Everyone loves the PC Optimum Program. It’s fresh, it’s user-friendly, it gives you free stuff. And who doesn’t love Galen Weston? (…except for that whole bread incident thingy…sshhh!…)

The only problem is, all is not what it seems. What if I told you the whole system is designed to make you think that you’re taking advantage of it, when in reality, you’re the one that’s being played! Do you really think those are free groceries you’re getting? Hmmm… Interesting…

But First, A Quick Recap!

The PC Optimum Program is a loyalty rewards program that has been around for a while. It offers points on various purchases you make through supporting stores; ones like Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart, No Frills, Esso, etc. For every 10,000 pts that you accumulate, you can then redeem them for $10 of “free” goods. The Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM) chain is a standout in the program because you receive points on all pre-tax purchases*. Getting points on everything you buy is one of the keys to using this program successfully.

The base rate of points accumulation is 15 points per dollar. However, SDM has frequent PC Points events where you can accumulate those points at a much faster rate. Events such as 20x the points will get you 300 pts per dollar instead of 15. SDM also has redemption events where you can redeem your points at a much higher value (i.e.: redeem 200,000pts for $300 instead of the normal $200).

This is where the program vastly separates itself from other loyalty rewards programs. The returns can be upwards of 30%; much better than other programs that only give you 2-4%. Since most of the best bonus point events only occur at Shoppers Drug Mart stores, I’ll be focusing on SDM for the rest of this discussion.

The main strategies for using the PC Optimum Program to its maximum are as follows:

  • Only shopping on bonus points events (i.e.: 20x the points)
  • Only redeem points on bonus redemption events
  • Only buy what you need… No impulse purchases!

If you don’t do the above, then the PC Optimum becomes no better than any other loyalty program.

How The System Games You

Everyone wants something for free. And when you use the PC Optimum program maximally, by shopping on bonus accumulation and redemption days, you feel like you’ve accomplished something great! You look at your receipt, and see that you just added 30,000 points to your account, essentially making $30. It feels like you’re walking out the door with free money. You feel like you just gamed the system.

Except, that’s the whole point. Psychologically, the entire program is designed to make you feel this way, otherwise PC Optimum wouldn’t have all the advertising for these bonus events. Their marketing is quite brilliant, and whoever designed it deserves major kudos.

That warm fuzzy feeling you get inside when using the points system is what reinforces your desire to go back and shop at SDM again and again. And it doesn’t end there. If you have one of their PC credit cards, that’s further reinforcement because you get more points at PC stores than non-PC stores. They use the same strategy if you also have the PC App for your phone. PC Optimum is always sending you special time limited offers for bonus points and deals. These time limits create a false sense of urgency which further increase your desire to collect the “deals” before time runs out.

People don’t like to miss out on a “good deal”!

Humans have a tendency for collecting various things and points are no different. It almost feels like you’re going to a Casino, except that you’re always winning by getting more and more points! But SDM is the one that really comes out on top, because every time you shop there you’re spending money, and they’re making sales and profits off you. If they were losing more than they made from the program, then the program would cease to exist.

Playing Dirty

The Shoppers Drug Mart flyer is quite a piece of work. A brilliant piece of work. If you ever take a good look at it (which you definitely should), it’s very cleverly designed to make the eye slip to make you to lose track of what it’s actually advertising to you. Confusion and chaos are some ways that SDM tries to manipulate you. The flyer is purposely designed to be extremely busy. There’s a lot going on, especially on the front page.

They always have some sort of “main event” at the top in extra large print. The dates that the event is occurring on are always off to the side in small print. Then just below the “main event”, they’ll have another box for a “2 day” sale with event dates that are noticeably larger than the previously listed tiny dates for the “main event”. The “2 day” sales and the “main event” usually never occur at the exact same times. They can be slightly offset or occur on different days altogether. However, since the “2 day” sale has a much larger date, it can easily look like the both events are happening at the exact same time.

Your eyes will tend to slide over that little detail, and when you end up going to SDM and find out that the events aren’t actually happening simultaneously, it’ll be too late. You’ll be at the checkout and discover that the “2 day” sale items you’re trying to purchase aren’t on sale yet, but then say to yourself “well, I’m already here, so I might as well buy these things”. Or worse, that the “2 day” sale event is happening, but you’ve just missed the “main event”!!!

Deception Tactics

Most other stores send out their weekly flyer once a week with sales for that week. These sales usually run from Thursday to Wednesday or Friday to Thursday. Shoppers Drug Mart does things a little differently. They like to run their weekly sales from Saturday to Thursday. However, their main event (i.e.: 20x points or bonus redemption days) will often occur on Friday, when nothing is on sale!!! Grrr!

Shoppers Drug Mart isn’t the cheapest place to shop on a good day, but when you’re buying things at full price, the value of your points goes way down. What’s the point of getting an extra $5 in bonus points to redeem on peanut butter, when on the only day I can use that bonus $5 of points the peanut butter increased to $10!?!?

I’ll tell you what the point is! It’s to manipulate you into going to SDM more often than you should, spending more than you should, and buying more expensive items than you should!

I don’t know about you, but these deception tactics grind my gears.

Welcome To The Carnival

So, SDM wins. In effect, the PC Points program is a bit like playing carny games. They deceive you with their flyer, and they pray on your emotions, using human psychology and behaviour against you. Their “special events” are crafted in such a way to make you think that you’re winning the game, when in fact they’ve already won! You won’t even realize you’ve lost and you’ll still feel great about the whole process! The cherry on the cake is that they win even more if you just shop there normally without using the points program at all.

Why bother playing the game if the deck is stacked against you? Is there a way to level the playing field and use the system to your advantage?

If you can find the real value of the goods that you think you’re getting for “free”, and figure out what they’re actually costing you, then you just might have a chance to win instead! Stay tuned for Part 2.






*SDM excludes points on some purchase such as Lotto Tickets, Alcohol, Cigarettes, Gift Cards, etc. A full list can be found here.