Tag: rewards

PC Optimum Points – Part 4: The Rule of Averages

The PC Points conundrum: How can you ever win when you fully enjoy losing?
Image by Eric Perlin from Pixabay


There is a lot of “free money” to be earned through the PC Optimum program.

We’ve previously discussed quite a bit about how to maximize your points through various strategies, and on the surface all looks pretty good. Unfortunately it’s not all sunshine and roses. There’s another hidden problem that we have not yet addressed, but which I alluded to very briefly at the end of Part 2.

What happens to the value of your points if the item that you purchased to earn those points was significantly marked up to begin with? And what if other competitor stores were selling that item for cheaper? Would you still be getting those super higher return rates? Or is it all just a mirage, designed to fool you into monetary submission. And how do we figure out if we’re actually getting free money, or if we’re just receiving another hollow promise?

We’re going on another deep dive of this topic, and to help us out, I’m going to use something I like to call, the Rule of Averages.

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The PC Optimum Program – Part 2: The Cost of Free

“If you take the rest of my junk, I’ll give you this junk for free!”

The PC Optimum Program’s deck is stacked, and not in your favour. If you’re destined to lose, is there any point in still playing? Part of the problem is trying to pin an accurate value on what the PC Points are worth. It’s more complicated than just stating “X point are worth Y dollars”. That may be true, but in the larger scheme their real value is ultimately affected by how much it costed you to get those points. How much did it cost you by the way? What’s that? You don’t know? Hmmm…

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The PC Optimum Program: Part 1 – You’ve Been Played!

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…

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