There are a few very common mistakes and/or misconceptions made by thousands of Rewards Program members on a daily basis when they redeem their particular rewards.  In anticipation of 10%/5% Tuesday’s at Sobeys tomorrow I felt time was of the essence to address the two most common ones.

     Most people have heard someone say….’I’m saving my points up for Christmas baking, or for when we go camping or for whatever special type of day or season they expect to experience increased grocery expenses.  Or ….’I’m saving mine up to see how high I can go!’

     Then on the opposite side of the scenario where many will redeem as soon as they have reached a particular redemption level, which can be a very $avvy $hopping habit - IF it’s not below the best valued redemption level!

     The Club Sobeys Rewards Program is really no different than many out there in that if rewards are redeemed too early or collected and saved for a long period of time (hoarded), the value of the reward is actually decreased.

1.       Redeeming too early - Club Sobeys Rewards Redemption threshold maximizes at the $30.00 or 3,750 point redemption level.  The value per point decreases below this level, which of course computes to lower savings for the member. 

The lower savings value on a point by point comparison may not amount to all that much for one lower level redemption.  The difference between redeeming rewards six times per month for a $5.00 savings ($30.00/month) and redeeming rewards once per month for a $30.00 savings over a 12 month period will cost enough extra points for close to an additional $60.00 off your grocery expenses for the year.

2.       Collecting too long - The longer rewards are collected and held onto increases the risk of having the cost of inflation taking a bite out of the value per dollar spent to earn the reward.  The cost of living index rarely goes down so the longer it is before rewards are redeemed affect not the point value but rather the value per dollar spent at the time the reward was earned.

i.e.  You earned enough rewards last month to redeem this month and a product on your shopping list is priced at $5.00.  Hanging onto that reward for a couple of more months or longer may result in that same product then being priced at $5.50 – however the amount you spent to earn that reward has not decreased to close the value gap, it has remained the same.
 
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