Shopper’s Optimum Points – A Guide to help you get more for free

Shopper’s Optimum Points – A Guide to help you get more for free

~ written by Antieeboo

There are a ton of customer loyalty rewards programs out there but in my humble opinion, Shopper’s Optimum Points has to be the best, and the easiest one by far.

If you haven’t yet signed up for this free program, you should.

So what’s the big deal you might be asking? Well, free stuff is a pretty big deal if you ask me.

Here’s how it works:

For every dollar you spend at Shoppers Drug Mart, you get 10 points. When you have accumulated a certain level of points, you can redeem them to a certain dollar value off your purchase. For example, when you have 8,000 points, you can redeem them to get $10 off your purchase. The beauty of it is, the more points you accumulate before redeeming them, the higher the dollar value. Currently, the top redemption level is 95,000 points = $170 off your purchases.

Everything you purchase at SDM is eligible for points with some exceptions (lottery, gift cards other than SDM, prescriptions, etc.) and almost all the same exceptions apply to redemptions. But if you are buying food stuffs, diapers, cleaning supplies, make up, perfume, chips, pop, greeting cards and the like, they all qualify.

I have cashed in my points toward the purchase of electronics (a camera and a video game) before the holidays to help reduce my spending.

How in the world can you accumulate 95,000 points? (That’s like $950 spent in real money!)

I conveniently live across the street from a SDM. I buy my milk there, and it is almost always the lowest price in my area. The grocery stores charge at least five to ten cents more for a 4L bag of 2% milk, so I always buy at SDM. That nearly $5 I spend on milk earns 50 points every single time I buy milk. If I only buy one bag of milk per week (and we buy more than that), that’s easily 2,600 points earned just on one product.

If you have a bank card or credit card that is associated with Shoppers, you can earn points on purchases made at other retailers as well. It would be best to check out their website for those details. I don’t have either of those cards.

But the biggest tip I have ever heard of is to buy a SDM gift card before you do your shopping. That’s right. Before.

If you are going to spend $50 (which is not very hard to do, especially if you are buying diapers), go into the store, and purchase a $50 SDM gift card first. You earn 500 points on purchasing just the card. You can then go about your shopping, picking up your milk, eggs, facial tissues or whatever. When you get to the cashier, pay for your purchases with the gift card you purchased only moments before. If your total comes to $50, you will earn another 500 points. This is the easiest and quickest way to double your points.

Look for bonus point products and bonus point events.

SDM often has 20X the point events, so if you purchase $75 worth of products on that day it will be worth it to buy then. Instead of earning the regular amount of 750 points, you would earn 15,000. There is usually a minimum amount that you have to purchase to qualify ($50 or $75) for the bonus.

Bonus point products are easy to spot while you are shopping. Usually, where the price tag is on the shelf, there will be a sticker saying that you can earn 300 Bonus Points (or something to that effect) on this product.

Probably the best value you can get for your money using Optimum Points is the Super Redemption Weekend. SDM holds this event only once per year and it is usually during the first part of December. During this event, redeeming your points for top value, 95,000 points will get you $250 of free product.

That $80 more than a regular redemption!

This event typically happens just before the holidays, so it could really help to take the pressure off my finances. I could get several small gifts, some stocking stuffers, or stock up on food stuffs and beverages for the holidays.

That’s it in a nutshell; How to use the Optimum Point Program to your advantage.

I have not been paid in any manner by Shoppers Drug mart for this article nor did they ask me to publish this. All information contained in this article is of my own opinion, and from information I gathered myself. All errors and omissions are mine as well.