PC Optimum - SDM and PC Unite Feb.1 2018!!!!

[redhdlois]

My feelings are mixed too!

Keep in mind on your point #1... SDM is so overpriced that you would probably save that $20 back by redeeming at Superstore or NoFrills versus redeeming at SDM.

What I am most concerned about is losing the different tiers for redemption, and the bonus redemption days.

If they continue the 20x days etc, then I might be okay with this. Still need more details.

I think the different tiers will be gone
They are telling us how our points will be combined and honored at full value, but there is very little talk about future (bonus) redemptions, etc.
I only shop at SDM with coupons and FPC's on 20x or other point promotion days to earn my points, and if that ever changed, that would be the end of my shopping days at SDM.
I am happy that I will have the option of redeeming my points at a Loblaws store, where there is a larger selection of groceries and the foods that I consume.
I'm also concerned about any glitches encountered with all these changes. I think we all know how frustrating and difficult it is trying to resolve problems with 1-800-SHOPPERS.

[cookiemonster]

I don't necessarily agree - I tend to buy at shoppers on 20x day but only buy sale items, or items I know are similarly priced to loblaws

But based on my shopping habits - I shop at Zehrs, not the cheaper stores

I also shop the sales on the 20x days, but what I was referring to, was the bonus redemption days... I find the sales are not as good then, and I do end up buying some things there that are cheaper at Superstore, just because I struggle to spend that much at once at SDM on things that aren't overpriced.

[Decaf]

It's more convenience for sure to keep track of 1 card instead of 2 but I don't know if they will follow the PC plus model, that is just bonus points for certain product only, and completely eliminate 20x WUS $50, 18750 WUS $75 those promotion. If they get rid of WUS promotion I am done with SDM.

[super807]

Part of the reason I am concerned about loss of value compared to current Optimum program is that they are increasing the points value awarded per $ spent. Will be 15 pts instead of current 10.

When has a business ever given us something good completely for free? The extra point value per $ spent is likely because with the plan they have moving forward, somewhere there has been recognition that there is a loss for Optimum collectors. The extra points are to compensate for something.

Yes, there are some good points. Being able to redeem up to $500 in one transaction, in increments of $10 is fabulous. Would have loved this when purchasing electronics that cost more than the max redemption level. And if you only have $50 worth of stuff you want to redeem for, you don't have to search for an extra $10 worth of stuff to not lose points.

But I've had fabulous value from the Optimum program. At one point, I was tracking all my purchases, and I was getting 68% of what I spent back in points. That has probably gone down to around 50% now, but that is still unmatched by any other loyalty program I am likely to ever encounter. I buy things that are on sale (or items that never go on sale but I need, or that are only available at SDM), both to earn, and to redeem points. I've earned so many points on milk, eggs and bread, paying the same or less than I would at the grocery store.

I like the PC plus program, but the amount of points I earn there is not high. I hate that in the past two years they have changed so many of their offers to be x pts on every $2, or $3, or $4 or $10 you spend on that product. Bread on sale for $2.78? Well then, out of luck on getting any points on it, cause offer is for every $3 spent. We are only 2 at home. I only buy one loaf of bread at a time. For me, the Optimum program has been more valuable than the PC program. For some people, it's the other way around and they will benefit from this merger.

Ultimately, it's their company and they can do what they want. They don't have to offer a loyalty program at all, but they certainly get a lot of value out of offering one - not only do some shoppers buy certain items because of offers, but more importantly, they have sooooo much data about how we shop. That data is worth way more than the $ value their customers get to save through the program. I won't stop shopping there, as I was already buying my groceries at YIG and RCSS before that, and SDM is so convenient for me, and the staff at my SDM are wonderful.

[Arjon]

It's more convenience for sure to keep track of 1 card instead of 2 but I don't know if they will follow the PC plus model, that is just bonus points for certain product only, and completely eliminate 20x WUS $50, 18750 WUS $75 those promotion. If they get rid of WUS promotion I am done with SDM.

I suspect it doesn't have to be either /or. There's no obvious reason the new program can't include SDM-type events and offers that are only good at SDM plus PC+ type offers that are only good in the grocery stores.

[Cake]

Trying to figure out some options. I think the SDM points over 95,000 convert at the highest level. So that means having all the points on 1 card (assuming over 95,000 points) at the time of conversion is the best bang.

[redhdlois]

Part of the reason I am concerned about loss of value compared to current Optimum program is that they are increasing the points value awarded per $ spent. Will be 15 pts instead of current 10.

When has a business ever given us something good completely for free? The extra point value per $ spent is likely because with the plan they have moving forward, somewhere there has been recognition that there is a loss for Optimum collectors. The extra points are to compensate for something.

Yes, there are some good points. Being able to redeem up to $500 in one transaction, in increments of $10 is fabulous. Would have loved this when purchasing electronics that cost more than the max redemption level. And if you only have $50 worth of stuff you want to redeem for, you don't have to search for an extra $10 worth of stuff to not lose points.

But I've had fabulous value from the Optimum program. At one point, I was tracking all my purchases, and I was getting 68% of what I spent back in points. That has probably gone down to around 50% now, but that is still unmatched by any other loyalty program I am likely to ever encounter. I buy things that are on sale (or items that never go on sale but I need, or that are only available at SDM), both to earn, and to redeem points. I've earned so many points on milk, eggs and bread, paying the same or less than I would at the grocery store.

I like the PC plus program, but the amount of points I earn there is not high. I hate that in the past two years they have changed so many of their offers to be x pts on every $2, or $3, or $4 or $10 you spend on that product. Bread on sale for $2.78? Well then, out of luck on getting any points on it, cause offer is for every $3 spent. We are only 2 at home. I only buy one loaf of bread at a time. For me, the Optimum program has been more valuable than the PC program. For some people, it's the other way around and they will benefit from this merger.

Ultimately, it's their company and they can do what they want. They don't have to offer a loyalty program at all, but they certainly get a lot of value out of offering one - not only do some shoppers buy certain items because of offers, but more importantly, they have sooooo much data about how we shop. That data is worth way more than the $ value their customers get to save through the program. I won't stop shopping there, as I was already buying my groceries at YIG and RCSS before that, and SDM is so convenient for me, and the staff at my SDM are wonderful.

My feeling is the 'extra' points i.e. 15x instead of 10x are to compensate for eliminating the tiered point system.....which they haven't mentioned, they have mentioned that the value after the conversion would be i.e. 10K = $10, 50K = $50......unlike how currently at SDM 50K pts is worth $85.
That's just what I'm thinking
They have told us all the 'good' features of the merge....but left out the 'bad'.

[nalaric]

Trying to figure out some options. I think the SDM points over 95,000 convert at the highest level. So that means having all the points on 1 card (assuming over 95,000 points) at the time of conversion is the best bang.

Yup, that's what I'm thinking too. This chart was very helpful, although not totally reflective of what their pc optimum calculator actually calculates. Attachment 336732

[Silk]

Trying to figure out some options. I think the SDM points over 95,000 convert at the highest level. So that means having all the points on 1 card (assuming over 95,000 points) at the time of conversion is the best bang.

This is a really good point @Cake - thanks.

[Arjon]

Trying to figure out some options. I think the SDM points over 95,000 convert at the highest level. So that means having all the points on 1 card (assuming over 95,000 points) at the time of conversion is the best bang.

Provided you have at least 22k total points, it will be best to have them all on one card even if they total less than 95k. It won't matter if you have fewer than 22k since they'll all be converted at $1.25 per 1000 (the 8k=$10 rate), but for example, if you have three accounts with 8k each, they'll convert individually to 10000 PCO points (so $10 x 3 = $30), while combining them on a single account will mean they convert to 32727, so $32.73.

The question that some people will face shortly before the changeover is whether to redeem if there's an appealing opportunity available that will drop them below 95k. For instance, if you have 100k, they will convert to 178,947. But if you redeem 50k, the remaining 50k will convert to 85,000 which is only 47.5% of 178,947, not 50%.

[Silk]

Would appreciate some opinions on this...

Those of us in Quebec received this in the announcement and info re: the merged programs:

"As a Pharmaprix Optimum member, you will have until Wednesday, May 2, 2018 to either convert your Pharmaprix Optimum points to PC Optimum points (as outlined above) or redeem them, after which point they will no longer be honoured."

and

"Pharmaprix Optimum points will no longer be issued after January 31, 2018. If you would like to start to earn PC Optimum points, you must join the program in store or online as outlined above."

So I can delay converting until May 2, 2018 but in the meantime I would earn no points at either Pharmaprix (SDM) or Provigo (Loblaws) stores. Can anyone think of what advantage it would be to delay converting? The only one I can think of is some of us will be getting an Optimum points payout as a result of the class action suit that was settled earlier this year against Pharmaprix. If I can add them to my existing points total which is 95K+, they will be worth more/convert at the highest level - assuming the payout is less than 95K - as per the discussion posted below from @Cake and @Arjon

The payout per qualified Optimum member will only be known at time of distribution - no idea when that will be.

What do you all think?

Thanks,
Silk

Trying to figure out some options. I think the SDM points over 95,000 convert at the highest level. So that means having all the points on 1 card (assuming over 95,000 points) at the time of conversion is the best bang.

Provided you have at least 22k total points, it will be best to have them all on one card even if they total less than 95k. It won't matter if you have fewer than 22k since they'll all be converted at $1.25 per 1000 (the 8k=$10 rate), but for example, if you have three accounts with 8k each, they'll convert individually to 10000 PCO points (so $10 x 3 = $30), while combining them on a single account will mean they convert to 32727, so $32.73.

The question that some people will face shortly before the changeover is whether to redeem if there's an appealing opportunity available that will drop them below 95k. For instance, if you have 100k, they will convert to 178,947. But if you redeem 50k, the remaining 50k will convert to 85,000 which is only 47.5% of 178,947, not 50%.

[Anna Michele]

Yup, that's what I'm thinking too. This chart was very helpful, although not totally reflective of what their pc optimum calculator actually calculates. Attachment 336732

I cant open the attachment I'm on a loaner phone and feel like im in amother country anyway

Under the current Shoppers Optimum program, the highest possible customer redemption is 95,000 points for $170.00 (or a 0.178% return). Points will be converted at the highest achieved level – so all 200,000 points would be converted at the 0.178%, which would mean 357,895 PC Optimum points, or $357.00 of value. We encourage all our members to visit pcoptimum.ca to try the points calculator.

So i think no matter how many more points you have you wont earn more than the above.
Honestly my head is spinning with this i don't know if this answers your question or helps in anywaylol

Sent from my E2306 using Tapatalk

[nalaric]

I cant open the attachment I'm on a loaner phone and feel like im in amother country anyway

Under the current Shoppers Optimum program, the highest possible customer redemption is 95,000 points for $170.00 (or a 0.178% return). Points will be converted at the highest achieved level – so all 200,000 points would be converted at the 0.178%, which would mean 357,895 PC Optimum points, or $357.00 of value. We encourage all our members to visit pcoptimum.ca to try the points calculator.

So i think no matter how many more points you have you wont earn more than the above.
Honestly my head is spinning with this i don't know if this answers your question or helps in anywaylol

Sent from my E2306 using Tapatalk

I'm sorry, I think the attachment didn't work. But it's just the conversion table on the pcoptimum.ca site that you referred to. I think they've fixed the calculator now to be reflective of the conversion table, because when they first announced it I was playing with numbers, I put in 200 000 pts it valued it at $352.50. Now you put in 200 000 pts and it correctly shows $357.90.
So, when conversion takes place, it's best to try and be over that 95 000 mark. I think I will try to save up my points as much as possible until Feb 1. I will still do a few redemptions though if they do a bonus one at the end of November. Always nice to get Christmas presents and free stuff at that time of the year! The conversion is going to be great! and being able to redeem at $10 will be nice, or even save up to $500 for big ticket items. We'll have to see how the promotions end up working under the new system, and we won't know that until we get there. I suspect it will still be a good rewards program, but I'm sure we'll earn points a lot slower. Not a huge surprise. We all saw it coming.

[Midnightly]

i was chatting with my friend today, she works at shoppers she doesn't know everything about the program but they did get some info on the program (mentioned having to read a bunch of new info on it and such).. she was able to answer some of the questions and unsure about others

we will still get our personalized coupons none of those have changed.. she's unsure but thinks the coupons will be store specific (she also thinks it will be run as two different log ins since shoppers is it's own separate entity but is unsure, so basically you'd log into the shoppers website to load the shoppers coupons, and log into loblaws to load loblaws coupons but again she's unsure about this) she did say YES they will be keeping the 20x points events, YES they will be keeping a spend your points event, YES they will be keeping the tier system though these things might only be shoppers specific.. she doesn't know what the loblaws side will look like since they only gave info on shoppers specific at the moment

with how she made it sound it could be almost like two separate plans that share the points if that makes sense (there will be many shoppers specific things that wouldn't apply at loblaws stores and likewise for loblaws specific not valid at shoppers stores)

[Arjon]

with how she made it sound it could be almost like two separate plans that share the points if that makes sense (there will be many shoppers specific things that wouldn't apply at loblaws stores and likewise for loblaws specific not valid at shoppers stores)

Thanks for getting and sharing the additional insights. Frankly, I won't be surprised if PCO turns out to be basically two largely separate sub-programs, one for SDM and another for the grocery chains, with no more than a fairly small degree of overlap. OPT and PC+ are simply too different to combine completely into a single program that applies across the board.

So basically, the most likely approach has always been to try to reconcile the point systems into one while trying to retain most of the basic style of the OPT program when we use PCO at SDM, and the style of the PC+ program when we use PCO at any of the grocery chains. And the obvious way to do that is to continue to have SDM-only and grocery store-only offers and promos similar to what w're already used to on each side.