I’ve Been Robbed! – Frustrating Rewards Points

Posted On 14 July 2023

Last updated on April 5th, 2024

Ah! Sweet points… like companies just handing us money! The truth is that they are not giving us money – we are the ones handing our hard-earned money to the companies. Earning points is encouraging and can give us a feeling of accomplishment. Seeing rewards points disappear because they expired can be disappointing and frustrating. We can even feel like we’ve been robbed!

Loyalty programs are designed to turn customers into repeat customers. Advertising is expensive. Businesses can funnel some of their advertising funds to the customers to keep them coming back again and again.

Similar to using a cash-back credit card, we are not paid to purchase goods and services. We are merely refunded a portion of our spending. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a good deal. We just need to keep this in perspective.

Don’t Buy Just for the Points (or Sale)

Getting something just because there’s extra points is like buying something you don’t need just because it’s on sale. Not a good idea! That doesn’t mean you can’t buy something different than what you were originally planning on buying.

I like Tim Horton’s Farmer’s Wraps and I like their breakfast sandwiches. When I was starting work at way too early in the morning, we would stop in and get breakfast at Tim’s. A deal on one of the items I like would determine what I would get. If there wasn’t a deal, I would usually still get one of the items I like – along with a coffee. You can read about maximizing Tim’s Rewards in this post.

Like Food, Points Have an Expiration Date

I’ve had points expire with McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, and Burger King, just to name a few. If you are wondering why I would let McDonald’s points expire while going to Tim’s, it is simple. Tim’s was open at 4:00 AM and McDonald’s wasn’t! My co-worker I and were more interested in home cooked food for dinner, so that was not a temptation for us.

Most of the rewards programs have expiry dates for their points – usually 6 months from the month they were earned. So, we need to make sure that we are using our points as well as earning them.

When Free is Too Expensive

We live in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The town is small enough that it doesn’t have a taxi service, or Uber, or Skip the Dishes! We do have a Tim Horton’s, A&W, and Dairy Queen, though.

In order to get to other fast-food restaurants, we have to drive. The closest McDonald’s is an hour away. Burger King is over 2 hours away. To get to a McDonald’s in the US takes 5 hours and crossing the border! Yes, I use both McDonald’s apps – and you can, too.

Sometimes, the cost of travel is not worth the free food. I can just let those points expire. There are some places such as Burger King that I like, but my wife is not a fan of their food. In their case, I only use the app for deals, and I ignore the “crowns” that they use with their app.

Co-Ordinate Trips

For those of you who live in rural areas, planning is the way to go for maximizing loyalty programs. For those of you in urban areas who simply restrict the amount you eat at restaurants, planning works for you, too.

When we are planning a trip to a town (city) where there are restaurants we enjoy, we will see if we have points expiring soon. If we do, but we are too far away from a reward, we will just let them expire.

Change Loyalty as Needed

For a while we used Petro Points as our main fueling loyalty program. Then, we discovered Journey Rewards. The Journey Rewards works better for us – mainly because they partner with our bank. That partnership saves us 3 cents per liter every time we pump gas. (Petro Points partnered up with RBC.)

Maybe a change is needed because of a move, the local restaurant closed, or maybe the menu, food quality, or employees’ attitudes changed. It doesn’t matter what the reason. We need to focus on what is best for us and what meets our needs.

We have also seen a loyalty program decline (at least for us!). Air Miles helped us get hotel rooms and amusement park entrance fees for free. Over the years, the miles became harder to earn and more expensive to redeem. The final blow for us was when our local Safeway (our main source of Air Miles) was rebranded as FreshCo. We still have an Air Miles account, but no way to earn significant miles.

Use ‘Em or Lose ‘Em

I recommend earning points with a purpose. When you start using a loyalty program the most important part is determining if the rewards are worth it for you. The next step is to start earning. We tend to “live and learn” when starting with a new loyalty program.

After we have built up a decent points balance, we need to use them. Don’t be afraid to use your points – that’s what you have them for! We need to learn the rules for the loyalty programs we use. Know when (or if) the points expire. Then, we can work the rewards into our own personal financial plan.

Spending a little time figuring out how to get the most out of a loyalty program, we can take very inexpensive vacations. We have to eat and put gas in the car. Why not save money and get some perks for getting those things? Just learn to pick the best loyalty programs and then maximize the rewards to fit into your finances and lifestyle.