Thank you Scott M for sharing this info with us! It appears like Shoppers Drug Mart will be reducing the value of its Shoppers Optimum Points 🙁
Effective July 1, 2010 Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix are changing the Optimum Points program. The new rewards chart shows 8000 points for $10, up from the current 7000 points. All other tiers are “more expensive” as well, though they have changed the value of the money back to help obscure the change.
This happens coincident with the changes to Ontario’s laws prohibiting kickbacks to pharmacies from generic drug manufacturers… coincidence?
so use my points before july? or is it only effective on new points you accumulate?
Thank-you so much for the warning! I was going to wait until Christmas to use my points but now I will use them this Saturday and keep them until Christmas! Thanks again!
I’m sure that SDM will find a way to blame the cut to their dispensing allowance as to why they are raising. Good thing I don’t shop there or use their pharmacy!
oooooo
Currently in B.C., I believe $10 off is actually redeemed for 7000pts.
There must be a typo…$10 is 7,000 pts in ON as well.
I will be sticking to shopping on 20X days & using bonus point coupons on stuff I use & coupons too of course!
I agree with CarlyinCanada…it’s not a huge jump, and it was bound to happen sooner or later…everything changes after all. So shopping on 20X days, and redeeming on bonus days makes it still a great program!
Wow not impressed at all. Shoppers is now even more of a rip off. I will try to use all my points by July 1 and never go back.
I redeemed 40,000 points two weeks ago when they had their bonus redemption weekend (redeem 40,000 points, get $85 instead of $75). I bought 28x Gillette deodorant (that’ll last a damn long time) with the $85. Shoppers also had the “Buy 2 Gillette, Get 1200x Bonus Points.” So I redeemed 40,000 points and earned 16,800 bonus points. Not a bar deal. So basically I got $85 for 23,200 points!
oops typo fixed!
right now you get 40,000 for $75 .. so the new one is 50,000 for $85 ..
humm
I couldn’t care less. I only go to Shoppers when they have major sales or bonus points, so the increase won’t affect me and they’ve had the same points system with no changes for years so it was due for an adjustment. I’ve gotten a Nintendo DSI and gift cards and video games and cosmetics with my points, so I can’t complain. Besides, a reliable, flexible points program is better than nothing at all. SDM is only expensive when people buy stuff that’s not on sale. I’m not one of those people 🙂
I thought you couldn’t redeem points for gift cards?
How nice of Shoppers to take out their anger on their customers. That will really hurt Dalton won’t it?!
As a former SDM employee I can tell you that this doesn’t surprise me at all, they over re-act to everything and DO NOT CARE about customers/customer service any more. I was actually told by a head office person that customer service is NOT there main concern any more….I left…
smartcanucks.ca made the yahoo news, lol. Here is the link to the SDM article:
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/18062010/2/biz-finance-shoppers-drug-mart-s-incentive-program-boosts-threshold.html
Their point system is still pretty good. And yeah this shouldn’t have anything to do with the government downloading pharmacy costs to the public. The dispensing and service fees should…but not the optimum points I would think. McGuinty loves two-tier health!
As a Shoppers Drugmart single person shopper I am not pleased with the change in the Optimun Points program. I guess Shoppers Drugmart doesn’t think much of their clients. This is the second time this is happening and what Shoppers is doing is taking away the incentive to shop there!!! It is like putting a bone at the end of a rope for a dog….and when the dog is moving closer to it, you pull the bone farther away. When that happens too often, the dog finds his bone or food elsewhere. So, if Shoppers Drugmart is a people caring oriented business, then show it by not changing the Optimum Points Program. Most people are not aware of this yet until they find out after July 1, 2010.
My receipt went from saying ‘Save up to $55’, to ‘Save up to $30’. No prior notice was given that my account was going to change or I would have cashed my points in. I wish I had known prior to the change. I no longer wish to participate in the program or allow them to track my purchases. Shoppers Drug Mart really doesn’t know how to reward their customers for loyalty.
Anyone who feels cheated should boycott SDM until they agree to credit every Optimum account by 20% of the points balance as of 30 June 2010. While they are free to set new reward levels, they should not be allowed to take away what people had earned already. Since new points are worth less SDM needs to adjust the old points balance by crediting the difference to the customers. It is the only fair thing to do… IF THEY CARE.
I agree they should have done more to let people know of the change, so at least they could get a giftcard and not lose the value of the points they already had. As far as I know they didn’t bother to mail Optimum card holders or anything. I’m lucky that I found out just in time to cash in my points and get a SDM giftcard, so the value is preserved.
@Krissy: Yes, you can “redeem” points for a gift card by buying something with points and then returning it. When you return something that was bought with points, you get store credit rather than getting your points back. Good idea to do it for those bonus redemption days, since you can then “save” the bonus value and spend it later as it is usually pretty hard to find $100 or $200 worth of good deals on things that you need, in one trip.
can you buy gift cards with optimum points. It looks like other people have done so
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Thank you regarding your awsome informations. I certainly not seen about this until finally i discovered your website as a result of google search.I allready saved it and wait for a lot more discussions from you.
Good job over again! Thanks=)