airlmiles collector since 11/93 - weighing in on LCBO dropSo, yes..that's a correct date (from my card). That makes almost 30 years of my participation with airmiles. To increase my airmiles, I also have a BMO M/C; receive airmiles with my BMO bank account, and more airmiles by purchases at Lowes, Shell, Staples, Sobeys - just by showing my airmiles card, as well as online through Airmileshop.ca - which then brings in my amazon purchaes, HP replacement ink purchases...well...a whack of other purchases as you can imagine
So what does losing the LCBO do.....well....I started buying my wine and beer from Sobeys - where I now get airmiles....LCBO business from me has gone down - and I likely won't be participating in whatever loyalty program LCBO comes up with - I like my airmiles.
airmiles has already noticed the uptick of my Sobeys purchases and I have begun receiving weekly Sobeys offers, replacing the monthly LCBO offeres I used to receive from airmiles. That has once again caused me to shop more at the airmiles partner Sobeys.
as well, I received an email last week from airmiles, regarding Allicance Data Systems spin out of the airmiles, and "any potential changes to our ownership", as being further clarified to the marketplace in the months to come.
As an aside, Shell, BMO and Sobeys have a unique airmiles partnership going "together" imo. I get BMO m/c bonus airmiles on my shell purchases - these show up on my m/c monthly bill, in addition to the m/c earned airmiles (until recently 1 for $10 spend), in addition to the airmiles card collections i get from shell.
so did airmiles loose some LCBO royalty...yes probably some. But...they also gained more from Sobeys. It is the give and take of the reward business. Pharma Plus was an airmiles customer for years, until they too dropped airmiles in favor of an inhouse program - I no longer shop at Pharma Plus. I will shop at Lowes versus Home Depot, as I get airmiles. Staples versus Best Buy because I get airmiles.
As a 30 year airmiles collector, I'm an airmiles fan, collect thousand upon thousand of airmiles each year, which I can (and do) redeem for products at the airmiles website.
So do I believe LCBO is an anchor to airmiles? Nope.
8% dividend.....that isn't an anchor. that is cash in the bank.
cheers!