Shoppers Optimum Points Spreadsheet - Update on Post #1

[Poobah]

Hey Guys!

I'm just going to go ahead and keep the most updated version of the Spreadsheet right here in the first Post. Makes sense to me anyway. I think.

If anyone finds any error's or has suggestions on what they would like to see, please do tell. I certainly hope to improve things as time goes on. (I'm currently thinking about fun facts we can put on the top of the sheet).

Spreadsheet last Updated October 19, 2014 - Attachments at the bottom of this post.

• Corrected a few minor error's where I neglected to draw upon fixed cell addresses.
• Renamed a few column headings for clarity
• Added a No-Promo calculation to the upper section for interest sake.
• Added the Gift card points accumulation total to the top.
• Added new best buy information, including an entire new column (rainbow).

So it goes something like this....

The spreadsheet might look intimidating at first.. but you actually only have to enter data into the white boxes and then only if applicable to you... all shaded boxes take care of themselves. And the Bright Yellow boxes have pulldown menu's. In reality you don't really have to enter very much data at all. If you don't use a Master card, just Put NO in the appropriate box at the top. If you don't load giftcards, don't put anything in that column. (keep in mind if you do use a credit card the spread sheet will assume you always do, whether its at purchase or if loading giftcards) The Spreadsheet is smart enough not to count points twice.

The data currently in the spreadsheet is all factual data from me over the last few months. (yes I realize I went crazy). I only wish I kept track of coupons deductions early on, and knew the tricks of using them better. I still screw that up quite a bit, and if I didn't my results would be even greater.

Currently I only have full functionality with 18500 / $75 and the 20x / $50 promotions at the moment - but other points can be input into the appropriate column and a lot of other promotions can be entered as a cash back coupon etc.. For the most part this spreadsheet accurately keeps track of everything I do.

In the future I'd like to add functionality in terms of keeping track of redeemed points and other special coupons like the 95000 / 30000 points back... but since I started keeping track, I haven't yet had an opportunity for a good points redemption. (come on baby, I know your around the corner.)

Make sure you fool around with the top part of the screen too.. You can change your 95000 point redemption value to whatever you think your reality is.. 170, 200, 250? just to see how it plays with the numbers (Saving Factor). And feel free to see how much you save on every day purchases.

Here's what it looks like and the actual excel sheet is attached below.

October 19, 2014 - 2nd update of the day. *whew*

[thor9]

After 200 views and no response yet, I'm going to blindly guess "no" ... but here's hoping you've grabbed yourself one of those granola bars for what sounds like a great reinvention and will share with us your analytical statistical chart ..... patiently waiting. TIA!

[lecale]

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[lecale]

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[scouponer]

Wow that sounds like a lot of work...even with the best of intentions I would not keep it up. But I am sure it is an interesting exercise.

[josask]

I've set one up that I use more as a calculator to see if it's worth buying something. I've got the following:
Item/price /less person. coup/adj. price/less manu coupon/final price
Reg pts/bonus pts/multiplier pts/total pts
value of pts at 500pts=$1
net price (price paid - value of pts)

I just use it to give me a rough idea. I could make it more accurate based on the various redemption values, but this is good enough for me

[annedougherty]

Honestly I don't buy anything at SDM unless it is somewhere between a great to insane deal lol. So if I am getting it for points I have already worked it out and that as far as I'm going to take it.

[lecale]

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[Poobah]

Wow that sounds like a lot of work...even with the best of intentions I would not keep it up. But I am sure it is an interesting exercise.

Hey everyone thanks for the replies... I've been busy working my butt off all week. Really been hard to the grind lately, 129 hours on my paystub yesterday (thankfully 41 Overtime.)

Anyway, yes as a lovely forum member pointed out.. It's actually very fast and easy to enter stuff into a spreadsheet.. the hard part is just setting it up right, once it is... You can utilize drop down menu's for various major promotion days and or coupons... and then use if statements based on those selections to calculate the proper amount of bonus points etc..

I don't go as far to enter each item I'm buying though... that would certainly be a bit more work, but doable as well.

When I have a chance to work on it more... and I feel it will meet with a certain degree of scrutiny, I'll share it. lol

Have a wonderful day Everyone!

[Poobah]

Oh crud.. I also noticed something spooky on my S4 Galaxy the other day..

When I go shopping at shoppers and since I only shop on 18500 or similar promotions I use my calculator on my phone to add up my minimum purchase amount... I was freaked out that as soon as I pulled my phone out, it new where I was and automatically opened the calculator for me. lol

Weird.

Okay later!

[shopperwho]

wow!!

Oh crud.. I also noticed something spooky on my S4 Galaxy the other day..

When I go shopping at shoppers and since I only shop on 18500 or similar promotions I use my calculator on my phone to add up my minimum purchase amount... I was freaked out that as soon as I pulled my phone out, it new where I was and automatically opened the calculator for me. lol

Weird.

Okay later!

[tobiwobi]

I would be interested in the spreadsheet if anyone would like to share theirs.

I just did a major redemption and am basically starting from scratch collecting points. I would like to know exactly how much it cost me to accumulate the points.

It would be disappointing to find out that the average % cash back is similar to a good cash back credit card, for example, but I went through all the hoops like printing personalized coupons and watching out for events, etc. But I think it should be better % cash back. At least that's my impression, I would like to use a spreadsheet to find out for sure.

Those "you saved $XX" at the bottom of the receipt are kind of meaningless because their prices are so much higher than anywhere else.

[Poobah]

I would be interested in the spreadsheet if anyone would like to share theirs.

I just did a major redemption and am basically starting from scratch collecting points. I would like to know exactly how much it cost me to accumulate the points.

It would be disappointing to find out that the average % cash back is similar to a good cash back credit card, for example, but I went through all the hoops like printing personalized coupons and watching out for events, etc. But I think it should be better % cash back. At least that's my impression, I would like to use a spreadsheet to find out for sure.

Those "you saved $XX" at the bottom of the receipt are kind of meaningless because their prices are so much higher than anywhere else.

I do have a pretty good working spreadsheet.. its not perfect and it's not optimized for easy use yet. But only takes me a 20 seconds to fillout after shopping.

I'll endeavour to make it more user friendly this weekend.. It's a promise.

But I can tell you it's way better then your typical cash back.. In fact it's crazy better. The trick is only buy sale items and only when there is big points incentives... Basically 18500 when $75 is the best promotion (but people don't want to spend 75 bucks.. to those people I say phewy, your actually wasting money by not taking advantage of this offer), of coarse you don't want to spend much more then $75 bucks to get the best return... Any buy x for XXXX points is great if the item is on sale too.

20x points promotion are good if you can match that with 10 or 15 or 20x point items for 30 to 40x points, but I find that harder to do, unless your a Woman buying Makeup or other beautifying items. Other then that, you can use 20x promotions are GREAT if you need to buy something much more then 75 bucks. Like a PS4 for instance. (I recently bought a PS4 and Galaxy Tablet, for 730 bucks, and got 300 bucks worth of points back... that's HUGE).

Some other promotions can be good too... I once got a email offer of spend 60 and get 20 back (which was essentially 1/3rd of already half price sale items.) Other Personallized offers are also top notch... Like 8000 points if you buy $30 on food or snacks, or 2000 points when buying any papertowels. Some promotions like the last mentioned can be combined on a 18500 point promotion day for upwards of 26000 points on an expenditure of just 75 dollars. (I've done that more then a few times.)

Short Form of Post

A. I'll get a spreadsheet out next weekend.
B. 18500 promotions are best and only buy sale items.
C. Personallized Coupon offers... X points when you buy $__ of items.. Or X points when buying X item. Combine with other promotions!
D. 20x Promotions are next best, specially when combined with Multi point items (but the seldom happens)
E. Cash or coupon back type promotions ie. spend 60 get 20 back.. Spend 75 get 20 back.

The key is... Stick to sale items, cause shoppers sale items are in par with competitors and I find they cycle more frequently.

My factor thus far for calculating savings is ~60% of the my purchase price. For instance I only buy cookies at 1.99.. So my end of day price is 1.99 x .60 = $1.20

Keep in mind I Capitalize on all the above by always preloading my gift card with my Shopper MasterCard, thus getting an extra 25 points per dollar spent. Doesn't sound like much, but on my PS4 and Tablet purchase that amounted to about 20000 points right there.

[tobiwobi]

I think I am going to go with:
Date; Products; Total Paid; Points Earned; Overpay; Points Redeemed worth - overpay

Overpay is for tracking how much more I spend at Shoppers that I would have anywhere else, it reduces the value of points redeemed.

So for example today I bought milk and ferrero, paid $5.97 earned 50 points and overpaid $0.79 (ferrero was 1.79 when it can be had for $1 elsewhere.

[tobiwobi]

I do have a pretty good working spreadsheet.. its not perfect and it's not optimized for easy use yet. But only takes me a 20 seconds to fillout after shopping.

I'll endeavour to make it more user friendly this weekend.. It's a promise.

But I can tell you it's way better then your typical cash back.. In fact it's crazy better. The trick is only buy sale items and only when there is big points incentives... Basically 18500 when $75 is the best promotion (but people don't want to spend 75 bucks.. to those people I say phewy, your actually wasting money by not taking advantage of this offer), of coarse you don't want to spend much more then $75 bucks to get the best return... Any buy x for XXXX points is great if the item is on sale too.

20x points promotion are good if you can match that with 10 or 15 or 20x point items for 30 to 40x points, but I find that harder to do, unless your a Woman buying Makeup or other beautifying items. Other then that, you can use 20x promotions are GREAT if you need to buy something much more then 75 bucks. Like a PS4 for instance. (I recently bought a PS4 and Galaxy Tablet, for 730 bucks, and got 300 bucks worth of points back... that's HUGE).

Some other promotions can be good too... I once got a email offer of spend 60 and get 20 back (which was essentially 1/3rd of already half price sale items.) Other Personallized offers are also top notch... Like 8000 points if you buy $30 on food or snacks, or 2000 points when buying any papertowels. Some promotions like the last mentioned can be combined on a 18500 point promotion day for upwards of 26000 points on an expenditure of just 75 dollars. (I've done that more then a few times.)

Short Form of Post

A. I'll get a spreadsheet out next weekend.
B. 18500 promotions are best and only buy sale items.
C. Personallized Coupon offers... X points when you buy $__ of items.. Or X points when buying X item. Combine with other promotions!
D. 20x Promotions are next best, specially when combined with Multi point items (but the seldom happens)
E. Cash or coupon back type promotions ie. spend 60 get 20 back.. Spend 75 get 20 back.

The key is... Stick to sale items, cause shoppers sale items are in par with competitors and I find they cycle more frequently.

My factor thus far for calculating savings is ~60% of the my purchase price. For instance I only buy cookies at 1.99.. So my end of day price is 1.99 x .60 = $1.20

Keep in mind I Capitalize on all the above by always preloading my gift card with my Shopper MasterCard, thus getting an extra 25 points per dollar spent. Doesn't sound like much, but on my PS4 and Tablet purchase that amounted to about 20000 points right there.

oh yea, after reading about your electronics, I will not be arguing with YOU about the shoppers points I need to look into Shoppers MC, thanks for the tip.

I do want to track though how much more I spend for the item (to get the points, or to get up to $50 or $75 at
points events) than I would if I bought that same item elsewhere, because that difference in price directly reduces the value of the points.