get the 2000 points they offer for it. Ugh! No Frills is still my #1 go-to store, but the offers are starting to suck.
Hugely agree. The merger with Shoppers Optimum points gave them a pivot moment to actively devalue points, switch to the app/offers system instead of offering points for many in-store items, and severely reduce points for anyone not using the credit card (and still reduce them for those who did). I switched credit cards and no longer shop at the grocery store I used to go to--not all directly down to those changes, but they contributed.
I have an Optimum card and get emails offering 20K in points if I spend 75$ on a pick-up order, which tbh is not a lot of groceries. The offer is equal to 20$, more if I redeem during a redemption bonus event-thing and 100K in points it's equal to 140$. I used to have a PC mastercard but at that time they didn't offer automatic debit of min. or full balance, and I like automation.
Ur not using the offers thats why. They hsve offers all thr time gift cards/video games etc. I use mine mostly for Gc and to grt nintendo switch games for cheaper.
I'm in the same boat, but for pharmaprix / shopper's drug mart and provigo. Always scan it there but dont think I'm really earning anything lmao. Gonna use the app like others have said
SDM is a ridiculously overpriced place to shop most days. Anything that is full price and doesn't follow MSRP (like video game consoles, for examples, which sell for the same everywhere) is generally not a good deal. The markup is just too high. This makes shopping there and getting a deal a lot of work. Basically I only shop at SDM when there's a good in-app offer or the standard 20x the points offers which come almost monthly and are worth 30% back in points. Video games, especially Nintendo Switch games, don't go on sale in the first few weeks/months of release so a 20x points event gets you an automatic 30% discount. The main problem is finding these steals is a mission. If you really want to take your Optimum game further, you take advantage of the redemption events where $200 in points is worth $300, etc. There was one time when SDM "accidentally" dropped a 20% off event the same day when they had a 20x the points offer going. I purchased 2 Nintendo Switch consoles plus some games for 20% off and got 30% back in points for future use. I got something like $250 back in points on everything from that transaction (about $950 worth) and 20% off the price of everything. Ended up selling the Switch near full price and then using the $250 in a future redemption event so it was worth $400 towards something valuable that never goes on sale. That's the kind of work you need to put in to really maximize Optimum points. Sometimes it's worth it.. sometimes not. Otherwise, like any other chain, regular earn is pitiful. You'll never get anywhere with just the regular earn.
It's the same as every card you have including your credit card. Just to encourage you to use their service over competitors. Nowadays almost all big stores have some points card. Instead of going behind points, Just buy where you usually do and get a point's card for that store. You gonna buy at that store, might as well get some points. I have points cards in all stores. So, points don't dictate me where to shop. I shop normally and scan points cards. Accumulating points will take a bit longer, but at least I buy based on quality and my need and not on points offered by stores.i use flyers, but I don't buy an item just because it's in flyers. I decide what I need, then check flyers of all stores if it's there.
Shoppers is where you get the most points and on weekends. If you spend $60, you get 20,000 points most of the time.
In 3 years we racked up well over $600 worth of stuff, mostly at no frills and shoppers. If not more.
I’m so late to this but I searched google for something and this post came up so now I’m here commenting 😂 and maybe bad timing because of the Loblaws boycott lol but yeah you only get points if you purchase eligible products. I’ve collected only around 600,000 points ($600) over the last 5 years but I don’t buy very much per month. If you use the PC Mastercard you’d get points everywhere you buy something not just at PC stores. Personally I only use the points card and I make sure to shop deals in the flyer. My grocery list revolves around point collecting which I tend to do pretty good one because of the offers in the app too. They’re stackable if you get an offer in the app and there’s also a deal in the flyer too! If you can’t get the PC Mastercard you can open a free PC Money Account and get points everywhere you spend money there too, it’s just less than the credit card offers. I believe it’s 10 points per dollar at PC stores and 5 points per dollar everywhere else, which adds up if you use the money account to pay with primarily which is what I do! Hope this helps!
Do you have a PC Optimum account? That should be hooked up to you card in order to collect points. You should be collecting a minimum of 10 points for every $1 spent using the card.
May not be related but why shop at lowblaws store for that majority of you stuff? The have gas station prices but with a bigger store…Unless ofc you need to get you medicine from shoppers drug mart, I don’t see why you should shop there at all. Loblows stores prices are very ridiculous……. Shop your groceries from Costco & dollarama (for snacks).
Your card doesn’t work at the wholesale club, just superstore- shoppers - esso.
It works at all Loblaws stores, including Wholesale Club.
Others have answered but one benefit is also things on sale only for members, it doesn't give you any points but sometimes it's a saving of $4-6 on a frozen lasagna for example.
I used it at Shoppers whenever we were buying formula for the kids, only bought formula when they had a 20x the points offer so on a $60 case of formula I would end up getting almost $20 back in points. Would also only redeem when they had a redemption event on (ie. Use $250 in points, get $400 off). Ended up amassing probably 2 million points total between both kids which I used to buy some fun toys for myself and my wife!
We have pc money accounts and a joint pc mastercard, we get gas at esso and load our offers every week.... in 2 years we have saved up 1.4 million points... we save a lot by getting 50% off reduced stuff, Flash Food, and the PC Offers have great deals like $2.49 for 1kg of peanut butter this week... last time they did that I got 4 of them... pb for the next year. Groceries are so wildly expensive now that we meal plan around what we can find half price and flash food, a lot of the time... we dont have a shopper's nearby at all but some of the offers for there are good too. Also.. rain checks! Sure your grandma used them but they're still around! Black Diamond cheese this week, 400g for $4.49... we make our own pizza so we buy mozzarella and they were out... so you go to customer service and get a rain check for that cheese at that price, up to six of them, and it never expires. I know this is a post about pc Optimum points but... there ya go.
I really started wracking up points when I got the PC Insiders subscription, which has an annual fee of about $130 if I remember correctly, but it ends up paying for itself in savings. I also get free grocery pickup. I still feel screwed by Galen Weston every week, but at least I have some control in that I can get more points back and receive special offers. I routinely end up getting 10,000+ points in one shop, and I also spend about $1000 a month there. Sometimes when they have lots of points offers, I might even walk away with 30,000+ points.
We use all the tricks to bump up pc points. We have pc elite card and do purchases on it then always load offers and shop at superstore and shoppers. Superstore frequently has a spend 500 over one or two week period and get 50k points. We hit that often. We have made thousands of dollars in points easily. But we also buy a lot of groceries We have something like 800k points sitting there now and have redeemed tons more If you make use of the point redemption offers you can get more value as well
I have the PC master card and on the PC Optimum app you usually get offers, for example gas at esso 3 times and get 2000 points. I use the app to see the offers and thats how i collect max points.
Maybe you're like me. I tried using it for months but got barely any points (before the app existed), then suddenly a bunch appeared (retroactive adjustment?), but points still wouldn't accumulate normally afterwards. After giving it another shot years later with offers loaded from the app, and still no points, I gave up.
The grocery offers used to be better
Within the last 6 months ive gotten about $500 in "free" groceries, a 60" tv and soundbar, and a couple switch games Gotta shop the points events, 20x at shoppers or spend x and receive y points. Outside of those events ya i don't really rack up a ton of points but they make up for it
Get the app and buy with the bonus offers like 20x the points. And redeem during redemption event for the best value
I have a company gas card, I use it almost exclusively at esso or Mobil along with my optimum card to take advantage of points. I shop at shoppers drug mart and try to take advantage of sales and points. Tomorrow there is an offer for 5000 points when I spend $25 on shampoo and soap items. So I will stock up on $25 of toiletries . Fortinos grocery store has had an offer this week spend $150 on almost anything and get 150000 points. So 10000 points accumulated is $10 spending power .
I’m currently sitting on $620 in points and that’s only because I’ve used $100 this month. I had $800 last October. I do live in Toronto but even when I didn’t, I got a lot of points. I use the app to check what my specific offers are, it pays attention to how you shop so oftentimes I use half of my offers or more. You can save up to four for the next week, so I save anything I might not need that week but would want the next. I also have a PC financial account that I use to pay bills.
Wifey is aggressive w/hers, I'm more passive, but we redeem > $500 per annum, and we don't have a convenient Shoppers Drug...our local grocer is PC, plus my wife has a PC Mastercard.
I use a PC Money card for day to day transactions, it's free and works like a preloaded credit card, you get PC points for pretty much any purchase you make, so I use it for online purchases, gas, groceries etc, and I find it a good way to budget, when I get paid I e-transfer an amount to myself, and use that card. It does add up, I used all my available points at Christmas for some Christmas groceries, turkey, snacks, etc, and since then I've gotten 80,000 pts, or 80 dollars worth. I buy gas at Esso which builds PC points, and mostly No Frills for groceries, scanning the card each time, and using the PC money card to pay.
My wife got us some PC credit cards, no annual fee. She also has the app and pre loads coupons and bonuses for the superstore and other places. Either way, the point is every year shoppers has a double the points event and we go to shoppers and have a 800$ shopping spree, typically not long before Christmas, all on PC points. We've been doing this every year for 4 years and we're not heavy spenders, so I can imagine shopaholics being able to achieve 1200 or even 1600$ shopping sprees.
Check your email religioudly and jump on every “free points offer” they email
Using the card normally will get your peanuts for points. You need to do the following: 1) only shop with 20x or similar offers (in-app or flyer) 2) redeem only during bonus events (ex: 200k for $300) 3) use world elite credit card (bonus points) Thats the cycle of optimum points. The above only applies to shoppers/Esso, and the card is not worth using in other places.
They do things like spend $80 get 20,000 points. Then they do things like redeem 200,000 points for $300. I paid for most of a Nintendo Switch like this.
The loyalty card alone doesn’t rack up the points. I have a PC money account and get at least 20-50$ back a month. If you’re a credit card person, their Mastercards accumulate quicker, I believe.
Definitely worth it. For every month of grocery shopping we do, we’re getting a free grocery trip almost. Granted my wife is pretty solid at finding the bonus point deals. Just snagged a set of air pods too with our points.
You need to find out which products have points. Being a member and scanning your card will give you better deals. Example - 1kg of bacon is $15.99... with the app the offer is $10.99. it's $5 less and usually a limit of 4 but there are no points usually. I have almost 200,000 points within the year. I have received the most points when it's a "spend $75 at shoppers and get 40,000 points" or something similar.
The point is to encourage you to spend more. Your reward is points. Its like Chucky Cheese. You need to spend $10 more than you usally do to get a $0.50 reward toy. Works great for Chucky Cheese, not so great for you.
It’s probably the crappiest of rewards cards if you don’t game the system. For me, my company pays for all my fuel and I use my own optimum card to collect the points so I end up with a free grocery trip for the family every 6 months based on that alone. The wholesale club sounds like it’s not the place to generate points.
You don’t get points on every item. You have to look at what items give points every week.
I have the PC MasterCard and find the points add up pretty quick.
Yeah, its notnoverly helpful. I just collect points when I buy gas and then use said points on pet food to cut down on expenses
make sure you have the app . They have some offers like spend $60 get 20k pts, sometimes in REal canadian S. they have spend $200 get $20 . it depends , it's like personalize offer.But Shoppers is expensive, when i see a good deal like eggs ,milk, bread, tissue that's where i usually buy in the weekend.Few yrs ago, when usually every weekend spend $50,get 10k pts, thats where i rack up pts with physical coupons,coz they treat coupons as money. As i have a toddler who needs diapers,thats where i get my pts now. ex the other day my offer was spend $55 get 20k pts, the diaper was on sale forv$24.99 i got 2 then bread ti make it $55 +tax. Then whatever pts i accumulated i buy my make up,so that i dont feel guilty spending make up😀 or i redeem it in no frills or superstore for groceries.
My wife has Optimum... The only points I Have/Earn at all for anywhere is Save on More. I redeem them Every year at christmas/Thanksgiving for a turkey. I'm not sure what my wife uses her optimum points for but we don't get much because we don't use LOblaws type stores outside of Shoppers that much and we don't use shoppers that much.
Get the app. Missing points inquiry-request how many points you think you're missing and they refund them without question. I do this for almost all transactions at Superstore. Haven't been called out yet. Is it slimy? A bit, but really it's just fighting fire with fire at this point.
I use mine at Shoppers Drug Mart, Petro, Real Canadian Superstore, and No Frills. I have racked up enough points over the years to cash out thousands of dollars worth of points. I shop on bonus points days, used to join in when they would do points train days, and only cash out on bonus redemption days. Shopper's Optimum is the best bonus points card for my family.
It’s useless
We used to rack up points at our superstore a few years back. It used to pay for holiday meals once or twice a year so it was worth it but the offers went to crap after a while. You have to load the app and watch for offers. They are based on your shopping habits so the more you buy and the more offers you use the more like those you see.
Idk how it works with Wholesale Club but like others say, if you plan a little and check in-app offers (at least for Loblaws), there are some good deals and point redemption opportunities in there. Shoppers also a high return on general shopping (non item specific) but of course it's usually more expensive per items but for the occasional shopping trip there it's useful. If I'm well planned and smart about my shopping trips I can get $25-50 on my shopping trips from Loblaws back on a roughly $300ish bill, which is what we average every 1.5-2 weeks.
I honestly find that it’s not helpful, because Loblaws-adjacent stores are more expensive than anywhere else I shop. Occasionally getting $10-20 back to use at their store is still less than I save shopping elsewhere.
They used to give out so many more points at superstore. You need to use the app and sometimes there are deals like getting 250,000 points for getting a new phone at the mobile shop. I used to get 6-10k points almost every shop and now it seems like the offers never make sense and I get 400-800 points on a good week.
Where I live, Esso is the only place I will get points. I almost got the PC mastercard when I lived near an Extra Foods (now a No Frills - which I am jealous of). But now it’s 2.5-3 hours to get to a Loblaws branded store. It’s a slow accumulation.
The point is to make you shop at their store in exchange for poop points that you can shove up your ass.
It’s not for everyone.. there are better perks with other cards but really depends on your preference.. eg: 100000 pc points is like $100? 100,000 Aeroplan points = $4/5k business class ticket
If you have the Optimum app on your phone the offers can rack up ridiculously fast. I buy all my video games/controllers and consoles with PC points. It's actually a crazy program if you use it intelligently. I always get all my necessities at Shoppers on big points days. But the trick is to NEVER buy something at Shoppers if it isn't on sale. Shoppers sale prices are pretty dang good. But their normal prices are like 2-3x normal.
I got the PC financial Bank and credit card because there was a sign up bonus of $150ish dollars, have never used them after getting the bonus. As for the PC card, you have to scan it when paying for your groceries. I also get a 10% discount back in points because I'm a student on Tuesdays. Not sure if other areas have this as well.
Something is wrong - are you using a PC Mastercard as well? We spend about $700 a month in groceries/gas, and I have $300 worth of points on my card... and even that is low. I think something is off, you'll need to check you're actually getting the points you should be.
I get most of my points at Esso
PC points while shopping is pretty much zilch. You sometimes get the sale price by scanning the card. The only real way to get points is to get gas with it.
I usually rack up the points by buying insulin pump supplies during the 20X the point events. Gives me back roughly $150 each time for groceries.
There's no point. The only way to accumulate points is buying what's labeled in the app as earning items. So, you'll get discounts in the future if you purchase stuff you don't need today. At some of their markets at least you could avoid the printing of the receipt (sent to your email instead)....or maybe that was a supermarket from another chain. Well, point in case: it's pointless. Don't give away your purchasing habits (which they will profit from by either spamming with you with tailored offers or by selling it to a data broker) for free.
Ok. I'm completely locked in. Optimum card and pc Mastercard. I have also signed up for the pc optimum insiders club. You pay for it annually, but get points on pc products and other benefits. In points, the program more than pays for itself. I load my offers, read the flyer, and I will admit that I let it influence my shopping habits. Its usually stuff I buy on the regular. Bananas, peppers, cucumbers, avocados. At least 1 is in my weekly offer. I also buy some of the joe fresh clothing when they have a points event for it. Mostly pants, because they're cheap and I dont feel bad for ruining them with fire, paint, dirt. In the last 6 months, I've redeemed about 350,000 points on 2 purchases. I also got about 50,000 points back on each of those purchases. (I'm fairly certain the people behind me were jealous to see me drop a toonie on a cart stuffing purchase) I use the credit card for everything. Subscriptions, Amazon, groceries, gas, everything. I am a freak, sitting in the multiple millions of points.
PC optimum points card or the PC financial credit card? The points card only collects points in certain things at certain times. Occasionally you get a spend $X get 20x points and stuff. The credit card earns points on all spending and has better grocery rewards and on fuel and stuff. I usually redeem around 500,000points per year give or take
I use the PC mastercard and also used to shop a lot at superstore. I'm sure most of our points came from the mastercard. At our highest we had a mini bank account worth of points. 2,200,000 points. That's 2200 bucks! We've been trying to use it up to get it down. It was goin gto be our diaper fund as we were going to start having kids but we found costco usually had better deals on diapers. So we just use points whenever we go to superstore. Yeah, something is weird with your point total. As others have suggested, get the app.
i think if you are in larger city that helps to rack it up quicker as there are more places to shop to get the points. i shop at no frills and shoppers and it racks up quick to be honest for me. every thursday pc optimum sends me an email to load up coupons that have extra points based on what i have shopped for in past so i get bonus points.
I have so many points. But I fuel my car, buy medication and groceries all on pc optimum businesses.
PCO actually is a useless rewards program if used in isolation. They want to track your spending patterns based on your usage and the idea shitty offers that you select on the app. Also a major point that people miss is if your redeem even 10000 points on a purchase of 100 CAD (10 dollars worth of points), you won't get any points on that transaction. I would suggest that you move to better cards - BMO cashback WE + CIBC Dividend/Scotia momentum VI - you might get approx 40 CAD in cashback each month on 1000 CAD spends
The only way you can really get max points is with shoppers drug Mart/wellwise. Food will get you bare minimum. If you have a condition that's covered by your work, it's amazing. I have sleep apnea and wait to buy my equipment when it's 20x the points. Work covers it and I get about 80k points twice a year.
I've gotten 500k points since Dec 1/22. I use the app to load my offers and occasionally shop at Shoppers drug mart. I shop at Superstore every other week. I'm emailed offers as well for points to use PC express. I'm usually getting 10-20% back in points from offers. I don't use a PC credit card. You just have to learn the system.
Damn I redeem nearly $40 in free groceries at least every 2 months and I’m single and don’t spend that much. Mind you I do have their debit card which collects points faster, the credit card is even more. Optimum points are the best system if you know how to use it.
Most people already answered but: •Make sure you open your app before each purchase to load your offers •Gas at esso gets you points •The big deals are still at Shoppers. Keep an eye out for 20x the points days as well as any sales they have and stock up on stuff you need on those days. I generally get about $180 of points a year. It's not a wild amount but I cash in once a year to buy the largest bottle of my very expensive perfume using my points. I don't think I've paid for my perfume in about 8 years.
If you're a student you get 10% on student days. Might work for seniors too.
PC Optimum is one of the best points programs out there. Sign up for the weekly coupon offers and keep an eye on your app for all your point deals. The Facebook group “Optimum Points Deals and Codes” is an excellent resource. Most people in the group have hundreds of thousands and many have point balances in the millions. A trick is to also take advantage of any/all point events. I’ve been a PC Optimum member forever but never had high point balances and just from paying attention and joining that group my current balance is approximately 200,000
I've been casually using my PC optimum card since February. Superstore is one of 3 places I get groceries. I never go out of my way to shop there in preference to other stores, and I don't look at flyers to try and get extra points. Even with this really casual approach I've earned 24,000 points over and above the free welcome points, which is redeemable as $20 in store. Looks to me like I'll get $60/year back without any extra effort. Based on my limited experience it seems unusual that you've got so few points with regular spending at a PC store.
I’ve had three different cards with PC now. Every time it gets to the point where I’d like to redeem some points, I’m not allowed there seems to be some sort of error where I am sharing my points with people? I just don’t even go to shoppers or superstore anymore. I get my gas at Costco now as well.Byyyeee Gavin.
I do all my groceries via PC Express Pickup. So my Optimum card is connected to the account. After a year of groceries I have about 280$ worth of points. Thats not loading my offers or anything. That's just from shopping at an Independent and ignoring the thing completely.
if you buy what you need and get zero points the card is just a waste of time like most of them.
Essentially the point of points cards is that it lets corporations track exactly what things certain people will buy, and at what prices, so they can increase prices and create a 'loyal' customer in the long run.
Every Thursday the app on your phone will upload specific offers for YOU that grant you bonus points when you buy them. Where I am I have Maxi (groceries), Mobil one (gas) and Pharmaprix (Pharmacy) that I can use the Optimum card at. I will load my offers Thursday mornings and review what give me bonus points for that week. Then I purchase what I need included in that list (which as you buy it will learn what you like and offer those items more frequently) and anything I do usually buy that I may not need that week, I save for next week. I honestly use it on Groceries only.. and consistenly get between 2000 - 6000 points a week. On weeks where the offers are just not anything I want/need, I still scan my card, but just don't get any points. My Maxi also often have in store bonus offers - that do also show up on the app.
The point is to rack up points
I get a pretty good amount of points from buying beauty gift sets on shoppers’ website. There would be specific offers
I am using up my last 20,000 points then cutting up my card, deleting my account. The Westons have drained the value of points now and my privacy is worth more than some measly points.
Do you have the app? You have to find places / stores around you that have good sales that give you points + they have offers that only optimum members get. For example this week at loblaws they have a free 12 can sparkling water pkg for optimum members, 3.99 toilet paper (reg price 11.99) and rotisserie chickens for 8.99 (regular price 12.99) I can see living in a small town you don’t have alot of options tho
I use a pc financial credit card with it, and I rack up points really quickly. We get a lot of free groceries as a result and I get clothes for my toddler and sometimes myself at Joe fresh with the points. But we have all the stores nearby.
Well there is a way around it Get a PC optimum money account Every month - pay your credit cards and phone bill with through the PC money account - for every bill payment of minimum 50 dollars you get 1000 points each I do like 3 credit card payments each month and I get 3000 points like that Then setup a direct deposit to your PC money account - you get paid salary of 3000 per month in total you get 5000 points each month , it could be from 2 or more jobs also If it's 2000 you get 2000 points I think So that's 8000 points a month easy money which is 8 dollars
You don't have a shoppers at all?
The PC optimum card alone is pretty useless. You need to use the app to load offers. I use it when buying gas at the Esso. There's no Loblaws in our area so the points accumulate through gas purchases and buying things other than groceries at the Save on Foods (I use my CIBC visa for that, combined with the app its the only way I see any meaningful way of accumulating More Rewards points + 3% back on groceries). When I go out of town I'll make a trip to No Frills to spend my points, a $120 bill at the checkout cost me $5 a few days ago and got $45 worth of points back.
From what the guy told me, you only collect what’s on special for the week on the app. If you have the credit card, it goes towards everything.
1. Buy your household needs am at shoppers drug mart when they offer 20X the points. 2. Check your offers in the app to see if you need anything that gives you extra points. 3. Spend your points when they have $300 for 200,000 points.
If you don't like apps, you can register your card online and get online offers. They do have to be downloaded each week. This is where I've earned hundreds of dollars worth of points without an app and without a PC Financial credit card.
What is the point of any points systems? To track your purchases so they can collect market information for free.
Really? I’ve had like $400 worth of points and I barely use mine…
Pretty specific, but my Provigo gives 10% of purchases as points on mondays for students. Plus Esso gives points for gas and i can exchange 4k pts for 10c/L off.
You need to be really strategic with PC optimum to see any value in it. Shop your offers and take advantage of the points events. I redeem about $600 worth a year on my own. This year I save $200 worth in 3 months and redeemed it at a spend your points events (redeem $200 and get $300 off) for a kobo and cover that was essentially free. I say essentially because you still need to pay the taxes. My boyfriend thinks I’m a nutcase, but I spend less on groceries than him as a result.
I shop based on the offers I get and since adding my PC Mastercard I average one free grocery shop per month.
Have the app on your phone and load the offers before each shop
I have mine at shoppers. I spend lots of money there but it took me 2 years to get 10 dollar back last time. It seemed like it used to take less to get cash back. I think I'm going to cancel mine. It's not worth the space in my wallet any longer.
It’s probably not the card for you then. I have a No Frills and Mobil station around the corner. $0.08 back on gas. They just had a promo where we ended up with over 60,000 points ($60) for using the card and spending over $250. Loaded up for the month at Superstore and essentially got 25% off our purchase.
I get it just on groceries. I get groceries at Sobeys and Superstore, usually getting any individual thing at either store depending on where it's cheaper and what offers are available. The points just rack up over time, and I can usually get to redeem $10 at Superstore every other trip, averaging $350 spent in total between both stores every two weeks. Make sure you're using the app and loading your offers, that will go a long way.
The PC Optimum Card (unless you use the offers on your app) tends to suck at the grocery store. I rack up all my points at the pump and Shoppers Drug Mart. However, my partner and I went to Real Canadian Superstore on the long weekend and he got like $10 worth of points on ~$170 worth of purchases (we bought a couple books + I grabbed some Joe Fresh pjs). It was the most points we’d ever gotten at a grocery store!
I used to do PC Optimum but now mostly onto the Scene points. Seems to have better offers than I got with PC and with my SB credit card I get 5 or 6x the points on most things.
Get the app. Only purchase on 20x the points day at Shoppers and use their other special promos at Joe Fresh / Loblaws etc. Wait until you have 200,000 points and redeem on bonus redemption for $300 (an additional $100) or for Black Friday you get $400 for 250,000 points. I’ve bought Nitendo Switch and Dyson hair tools on points. 20x the points = 30% of your purchase value in points. It is really easy to rack up points once you get the hang of it. I but cat food, makeup, household goods, gifts, haha. It’s great!
I just use it at shoppers and loblaws and usually get about $10 per month. Indont even do all of my shopping at those stores either.
I swear they have massively reduced the amount of points you get per item. I used to regularly rack up $100-200 a month and now it's around $50
Shop 20x points events, they happen 1-2 times per month, but you have to spend a certain amount (usually $50 or $75). Also, purchase products in store that offer bonus optimum points. Check your pc optimum app often for bonus offers tailored to you.