AIR MILES has announced a new nationwide partnership with Dollarama where select members will be able to earn miles on for their purchases at the discount retailer as of August 7, 2023. However, it is not exactly the type partnership many collectors would hope for. The ability to earn miles at Dollarama is simply being provided via AIR MILES Card Linked offers, it is not a full fledged partnership where any and all AIR MILES members can collect miles for their purchases.
Card Linked Offers
If you are unfamiliar with AIR MILES card linked offers, it is a method for you to earn extra miles at stores by simply linking any Canadian Mastercard to your AIR MILES account. It’s not just limited to AIR MILES Mastercards and you don’t even have to show your AIR MILES card. Have a WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard or an HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®? You can link them and earn whatever bonus AIR MILES may be offering when you use that linked card for your purchase.
That being said, it is limited to those who hold or use a Mastercard card. They are not available to members who prefer to use Visa, American Express, Debit or Cash for their purchases
Here’s an example of some of the current card linked offers available (Dollarama was not listed yet on the page at the time of posting this article)
The Dollarama Card Linked Offer (plus an extra BMO AIR MILES card bonus)
The card linked offer will provide 10 Bonus Miles when collectors spend $30 or more in a single transaction in-store at Dollarama until November 6, 2023.
On top of the general card linked offer, BMO will offer BMO AIR MILES credit card holders the opportunity to earn 5x the Miles on purchases at Dollarama.
If you happen to have the BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard and spend $30 at Dollarama you would earn the following amount of miles:
- 2 miles for your base credit card earn rate (1 mile for $12)
- 10 miles for card linked offer
- 8 miles for your 5x miles from BMO (2 base x 5 = 10 miles in total)
- Total 20 miles or approximately $1.90 to $2.10 in value depending on your miles preference (Dream vs Cash)
This is not a full fledged partnership that AIR MILES members are accustomed to
I’ll be honest, I have a hard time with the way AIR MILES card linked offers partnerships are announced. Yes, technically it is a partnership but not the type that AIR MILES collectors of the past 30 years are accustomed too. The partnership AIR MILES members are accustomed to are those that all members can earn at (not just for a specific credit card brand) and are long term nationwide partners like Shell and….. well, like Shell and are not time limited like card linked offers.
Granted, most card linked offers tend to be extended so in some fashion they do become long term partners. Some examples of those merchants that are continually offered are Boston Pizza, DSW and VIA Rail but there is nothing stopping those merchants from leaving the card linked offers at anytime.
Earning miles on receipt scanning
In today’s Dollarama announcement there is also a brief mention of the previously announced receipt scanning mileage earning. This part of the program looks to have been soft launched in Atlantic Canada and will be rolled out nationwide in the future:
In addition, AIR MILES also announced a new, innovative way for collectors to earn Bonus Miles on everyday products at select major grocers through AIR MILES Receipts. The program, launched in Atlantic Canada with plans to expand nationally, allows collectors to snap a photo of their eligible grocery receipt in the AIR MILES App within 14 days to collect Bonus Miles on qualifying purchases
Wrapping it up
Don’t get me wrong – any opportunity to earn more miles is great and I’ll probably even use it after I use up my Amex Offers Dollarama statement credit but I don’t think something like this warrants the hype being set up around it. If Dollarama had become a full fledged AIR MILES partner where all members could just show their AIR MILES card and earn 1 Mile for $20 spent or whatever earn rate regardless of their payment method (cash, debit, credit) – that would be worthy of the hype. But in this case it is simply another card linked offer for a subset of AIR MILES collectors who use a Mastercard.
I do get it though from AIR MILES side of things – right now they have to do anything and everything they can to get the program back in the spotlight in a positive manner and that includes issuing a press release for a limited time card linked offering.