Bonus Air Miles or Percentage Off Groceries?

One of my favourite money saving tips is to shop at Safeway on their Customer Appreciation Day, which occurs on the 1st Tuesday of every month.  Safeway offers customers a choice to receive 20x bonus Air Miles or 15 percent off their total grocery bill.  A quick look at the math will reveal why it’s always better to go with 15 percent off your total grocery bill, which is what I choose every time.

Bonus Air Miles

I always redeem Air Miles for products like $20 gas gift cards from Shell.  The gift card rewards cost me 175 Air Miles, which means that 1 Air Mile is worth about 11.4 cents.

When shopping at Safeway you can earn 1 Air Mile for every $20 that you spend, meaning that if you spend $300 on groceries you would earn 15 Air Miles.  On Customer Appreciation Day, you would have the opportunity to earn 300 bonus Air Miles (20 x 15).  Using the same ratio of 1 Air Mile = 11.4 cents that would make 300 Air Miles worth about $34.28.  Sounds like a pretty good deal, right?

15 Percent Off Your Groceries

Let me start by saying that Safeway is one of the most expensive grocery stores out there and you should always compare grocery store prices in your area to find the best deals.  That being said, I only shop at Safeway on Customer Appreciation Day to take advantage of the 15 percent off your groceries deal.

Related: Do You Put Groceries On Your Credit Card?

Using the same example as above, if you spent $300 on groceries you would receive a discount of $45.00 when the cashier rings through the 15 percent off.

Make The Smart Choice

It can be exciting to build up your Air Miles rewards balance, but don’t forget that the whole point of rewards cards is to save you money.  Taking the 15 percent off groceries deal is the smart choice every time.

If you only spend $40 on groceries during Customer Appreciation Day at Safeway you will receive 40 bonus Air Miles that are worth $4.56.  By taking the 15 percent off deal you will save $6 on your groceries.

And just to prove that this choice works every time, let’s use one more example of spending $1,000 on groceries.  You would receive 1,000 bonus Air Miles worth $114.  Of course, the 15 percent off deal would work out to saving you $150.

So the next time the cashier asks you to choose your rewards, make the smart choice and take the percentage off.

1 Comment

  1. Air Miles Rewards: What Is The Best Value? on August 6, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    […] out to about a 0.75% rebate (using the ratio of $15 spent = 1 Air Mile).  Taking advantage of bonus Air Miles events at sponsor locations will definitely help you maximize your […]



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