A year or so ago Safeway gave out more than they do now.
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I would like to know what you guys in Montreal do to get the most Air Miles possible. At 1 per $20 with the BMO card, it' going to take me an eternity. I do, however, try to shop at IGA, where you can double dip, when the basics I need come with bonus Air Miles. Also, I had my HBC rewards converted into Air Miles. I was thinking about getting the HBC credit card so I can also double dip when I buy at any HBC store and therefore get more miles. What do you guys think?
I like these points. Very good. But sometimes some people can only afford KD or HH, eh? The food bank only goes so long for some of the families.
True. All the more reason to be a prudent shopper. Whether you're wealthy or poor or in between you should avoid chasing fake 'deals', buying products you don't need, or being 'penny wise but pound foolish'. The wealthy people I know don't shop at safeway or collect airmiles. They buy at Whole Foods and don't even worry about the price. But I suspect many of the same people who think they can only afford low quality processed food like Kraft Dinner haven't actually compared the cost of buying better, 'less convenient' food - like making your own pasta, maybe with a few roasted veggies in it instead of flourescent orange powder. ;-)
It depends on the Safeway store manager. I found one store in my city where they would allow me to pay for the stuffs that have bonus AM on for that week if they are sold out, then they would put in a special order for the quantity I pay for already. So I would receive the bonus AM before it is over and get the stuffs next week. But the other stores wouldn't allow me to pay for things first if they don't have in stock in the store.
Thanks for all your tips, guys. Im currently sitting at 201 airmiles which have mostly come from surveys and a couple from Metro. I find getting airmiles is hard, because most stores have a specific "spend x get 1 airmile" policy, instead of "get 1 airmile for every dollar you spend" type thing. These tips will definitely help out.
Thank-you for the well articulated, informative post. Question for any Safeway shopper out there: have you noticed that the Safeway bonus air miles sometimes don't show up in your account? I've made the minimum $100 purchases twice, in order to get the bonus miles, both times the points didn't come. Chatting with one of the cashiers since then, she noted that many other customers have told her the same thing. Perhaps my store? Thoughts?
Hmm, that might be a store thing. It used to be harder to track airmiles earned at Safeway, but for the past year or so all the Safeways I visit display a summary of the airmiles right on the receipt, including bonus airmiles. Do you see that on your receipts?
Another "best practice" to add to the list is to hang onto these receipts and when airmiles.ca finally updates you can double-check that your account was credited correctly. That's what I've been doing for a while now and I have never seen any of these "receipted" airmiles go missing -- the only time I had airmiles go astray was when I had to go to the safeway customer service desk to have them manually write up some missing airmiles in their little binder. Don't know if those airmiles ever get sent in...
I too use my Air Miles to buy Best Western Gift Cards. Also Marlin Travel accepts Air Miles when you book a trip with them. I save $2,300 on our last riverboat cruise by cashing in my Air Miles for Marlin Travel Gift Cards.
I love my Air Miles!!!
The best place I've found in my area to collect is at the Pharmasave. You get one AM for every $10 before taxes (excluding prescriptions, tickets) and you get a bonus AM for most Pharmasave Brand products (excluding water, paper products). You can really rack up the AM's there.
I trade in my AM for Sobeys Gift Certificates then use the gift certificates to buy Gift Cards for other stores that I want to shop at.
All in all, it's a win-win situation. I'm on a very limited budget and every little bit helps, so if I watch my purchasing I can redeem my Miles every so often for my choise of rewards. Whether it's for groceries or restaurants or department stores and many other things, you can get them all at Sobeys.
Wow! That's some enthusiasm! I guess we shouldn't be concerned about the Airmiles program shriveling up anytime soon. :-)
In my neighbourhood Pharmasave is not very competitive. Again, for me it's not about racking up airmiles for their own sake but rather what kind of price discount they amount to.
The 1 airmile per $10 doesn't impress me -- that's an 11 or 13 cent discount on a $10 purchase, not even worth considering. A 50c coupon for a tube of toothpaste is worth four times that!
The only thing I buy at Pharmasave is Terry's chocolate oranges to put in our Christmas stockings - they always have them at a great price the week before Christmas. But most of the day-to-day prices (at my local store anyway) are too high to make them a regular stop. And I spend mostly on food, not beauty or personal care products, so they don't have a lot of what I need in my weekly shopping.
Actually, to be fair Pharmasave does have some good prices in their flyer -- like most stores, they showcase a few items with big discounts to get you in the door. So long as you are careful and don't buy stuff that's not "on sale" then Pharmasave can be another good option. That's true about Safeway too -- especially lately their offers haven't been as good as in the past. And I stay away from Safeway's high prices and questionable quality in their produce section. But at least Safeway has big bonus airmiles deals on foodstuffs that really make a substantial discount.
I get most of my airmiles at the LCBO - not sure what that says about me :lol:.
It still is not a lot but at Christmas time it can add up especially if you buy wine that has bonus points.
I'm ready to redeem for a Metro giftcard. Where do I go to do this. I know......silly question.
"use ALL safeway Spend$100Get100 coupons - you can find one version in the flyer, another on email or online -- they have different PLU codes so although technically you shouldn't be able to use both at the same time, the computer will accept them (insist your cashier scan both for you or find another cashier) "
i didnt know that! thats very informative. thank you very much.