Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[mort1331]

The gift card thing came about because of hackers. Would you not think that after that the folks at Loblaw would have added pin numbers or something to secure the accounts?

Perhaps in future I should not stock pile my points either. Depending on how this goes I might just start buying gift cards every few weeks with my groceries and put them away.

I have over 500000 stocked and I am not changing, they have to do better at securing.

 

[isabellea]

OMG....my 220,000 PC Optimum points have been redeemed by someone and that someone was not me. It was made on a click and collect purchase on a day that I was home all day.

I save my points all year long because usually around this time I am off work for a few weeks without pay. I pay for all our groceries so having them covered with points doesn't disrupt anything else....savings, vacay fund etc.

OMG!!! I would be so pissed! I am happy I used my 90K PC points as soon as I could (I was afraid something like that would happen). I hope you get that resolved quickly!

 

[Aladora]

Well, Thrifty Foods is getting crappier and crappier! Two weeks ago is was 198 AM, last week was 194 and this week? Up to 158 Airmiles!

 

[Pumpkin1172]

Sobeys West flyer is absolute garbage for airmiles this week.

and it's even worse (only 1 airmails offer in the entire flyer).

I agree...the west flyer majorly SUCKS!!!! Guess if those people who are shopping for AM and Points will go to where they get the most bang for their buck. Let's hope they learn their lesson soon and start giving us some good Am out west on a regular basis.

 

[isabellea]

Well, Thrifty Foods is getting crappier and crappier! Two weeks ago is was 198 AM, last week was 194 and this week? Up to 158 Airmiles!

Funny how our expectations are different based on where we live. If IGA in QC was offering that kind of AM I would be overjoyed! I rarely get more than 15-20 AM per flyer around here. This week I was happy because they had buy 3 Tostitos products and get 15 AM!!!

 

[Donald - my hero]

Funny how our expectations are different based on where we live. If IGA in QC was offering that kind of AM I would be overjoyed! I rarely get more than 15-20 AM per flyer around here. This week I was happy because they had buy 3 Tostitos products and get 15 AM!!!

Beat me to the punch! I'm lucky if we get anything more than 15/ week at Metro (and that includes our targeted offers!) My account is pathetic this year and don't think it will get much better now that Rexall has dropped the threshold spend, both LnG AND email coupons.

 

[Aladora]

Funny how our expectations are different based on where we live. If IGA in QC was offering that kind of AM I would be overjoyed! I rarely get more than 15-20 AM per flyer around here. This week I was happy because they had buy 3 Tostitos products and get 15 AM!!!

Beat me to the punch! I'm lucky if we get anything more than 15/ week at Metro (and that includes our targeted offers!) My account is pathetic this year and don't think it will get much better now that Rexall has dropped the threshold spend, both LnG AND email coupons.

158 is not the number of Airmiles I am going to get...that is the maximum amount offered in the entire flyer. In order to get that amount, I would have to pick up every single offer including things such as baby and dog food, neither of which I have! Also, a $35 International Women's Day bouquet which would get me a staggering 3AM. Ugh. Thrifty Foods also does not really have targeted offers.

Going through the flyer, it seems like I will max out at 20AM, if I buy 2X mayonnaise ($4/ea) and 2X Bear Paws ($3/ea). So, spending $14 for 20AM, not a great ratio.

We leave next Thursday for Mexico so I'm not going to be doing a big shop this week anyway but the offerings are really cruddy.

 

[Donald - my hero]

158 is not the number of Airmiles I am going to get...that is the maximum amount offered in the entire flyer. In order to get that amount, I would have to pick up every single offer including things such as baby and dog food, neither of which I have! Also, a $35 International Women's Day bouquet which would get me a staggering 3AM. Ugh. Thrifty Foods also does not really have targeted offers.

Going through the flyer, it seems like I will max out at 20AM, if I buy 2X mayonnaise ($4/ea) and 2X Bear Paws ($3/ea). So, spending $14 for 20AM, not a great ratio.

We leave next Thursday for Mexico so I'm not going to be doing a big shop this week anyway but the offerings are really cruddy.

oh i get that, Sorry for the confusion! The only time Metro is good for the miles is when our targeted offers line up with flyer specials. We shop there because there are food products we can't get elsewhere and are at a point in our lives where we can be (as our kids refer to us) grocery snobs & Airmile ___ (insert word for someone who sells their "product" on the street corner ) For giggles sake i went thru the flyer & added up the total $$ i would need to spend to get the max miles in the Metro flyer.... I would need to spend $131.27 to get only 110 miles some of the more ridiculous offers are $6.99 for fish get 2 miles $4.99 for bacon get 1 mile & $8.99 for chicken wings would net me 3 miles

 

[isabellea]

158 is not the number of Airmiles I am going to get...that is the maximum amount offered in the entire flyer. In order to get that amount, I would have to pick up every single offer including things such as baby and dog food, neither of which I have! Also, a $35 International Women's Day bouquet which would get me a staggering 3AM. Ugh. Thrifty Foods also does not really have targeted offers.

Going through the flyer, it seems like I will max out at 20AM, if I buy 2X mayonnaise ($4/ea) and 2X Bear Paws ($3/ea). So, spending $14 for 20AM, not a great ratio.

We leave next Thursday for Mexico so I'm not going to be doing a big shop this week anyway but the offerings are really cruddy.

20AM would be what IGA has in its flyer on average, total. Most AM offers are when you buy certain bottle of wine or coffee and I don't drink either. And no targeted offers every week for us either so I often come back with less than 10 AM when shopping there. Now I go just for the rare AM products. Last weekend I bought 2 packs of cheese for my kids (3AM each), 2 Tostitos salsas and 1 bag of Tostitos chips (15AM/3). I got 22 AM for 27$ and I was super happy! Planning on going tonight for more salsa and chips. Rachelle-Béry (also owned by Sobeys) is kind of like Whole Foods and they usually have better AM offfers. Since I am dairy-free, I try to go when they have good offers like 2AM per carton of cashew milk or 2AM per Amy's soup and stock up. It's a 30 minutes drive to go to R-B but sometimes it's worth it and they do have more DF choices than IGA or Walmart. The rarity of AM at IGA is the reason I drive 1h/way to Foodland in ON when they have big offers and since R-B is on that route, I stop there too. The rest of the time, I do my grocery shopping at Walmart and get AM from my BMO Mastercard!

 

[bababear_50]

A few observations and comments:
As we (my family) seem to be shopping at No Frills more these past two months I asked my son to pick up a PC points card,,,the thing is if I can now start getting some half decent deals at Shoppers I may end up not doing Rexall and airmiles anymore. I was really hopeful for this weeks flyers and to be honest there is nothing in all of the three grocery stores that offer any miles. For me to have to drive to Foodland to check out the airmiles in store is just not going to happen as it is just to far away. Sobeys I guess I could go in and check but again it seems unlikely that I am going to do that every week.
Metro I kind of stopped shopping there a year ago unless I saw some good offers and it actually is the closest to my home.
I am not sure if Airmiles is having Sponsor/Partner issues or internal company issues but something is definitely wrong.
10 weeks of bad offers is just to much for me.
I am not quite ready to jump ship completely but will be trying the PC points option over the next month.

Hugs Mel

 

[Donald - my hero]

A few observations and comments:
As we (my family) seem to be shopping at No Frills more these past two months I asked my son to pick up a PC points card,,,the thing is if I can now start getting some half decent deals at Shoppers I may end up not doing Rexall and airmiles anymore. I was really hopeful for this weeks flyer and to be honest there is nothing in all of the three grocery stores that offer any miles. For me to have to drive to Foodland to check out the airmiles in store is just not going to happen as it is just to far away. Sobeys I guess I could go in and check but again it seems unlikely that I am going to do that every week.
Metro I kind of stopped shopping there a year ago unless I saw some good offers and it actually is the closest to my home.
I am not sure if Airmiles is having Sponsor/Partner issues or internal company issues but something is definitely wrong.
10 weeks of bad offers is just to much for me.
I am quite ready to jump ship completely but will be trying the PC points option over the next month.

Hugs Mel

If I'm not mistaken the offers that are in-store for Sobeys/Foodland are good for the entire month and Metro is having more of those as well (the stupid piddly ones are often in the flyer once and then still on the shelf for at least 2 weeks)

For us I could walk to Zehrs if i needed to it's that close, as well as Food Basics & No Frills but they just don't carry enough of the products we need to buy anyway. I wish Metro still price-matched so I could take advantage of some of the other offers. I don't like that our Zehrs is MASSIVE but seems to carry an incredibly PC-heavy inventory and we can't eat most of those products. For example there is only one kind of PB i can eat and they don't have it but they have at least 3 shelves full of their own brand.

I agree that there is some serious problem somewhere on the chain and if things don't change soon we'll be doing some research into other credit card offers & switching back to mostly Shoppers vs Rexall.

 

[bababear_50]

There are actually better grocery items on sale right now at Giant Tiger
https://flyers.smartcanucks.ca/canada/giant-tiger-on-flyer-march-7-to-13/all

Hugs Mel

***And they always have my Kraft peanut butter on sale.***
**And my Pur Filtre Milk*****

 

[Donald - my hero]

There are actually better grocery items on sale right now at Giant Tiger
https://flyers.smartcanucks.ca/canada/giant-tiger-on-flyer-march-7-to-13/all

Hugs Mel

***And they always have my Kraft peanut butter on sale.***
**And my Pur Filtre Milk*****

YES! I love me my GT!!!!! They have some of the best deals on the basics and I love, love LOVE that they are CDN. I will often head there on foot to get a few things -- their price for honey (that is CDN as well BTW) is hands down the best to be found.

 

[Aladora]

20AM would be what IGA has in its flyer on average, total. Most AM offers are when you buy certain bottle of wine or coffee and I don't drink either. And no targeted offers every week for us either so I often come back with less than 10 AM when shopping there. Now I go just for the rare AM products. Last weekend I bought 2 packs of cheese for my kids (3AM each), 2 Tostitos salsas and 1 bag of Tostitos chips (15AM/3). I got 22 AM for 27$ and I was super happy! Planning on going tonight for more salsa and chips. Rachelle-Béry (also owned by Sobeys) is kind of like Whole Foods and they usually have better AM offfers. Since I am dairy-free, I try to go when they have good offers like 2AM per carton of cashew milk or 2AM per Amy's soup and stock up. It's a 30 minutes drive to go to R-B but sometimes it's worth it and they do have more DF choices than IGA or Walmart. The rarity of AM at IGA is the reason I drive 1h/way to Foodland in ON when they have big offers and since R-B is on that route, I stop there too. The rest of the time, I do my grocery shopping at Walmart and get AM from my BMO Mastercard!

Ugh, that sucks. At least you seem to have a few options for where to shop to get AM, since they took away all the Vancouver Island Safeway stores, we are down to Thrifty Foods, Shell and Rexall. Sure wish we could get Airmiles at BC Liquor Stores like you can at LCBO!

 

[pigletto]

A few observations and comments:
As we (my family) seem to be shopping at No Frills more these past two months I asked my son to pick up a PC points card,,,the thing is if I can now start getting some half decent deals at Shoppers I may end up not doing Rexall and airmiles anymore. I was really hopeful for this weeks flyers and to be honest there is nothing in all of the three grocery stores that offer any miles. For me to have to drive to Foodland to check out the airmiles in store is just not going to happen as it is just to far away. Sobeys I guess I could go in and check but again it seems unlikely that I am going to do that every week.
Metro I kind of stopped shopping there a year ago unless I saw some good offers and it actually is the closest to my home.
I am not sure if Airmiles is having Sponsor/Partner issues or internal company issues but something is definitely wrong.
10 weeks of bad offers is just to much for me.
I am not quite ready to jump ship completely but will be trying the PC points option over the next month.

Hugs Mel

Yep I am with you . I’ll do Sobey’s big promos like Mega Miles as they are always lucrative . I’m using SDM and Nofrills for the vast majority of my shopping though . Good luck to Sobey’s and Rexall and their ridiculously high prices if they continue to scale back on their rewards . It doesn’t make sense for me to shop there . I have a goal to save my PC points until Christmas and then use them at SDM for a bonus redemption day for all my stocking stuffers. Then I will do a giant Christmas grocery shop at Nofrills and Zehrs. I think I can get to $500 to redeem in December .

 

[Disney Addicted]

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted about booking a hotel through Air Miles. I am sorry for such a long delay.

Everytime I look on the Hub, prices are a lot more. I would have to get a good amount of miles to pay extra on purpose.

I only looked at 3-4 hotels but yes, they were too much more to be worth it for me.

I have booked my hotels using my AM. For me, I was easy, and nice to know that my hotel was already paid for and wasn't an extra expense to pay for
But the way I look at the AM I have collected... I have these miles because I have bought items that I have needed...so here is a bonus. It not EXTRA money coming out of my pocket for a vacation. It helps to offset the price of it. For me...I look at my Am that I get as free cash back. I hunt for AM deals on products that our family can use. I have some time and energy to spend on doing this to save some $$$ for a vacation. Even if we are heading to the " big city " for the weekend away with our boys, or planning a big trip somewhere. It's not extra $$$ I have to shell out for something.

Yes, I totally agree! Unfortunately I was not looking to *use* my air miles to pay for a hotel, but book a hotel paying cash and hopefully earn some air miles in the process. Maybe I'll luck out another time.

I always look several ways, first thru the Travel Hub to get a feel for how many miles i could earn, then Hotel .com and then the hotel's direct site. There have been a few times when the price is either similar or just slightly more via the hub and in that case i will use that and get more miles, often the cheapest is hotel .com and for every 10 nights i get 1 free (plus sling shot thru the AM portal and earn miles). I will book thru the hotel direct site if i can get a better deal using our CAA discount or get something extra thru their loyalty programme... basically whatever's cheapest!!!

The travel hub is different that booking thru the Airmiles site WITH AM, you book, pay for the hotel and EARN miles.

I'm glad to hear that. That's what I was hoping would work out in my scenario. I wouldn't have mind paying a little bit extra if the air miles were worth it. I'll try it again when we need a hotel another time. Which isn't very often in our case. But this time around it was just so much cheaper to book direct than with Air Miles. Thanks!

 

[Disney Addicted]

Dancing Disney Style -> WOW! Sounds like you had a good time. I love your photos!

I booked an hotel in California for April and it was the same price than Expedia plus I get extra AM! Last year I also booked a hotel in FL and it was only 5$ more than on Expedia so for the bonus AM I booked it (I think I got 100 or 150 bonus AM for that one).

Awesome!! Hope I find a deal like that one day.

So I want to thank whoever it was that brought up the travel hub through airmiles! I didn't know about it, so figured I would look through it. They had my hotel I booked through expedia, for 60 cents less lol, for my trip in October with a bonus 115 AM.

LOL You're welcome. It was me almost a month ago now. I'm glad it worked out for you!

 

[Disney Addicted]

Side note:
Last Wednesday I walked out of my school and crossed the street like I do everyday....break time.
I was one step from the curb when a Mississauga transit bus made a too wide left hand turn onto the street I was crossing. I don't think he even saw me until it was too late, in a split second I nearly lost my life. I threw myself sideways forward (snow bank)and I am safe but it has really made me appreciate every day.

Holy crap! I'm glad you are all right. Man, that must have freaked you out for awhile. Did he stop when he saw you throw yourself out of the way?

 

[Disney Addicted]

I"m not sure what type of gift card you will be purchasing. but i recently found out that any Mastercard or Visa gc you purchase if they are not used within a year...they will start to charge you 4.95 per month to " hold and keep the card active " for you. I found this out when one of our sons was finally using a GC he got as an xmas gift last year ( 2016 ) and it wasn't worth it's full value. When I called them about it...that's what I was told. I made a fuss over it because it was one for our kids and they did send me a small valued card to appease me. But I was NOT impressed. So this is just a heads up if you were going to purchase a Mastercard or Visa one.

WHAT???? Oh you have got to be kidding me. I thought it was illegal to do this. I have a $100 prepaid VISA GC my husband insisted on purchasing quite a while ago and never used. Plus a $250 VISA GC I won back last July. I put them aside to save for a trip.

I'm so glad you posted this and I read through all my missed pages instead of skipping. I better check the balance of these tomorrow. I guess I'll use them towards groceries and give myself the cash out of our grocery money instead.

 

[mort1331]

WHAT???? Oh you have got to be kidding me. I thought it was illegal to do this. I have a $100 prepaid VISA GC my husband insisted on purchasing quite a while ago and never used. Plus a $250 VISA GC I won back last July. I put them aside to save for a trip.

I'm so glad you posted this and I read through all my missed pages instead of skipping. I better check the balance of these tomorrow. I guess I'll use them towards groceries and give myself the cash out of our grocery money instead.

Yes as reported prepaid credit xards have different rules then individual store cards. Also those cards for shoppinh malls ie. Yorkdale to use in any store. Same as xredit cards. They can after 1 year start charging admin fee