The following interview was posted on the main Rewards Canada website as part of our guide to the upcoming AIR MILES Reward Miles expiration
Five
cards for every purchase, a vision board of their next “free” vacation
destinations–these are the hallmarks of the rewards points lifestyle,
one that requires as much dedication to shopping as it does saving.
Matthew
Irwin is not about that life. As a self-proclaimed “casual collector,”
he has spent eight years collecting Air Miles from purchases at Metro,
Shell and the LCBO in the hopes of collecting a well-deserved reward for
himself.
“It was mainly out of convenience,” he says. “They would ask if I wanted the card every purchase and finally I said ‘why not?’”
Matthew
got his answer late last year, when Air Miles announced they would be
expiring the points of many longtime users starting in early 2017.
“It
was very surprising,” says Matthew of the announcement. “They say
they’ve been mentioning it for years, but most of us weren’t aware until
recently.”