(This feature is a duplicate from the main the Rewards Canada site)
With only a week left to the big day for
gift giving the push is on to finish your Christmas
shopping for friends, family and maybe even yourself! Whether it is
shopping for gifts or for food and drink to entertain there are many
ways to maximize the miles and points you earn holiday
shopping. Ultimately you can make those reward dreams come
closer by following one or more of our tips.
1. Use your mileage/point earning credit card & your loyalty cards to Double or Triple Dip
Double dipping is the term coined for earning
miles twice in one purchase or transaction. This basically
involves your mileage earning credit card being used for a
purchase where you also earn miles in the same program as
the credit card. Buying luggage as a gift at Bentley? Using your TD
Aeroplan Visa or American Express and then swiping your
Aeroplan card ensures you are double dipping.
Triple dipping involves the above but then adding in any bonuses
available. Look for email, coupons or other promotions
offering even more miles. With the above example, Aeroplan
members can earn triple miles
on all Bentley purchases of $75 or more until December
24th. So the first dip is the base miles earned on the
purchase, the second is the miles earned on your credit
card and the third is the bonus miles from the promotion.
Double and Triple dipping does not have to involve the same program.
You can always use a credit card that earns in one program
while collecting the actual miles from another program for
your flights, hotels, shopping or anything else you can
earn miles on.
2. Giving gift cards? Buy gift cards at credit card multiplier locations
Are
you a gift card giver at Christmas or you don’t know what
presents to give this year so you’ve settled on a gift
card? If you can, and it depends on the retailer, don’t buy
the gift card straight from them as on most credit cards
you will only earn your base miles or points. Buy them at a
place where you can take advantage of your category multiplier bonus.
For example if I wanted to give my dad a Future Shop gift
card I would only earn 1 Membership Rewards points on my
American Express Gold Rewards Card if I bought the card at
Future Shop but if I bought it at a Drug Store or Grocery I would earn
2 Membership Rewards points.
Here are examples some the credit cards and their category bonuses that you could use this for this tip (per dollar spent):
American Express Gold Rewards Card: 2x Points at Grocery and Drug Stores, also at Gas Stations
American
Express Air Miles Reserve Credit Card: 1 Mile/$10 at eligible gas, grocery and
drugstores
CIBC Aerogold Visas:
1.5 Miles at grocery stores, gas stations or
drug stores
CIBC Aventura Visas: 1.5 Points/$ at grocery stores, gas stations or drug store
Scotiabank American Express Platinum/Gold: 4 Points on gas stations and grocery stores
Scotiabank American Express: 2 Points/$ on gas stations and grocery stores
Sears
Voyage MasterCard: 1.5 Sears Club Points on gas, groceries
TD Aeroplan Visas:
1.5 Miles at grocery stores, gas stations or
drug stores
To learn more about these cards visit our Travel Rewards Credit Card Comparison page
3. Buying gifts at retailers without credit card multipliers? Use the gift card trick to earn more miles!
This one is similar to above but involves a
little more time and effort. This tip is for those of you who know what
gifts you are buying for your kids, family, relatives and friends. The
reason why it will take more time is that it requires multiple stops and
purchases but if you have the time and want the extra miles then go for
it! A good example of this is that you know that your child wants a
new Playstation 4 for Christmas. You could go buy it directly from
Future Shop and earn your base miles on your credit card but by going to
a grocery store, drug store or even a gas station that sells gift cards
you go buy yourself the Future Shop gift cards, earn the 1.5 or 2x or
more miles/points on the purchase and then use the gift cards when you
get to Future Shop. There is only one downside to this method other than
the extra time required and that is you will not be able to take
advantage of the purchase protection, price protection or extended
warranty offered by many of the reward credit cards. (Maybe it would be
better if I used Old Navy as an example instead of Future Shop since you
don’t really require any of those benefits on Old Navy purchases?)
4. Use bonus offers to your advantage when buying groceries for the holiday season
This
one ties into the Double or Triple Dip outlined in the first tip.
Always check your emails for bonus coupons or offers or even when you
first enter a store. Doing your grocery shopping and expecting to buy
lots of food since your hosting Christmas and have a dozen people coming
over? Always look at the flyer stand when you first enter Safeway,
Sobeys or whatever grocery store as long as they are part of a loyalty
program. We have found that Sobeys tends to be hit and miss at letting
people know about bonus Air Miles offers via email so I always check the
flyer stand to see if there is a bonus coupon and more times then not
there is. Safeway is better at letting people know by email and
sometimes it is only via email that the best offers come. For example,
the 2013 Christmas season had the biggest bonus we had ever seen for
shopping at Safeway, 500 Bonus Air Miles for a $200 spend. Here’s
crossing our fingers that offer returns this year!
5. Always remember to swipe your Loyalty Card and/or use your miles/points earning credit card
Remember to always collect your points and miles when
you shop. Did you know you can earn Cineplex SCENE points at Sport Chek?
Air Miles at Michaels? Always think ahead and bring your loyalty card
to swipe/scan when you shop. Don’t want to carry around that much
plastic? Most programs now have smart phone apps that also double as
your loyalty card. This is a good way to always have your card on hand,
especially for forgetful people.
Whenever you can, use your miles/points earning credit card
to pay for your purchases. As long as you are financially responsible
there is no reason you should be using cash or debit for your purchases.
It should always be on a rewards credit card so that you earn your
coveted miles and points. It’s doesn’t matter if it is $1.00 or $1,000,
put it on your credit card. Not financially responsible? As in you only
pay the minimum required amount each month on your card, then don’t use
your card. The interest you pay is not worth the extra miles or points.
By following some or all of these steps you will be
making sure that you are maximizing the miles and points
you earn this holiday shopping season! The mileage or point
balances in your accounts will escalate and then those
reward flights, nights or merchandise will come to you
sooner!Care to comment on the
Top 5 tips for maximizing miles for holiday shopping? Want to
voice your opinion on the Top 5 tips for maximizing miles for holiday
shopping? Share you
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