Two COMPLETELY different people live in this house.
Me.
Cashier at a store: Are you a member of our loyalty program.
Me: No, is it free?
Cashier: No, it’s ____ per year but you get ___ % of every purchase.
Me: No thanks.
YA.
YA: I need one more flight this calendar year to keep my Silver status.
Me: And this is important?
YA: Of course.
YA: I think I’m going to book a flight to Dallas for the Jingle Bell concert in two weeks. If I fly down on the day of the concert, I can stay overnight and come home the next day.
Me: You can get the days off?
YA: I can work on the plane and in the hotel.
Me: And this is worth the expense to you?
YA: Oh yeah.
I am enrolled in quite a few loyalty programs; all but one is free. I can’t bear the idea of having to keep track whether I’m making my money back. The one that I do pay for is Prime and I actually only pay half; YA pays the other half. I did keep track for the first two years and with the movies, it was a landslide so I quit my spreadsheet after that. Most of my programs only come up once a year on my birthday. I get the birthday freebie and that’s all. The program at my hardware store is probably my favorite – I get discounts and coupons for stuff that I’m purchasing anyway. Couple of my bakery programs pay off occasionally as well. But the idea that YA would fly to Dallas to keep her status is mind-blowing to me. It’s like there’s an alien living in the house with me.
Do you have any loyalty programs that you like?
Trail Baboon 
Is the MasterCard cash-back-on-purchases a loyalty program?
Speedway, Buffalo Wild Wings and Hardee’s give me points.
Those bloggers guiding us on the Trail should get loyalty points.
🤔 Maybe they ARE! Maybe it’s more than just the goodness of their hearts at play here.🤔
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Snort!
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Good one!
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We used to have a rewards membership with Chuck & Don’s pet supplies, but they changed it from “buy 10 bags get one free” to “buy 10 of the exact same food and get one free, but if you buy a different brand it doesn’t count, plus all our coupons now expire in a few weeks, too bad so sad.” We recently switched to Pet Supplies Plus, which also has a rewards program (and coupons printed on the back of receipts from the nearby Cub Foods for $5 off a $35 purchase). We also like their attitude–most of the time when we’re there, they are playing hard rock :-D.
–Crow Girl
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Oh, and my neighborhood coffeehouse also has a loyalty punch card, one free drink after purchase of 10 drinks. Unsurprisingly, it’s the rewards program I use most often!
–Sister Crow
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My Wednesday bakery had a punch card for many years.. basically buy 10, get one free. Say they discontinued it about six months back. Boo hoo.
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I guess Costco membership counts as a loyalty program. Spending a large % of grocery money there and then getting 2% of that back each year on top of the discount prices in their warehouse seems to be loyalty rewarded.
I also have a Kwik Trip card and get an occasional free coffee or other discount. Caribou Perks card, but the sit-down Caribou in town closed up so I rarely go there anymore.
I have loyalty deals with Total Wine, Ace Hardware, Lowes(?) and maybe Mills Fleet Farm–never quite sure and don’t shop those last two regularly. Finally, I have a Cash Wise rewards account that earns me very nice gas discounts for spending $ there: one cent per gallon off for every $10 spent, plus regular cents/gal discounts on many items every week. It’s not uncommon for me to get 20-30 cents/gal. discounts on a tank fill.
Wife has Amazon Prime, mainly for the TV shows, but she’s an occasional buyer of merch and gets the free delivery no matter the amount spent.
Chris in Owatonna
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Forgot about Costco. That’s one that YA also pays 3/4 of. Because I can’t even remember the last time I went to Costco but she goes often.
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Too bad about the sitdown Caribou – I used to stop there enroute to my folks’ in Iowa, from Mpls…
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The only one I currently have is Amazon Prime and that will be going away as soon as I finish watching Northern Exposure. I always forget punch cards, and I can never keep track of points.
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I watched a bunch of Northern Exposure yesterday – turned i off after the Elaine dumped Joel and he had to get “closure”. Then dreamed about N.E.
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I have 4 seasons of NE on DVD..
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We only pay for Prime. I get points from King Arthur Baking Company, Cashwise rewards, and Family Fare discounts.
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You’d think that considering that I shop with King Arthur that I would know they have a rewards program. I’ll have to look into it.
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I generally eschew loyalty programs. I don’t want to keep track of extra cards and I’m just not that loyal. I figure that many loyalty programs are just another database that entities can compile about your purchasing habits and then sell. I know the credit card company is doing that anyway but I can’t avoid that.
I confess that it irritates me when a business offers two-tier pricing on goods depending on whether or not one is a member. Rather than see it as a special deal for members, I see it as a revelation of how much extra markup exists in their normal prices.
We have a Prime membership for the free shipping and an occasional television show or movie and we share a Costco membership with my daughter’s family.
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Yes to this: “I see it as a revelation of how much extra markup exists in their normal prices.”
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I forgot we are part of Hilton Honors program. We don’t travel much, but it comes in handy when making reservations.
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Silver status update. Apparently when you are booking a flight to maintain your status, you can still use your points. SO, flight $0, 4 transfers (airport/hotel & hotel/concert) – she’s budgeting $100. $50 for food. $28 for the concert ticket. And she found a $58 hotel room using her industry discount website. She’s pretty happy.
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Well done!
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In cities I do not know, paying for transfers reduces stress so much. Good for her. A $58 hotel room is really a great price. Glad to see this acorn does not fall far from her Mama Tree.
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
I usually do not sign up for rewards programs because the ones I pay for do not come out in my favor. I also cancelled Amazon Prime because I rarely use the streaming service. Everything I want is also available on Apple which I use often. But I also want to stop doing business with Amazon due to many of their business practices. I did not think of Costco’s membership as a rewards benefit, but it probably is, and I come out ahead there. I do also use Chuck and Don’s and get a premium now and then.
Phoebe, the Corgi, is very loyal to me, so I am glad I signed on to that one, even though she was not very well behaved during Blevin’s Book Club.
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I thought she was cute!
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I thought she did great at Blevins.
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I have a punch card at Curiosi-Tea shop here, and that’s about it. I don’t want extra cards, or whatever, to keep track of. I try to shop at places that don’t use these systems.
That said, I know we’ve gotten cards for gas from some kind of point accumulation, but I’m not sure what.
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The most recent loyalty programs I used were today. The Lunds “Extras” number made it possible to get a pound of Land’O’Lakes butter for 2.99. And I had stars on my Starbucks account, enough to get a venti flat white with an extra shot of espresso for free.
There are a lot of loyalty programs that offer you something for free on your birthday. I started inventing bithdays for those, so they wouldn’t all have to be redeemed at once.
Ace Hardware, Gertens, Speedway, Marathon, CVS, Target Circle, I’ll sign up for all of ’em as long as they’re free.
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It’s fascinating how two people in the same house can view loyalty programs so differently—your approach is grounded in practicality and avoiding unnecessary complexity, while YA’s approach seems fueled by a mix of status-seeking and lifestyle perks that feel worth the cost.
I lean more toward your mindset when it comes to loyalty programs. I gravitate toward ones that don’t require upfront payment or significant mental bandwidth to justify their value. For instance, I enjoy grocery store loyalty programs that automatically apply discounts without me having to think about it. It’s low-maintenance and practical.
That said, there’s something intriguing about YA’s perspective too. For her, loyalty programs like airline status might represent more than the immediate rewards—they could symbolize a lifestyle choice or a sense of accomplishment. The idea of planning a Dallas trip for status might seem extravagant to you, but it’s a calculated move for her, combining work, leisure, and personal goals.
Prime is also one I’d agree is worth paying for, especially if you use a mix of its benefits like free shipping, streaming, and other perks. It’s like paying for convenience and entertainment in one bundle, which feels easier to track.
Do you think YA’s perspective has influenced you in any way, or is it more like watching a fascinating creature from a different planet?
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Mad—welcome to the Trail. I’m mostly see the difference as I’m just a tightwad and YA is more willing to part with her cash for something she sees as a value to her life. I’m pretty sure some of the things I’ve chosen to do with my time and energy seem weird to her (and probably others as well.)
Despite the fact that it is nothing that I would ever do, I’m glad it’s something that she chose to do and made it happen. Although ask me again in a few days when I get up VERY early to drive her to the airport!!
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