When I shop at a Kroger-owned grocery outlet (there are three locally -- Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC), I earn gas points to be used at the FM or Safeway gas stations for a discount. So, of course, those are the stores I most frequent for incidental groceries. Gas is expensive; discounts help.
For most of our groceries and almost everything else, we shop at Costco. Hub is a dedicated and joyful Costco shopper. He goes weekly, preferring "Sample Days" where he darts to each sample station like a starving man in a desert. It's disconcerting to be with him. I stand by the cart and check my FB "feed" during his different sort of feeding frenzy. Costco has a points system of sorts in their partnership with a Citibank Costco credit card which nets a percentage return at the end of the year on annual dollars spent. For us, it's a tidy sum.
Airline miles are also a points program, basically, in that you accumulate miles to spend on a "free" ticket based on miles accumulated in air travel with the various airlines. We are mostly Alaska flyers, because we like them and because we want our mileage program to accumulate, plus we get that once a year companion fare thing which gets us to Hawaii each spring for almost 2-for-1 airfare.
Recently we cashed in some miles for an unexpected trip coming up in August. Hub didn't have quite enough for his fare, so I transferred some of my miles to his account. It cost $10 per 1000 miles in "transfer fees" which I found ridiculous since I was doing all the work myself, with the transfer happening instantaneously as I completed the transaction. I guess Alaska has to maintain the software to make this happen, but I gotta think $10/1000 is a hefty premium! Oh well...such is the system.
Also, we own a week of timeshare in addition to travel points to anywhere we want to go! We can cash in our week for points and stay longer than a week in Hawaii, or hoard them for awhile and use them later for other destinations. Recently we discovered we'd kept a stash of points so long they were about to expire, so we quickly planned a stay in Hilton Head -- using our airline miles and our vacation points in combination! WOW! Point goals!
My Fitbit is linked to my Medicare Advantage Wellness program and I can earn points toward merchandise or gift cards, from meager ($25 GC) to great (i-Pad!) depending on how many points I've accumulated for exercise and wellness activities (preventative care medical visits) over the year. I use it all for Amazon Gift Cards!
And of course there's Starbucks. You accumulate points in the form of "stars". How many times have I been taken in by my 'double star day'; 'buy three items by Friday to get 50 bonus stars!'; 'play monolopy!' (I draw the line there; I don't even like the board game.) I've been enticed to buy a lot of coffee to get the occasional free drink which I generally allow Hub to choose for himself because of course I'll get a Venti of whatever is most expensive as my freebie, but I can't drink that much by myself. I am a little annoyed that Starbucks used to give me anything on the menu for my accumulated 150 stars or whatever, but now they have tiered their points so that you have to earn even more for my favorite Starbucks salad. I don't have that kind of patience.
The current point program I am most intimate with is Weight Watchers. I track semi-religiously into the app every food I eat and it adds up my daily and weekly points, with some magic math to take my "activity" efforts into consideration. It's an easy and doable program and I've lost weight on it, so I like it. It keeps me semi-honest. (I might 'forget' to log that extra bowl of popcorn...)
But last week my points programs collided. Starbucks encouraged my purchase of a Tazo Tea and bakery item to get me a whopping bonus 75 points! How could I resist? Plus, how many WW points could that possibly be? Not that many, right? I got a Grande Chai Tea latte and a chocolate chip cookie. Yum! And I got my bonus points! But when I logged that little treat later it added up to a whopping 27 WW points, 4 points over my entire daily allotment. That did not go well; no "blue dot day" for me. (They reward you a little colored-in blue dot on days you stay within your point total.)
When did our lives become a sticker chart of points for good behavior? Or for retail indulgences? It's all very math-y for me and I get confused and the points start to duel with each other and I'm left realizing all these points programs are simply a way of controlling behavior and rewarding us for doing what they want. Like toilet training a toddler -- eventually we learn the behavior even if there is no immediate reward. Beware, if all point programs disappear and your behavior remains the same, you'll know you are thoroughly trained!
At least, that's the view from here...©
It's kind of scary how these points and rewards keep track of our purchases and actions, and that's their whole purpose, to control us to buy more with tailor made sales. The Fitbit tied to my Medicare Advantage, though, would make me nervous. Are they making us pay more if we don't exercise or eat right?
ReplyDeleteYes. It's true they are tracking our purchases and actions. I really don't know how to avoid that if we spend any time at all online. The Fitbit/Medicare Advantage thing never made me think about them penalizing folks for not engaging in preventative activities! My husband doesn't link his, and there has been zero change in his Medicare Advantage cost or coverage, so that's good.
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