A couple of weeks ago we had dinner with a friend visiting from Hawaii. We had a $100 Visa gift card in hand to put a big dent into the bill. We were confused when the card came back declined. At first we checked the balance on the card because we thought that they had … Read more
Squirrelers is a clever guy. Instead of settling for a free lunch at a local lunch joint every seven visits, he’s cut that down in half. With the “buy six, get the seventh free” deal, the shop gives a starter stamp when they hand out the card. So, practically, it’s actually buy five, get the … Read more
Actually, this isn’t a recent capture: Coupons have always been doing the bidding of the marketing department. Companies don’t distribute coupons because they’re nice. They want more of your money, and coupons are a way to get you to spend more. There are three basic mechanisms for companies to get more revenue: (a) increase the … Read more
Customer reward programs go by a number of different names: customer loyalty programs, frequent flier programs, shoppers’ club, and so forth. In exchange for some of your personal information and the ability to laser-target their advertising to you by tracking your purchases, you get discounts or rebates on your purchases. Maybe it’s just my opinion, … Read more
MyPoints is a rewards program that gives you the opportunity to earn free gift cards by reading e-mails, completing surveys, and purchasing from online retailers through their site. Each action has a point value associated with it, it doesn’t take too long to earn gift cards, and many of the point opportunities are free. There … Read more