Tuesdays tend to be a relatively quiet day in the loyalty world, especially in December but we do have one big piece of news for you in regards to earning points and miles on prescriptions in B.C.:
News, Tips & Tricks
Randy M, a loyal Rewards Canada reader for years
has been keeping me abreast of the recent ban of awarding loyalty
points and miles on prescriptions in British Columbia. The ban took effect on December
2nd and has already spurred a lawsuit
by Canada Safeway and Thrifty Foods against the action taken by the
B.C. Government. I know Alberta was looking into this but shelved the
idea due to a real lack of data showing that prescriptions were only
filled for points when they weren’t actually needed. I can only recall
one such time where this may have been the case and that was when Rexall
offered 15,000 Aeroplan Miles for transferring and filling your first
prescription with them on a single Saturday. Say what? A short haul
flight for as low as a dispensing fee? Yes that happened but it hasn’t
happened again as Rexall was overwhelmed by the response. This is an extreme case however and is probably the reason
behind some of these actions as I’m sure many other pharmacies saw a bunch of prescriptions being transferred out that day! However on a day to day basis the typical
rewards offered usually aren’t enough for people to transfer
prescriptions back and forth. Most pick one location (with or without
rewards and stick with it) I know personally I haven’t moved my
prescriptions around to take advantage of incentives and go to my
pharmacy as a matter of convenience. As a disclaimer that is a Sobey’s Pharmacy so I
do earn Aeroplan Miles with them.
Randy has forwarded me a few articles and some of his research
as this affects him greatly. He stands to lose about 1,200 Air Miles
Rewards Miles a year with the ban, being a pensioner he relied on those
miles to fly his kids out to visit him. He has even been quoted in a
recent article about the ban (see here).
Rewards Canada will provided a more detailed post about this in the
near future as I reach out to different parties to provide feedback. In
the meantime I’d love to hear from all of our readers what their
thoughts are of this ban in B.C. and how it might affect the loyalty
industry as a whole across Canada. Feel free to leave your thoughts
below.
Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
– 5x Aeroplan Miles when you purchase sound equipment from Bose stores in Canada. More… Until Dec 31, 13
Executive Hotels Executive Rewards
– Earn up Triple Executive Rewards Points for stays select Executive Hotel locations in Canada and the U.S. More… Until Dec 31, 13
Germanwings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
– Earn up to 1,500 Boomerang Miles and 33EUR Germanwings Voucher when
you book an Airbus A320 Flight Simulator session at any one of
Flightdecksystems locations in Europe. More… Until Dec 31, 13
Oman Air Sindbad (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
– Double Sindbad Miles on all eligible stays at Golden Tulip locations Worldwide. More… Dec 1 – Feb 28, 14
–
Triple Sindbad Miles when staying at least three consecutive
nights or Double Miles for two consecutive nights at any Shangri-La
Hotel and Resorts, Traders Hotel or Kerry Hotel at the Best Available
Rate. More… Dec 1 – Feb 28, 14
Oman Air Sindbad
– Double Sindbad Miles for Avis rentals of 3+ days in UAE, Kuwait, KSA,
Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Italy, Germany, France,
Switzerland & UK. More… Until Jan 31, 14
– 25% Bonus Sindbad Miles at Joyalukkas outlets in Oman, UAE, Bahrain,
Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and United Kingdom. More… Until Dec 31, 13
S7 Airlines Priority (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
– Double Priority Miles for stays at the Marco Polo Hotel St Petersburg. More… Dec 29 – Jan 3, 14