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Canadian Tire Money on its way out
May 15, 2012 - 11:42am
Canadian Tire “money” goes plastic
Quote:
Printed by the same official printer on the same kind of paper as real Canadian currency, Canadian Tire “money” has long held a cherished spot in the nation’s psyche.That’s one reason the retailer has decided to keep the paper in circulation – for now – while it begins testing a new plastic loyalty card in Nova Scotia this month.
“We know there are people who love the (paper) program and don’t want to carry plastic. So we’ll allow them to do that,” said Canadian Tire chief marketing officer Rob Shields.
But it seems likely Canadian Tire paper money’s days are numbered.
“They already hinted a couple of years ago that they’re re-evaluating the Canadian Tire money program. Now they’ve got this pilot program,” said Michael McLarney, editor of the online trade publicationhttp://www.hardlines.ca/hardlines.ca
For nostalgia's sake, I'm a little sad to see it go. But as an incentive program I doubt it's been very effective in quite a while. You used to get 5% back in CT money, but now it's less than 1%.
When I was a kid I would have to save my money for months in order to buy something I wanted. So when I finally had saved up enough to buy that $4 fishing lure, it was always exciting to walk out of the store with an extra 20¢ in CT money to set aside for my next purchase.
I also remember a friend of mine complaining about the embarrassment of his dad pulling out a shoe box full of CT money at the check-out, making the cashier sort and tally hundreds of 5¢ and 10¢ bills.
I used to work at a Canadian Tire Gas Bar as a 19-year-old. Even though my father was quite obsessive (I thought) about CT$, I couldn't believe the level of dedication (shall we say) some of the customers had. Not just meticulously collecting it and maximizing their bonus with coupons and the like, but actual collectors like the guy mentioned in the article who would come by every week and ask me to look for certain serial numbers.
I shop at CT so seldomly these days that when I do, I'm a bit miffed at the extra 5-15¢ in billfolds I'm meant to carry with me, since I know there's no way I'll have them with me the next time I'm at a store. At the same time, I'm also a bit wistful that they're going. Then I remind myself that they're a wealthy publicly traded corporation and I get over it. :)