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How to Optimise your Redemption of Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum Points (Guest post)
Today, we’ve got a new guest post from Steven Zussino, co-founder of GroceryAlerts.ca, the Canadian website specializing in grocery coupons and Canadian flyer deals. Steven is going to share some shopping tips on how you can optimize your points in the Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum Program. [Anna]
I really enjoy shopping at Shoppers Drug Mart. It is Canada’s largest pharmacy chain with more than 1,200 stores operating under the names Shoppers Drug Mart in nine provinces and two territories and Pharmaprix in Quebec.
The Shoppers Optimum Card is a loyalty card program that is exclusive to Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix stores. Anyone can apply to be a member and collect Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum Points that may be redeemed on purchases within the store.
Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum members receive 10 points for every dollar spent at the store. This excludes the purchase of lottery, tobacco products, transit tickets and passes, prescription items, any products containing codeine, Canada Post products and gift cards (except Shoppers gift cards).
They also have several bonus offers available that award bonus Optimum points (for example 1,500 bonus Optimum points with the purchase of a certain brand of Tylenol).
Throughout the year, Shoppers Drug Mart has special weekend sales where customers receive 20 times the regular points when they spend a certain amount.
The points that you earn at Shoppers Drug Mart can be redeemed for reward merchandise at Shoppers Drug Mart. Now, earning 10 points for every dollar spent will not go very far in earning any rewards at Shoppers Drug Mart. But here are some ways to optimise your Shoppers Drug Mart points:
1. Purchase a Shoppers Drug Mart gift card before your spending.
Not many people know this, but you can buy a Shoppers Drug Mart gift card and show your Optimum card, and receive points for that purchase. So, before you shop, buy a $50 gift card and receive 500 points. As you checkout, pay for $50 with that gift card and show your Optimum card once again for an additional 500 points. It is like double-dipping!
2. Shop on Bonus Redemption days
When Shoppers Drug Mart announces a bonus redemption day, it’s time to start shopping. Their bonus redemption day allows anyone with many Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum Points to get extra savings.
Here are some examples at some redemption levels:
- Redeem 30,000 points and get up to $60 off (instead of the usual $40)
- Redeem 50,000 points and get up to $120 off (instead of the usual $85)
- Redeem 95,000 points and get up to $250 off (instead of the usual $170)
It is best practice to wait for these redemption days to optimize your return on your points.
3. Bonus Points on Individual Products
Shoppers Drug Mart offers extra bonus points on individual products across the store every single day. These products vary from their own brands, to brand name products.
One example is that I earned 1,500 Optimum points with the purchase of Advil Nighttimes (size 10s) when purchased for $3.99. I used a $4 off coupon and bought 15 packages (to be given away to friends and family).
4. Multiple Point Event Days or Special Points Events on Product Categories
Get thousands of extra Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum Points on “20x the Points” event days. An example would be to spend $50 and get 10,000 points instead of 500.
They also have these events on categories of products in the store, i.e. (10x the points on health products, or 20x the points on cosmetics).
(Image credits: mjb84, Aidan, chapstickaddict)
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Didn’t know the trick about the gift card. Thanks!
I also didn’t know about the gift cards. It makes sense, since if I received one as a gift I’d be really annoyed if they didn’t give me optimum points when I shopped.
Great post! Very well written and well balanced. I like your included examples. I’d like to add that many Shoppers (but not all) offer a good selection of grocery items that frequently go on sale. Bacon, for example, can frequently be found for $3.49 or $3.99 – I don’t think I’ve bought bacon anywhere else in a loooooong time. Sure beats paying $5.49!
Leanne,
It is frustrating that all Shoppers are different. We always buy milk, egg, and cheese at our local store. We also try to buy some baby products that are priced the same everywhere to earn extra bonus Optimum points.
I really like that trick with the gift card as well. Thanks for sharing.
Shoppers 20x points the event is on of my fave events at SD, and is typically the time I usually go and get the majority of my toiletries for stocking up.
Eddie,
It doesn’t sound like much but the points slowly add up for the Bonus Redemption days. We were able to get over $500 worth of free products last year before Christmas (bought all our Christmas presents and Home Depot cards for our kitchen reno).
I have a few points and thought of redeeming them for Gift cards. When I read the fine print on the Rules and Regs, it says that we cannot redeem points for Gift Cards.
How did you do it?
Another thing that most people don’t know is that using regular coupons at Shoppers Drug Mart during the 20X points event will earn you even more points. Because you get the 20x the points on the total (before coupons) you can get points for $50 worth of items when you only spend $25 after coupons are added. The tills automatically give you the points (even though some cashiers say you won’t get them). I do this every time they have a 20x points event. The only time this won’t work is for FPC (free product coupons) since you do not get points on those.
I never knew what benefit there was to Shopper’s Optimum points. After reading this post I stopped by my local Shopper’s, since it happened to be a 20x the points day, bought myself a gift card and made my purchases. I’ve had the Optimum card for about two years and had only accumulated about 600 points. Now I have enough points to get $30 off, but I’ll definitely look for the next bonus redemption day so my points will go even further.
Thanks so much for these great tips!
[...] shared a guest Shoppers Drug Mart post earlier as to how to optimize your points with your Optimum card. I am going to let you know a [...]
[...] towards your groceries or keeping building the balance. The best program for points though is the Shoppers Drug Mart optimum program. It is free and so easy get up to $250 worth of free groceries by following a few easy steps. I [...]
IT IS ALSO THE CHEAPEST PLACE IN TORONTO TO BUY A BAG(4L) OF SKIM MILK IN THE CITY AS FAR ASI HAVE SEEN 4.29 CENTS
Another great way to earn Shoppers points is via their Mastercard or debit card. If you shop there a lot, the debit card allows you to earn double the points (the same way you’d earn with the gift card method, actually) when you shop there plus an addition 1 point per dollar anywhere else you spend it. Not to mention the extra points is simply “per dollar”, not “per dollar tax excluded” as it is with the regular Optimum points. You also get 50,000 points just for signing up (that’s 85 dollars regular redemption!) which is a bonus.
Not to mention, it’s through RBC, so if you already bank there, that’s a plus — if not, the associates are EXTREMELY helpful when it comes to switching over. When I switched to their bank for it, they offered to pay any fees or expenses I would have for switching over my accounts.
Secondly is the Mastercard. Instead of 10 points per dollar at Shoppers, its an additional 15 points per dollar — and 5 points per dollar anywhere else you shop.
Thirdly, don’t leave out the email offers. Check your email regularly — often times there are email-only offers that include bonus points on items, so bring in your printed email for even more points.
i was wondering what you mean by paying for your shoppers drug mart purchases with your debit card – can help you accumulate extra points , what does that mean?? i dont think i could actually get the credit card because of finacial difficulty but what does this mean about the debit card??