Lowdown on the PC Optimum Merger

I originally posted the following assessment to the Facebook group LDNonFIRE on Nov 8, 2017, in response to that day’s announcement regarding the merger of PC Points and Shoppers Optimum. It seems to still be getting a fair of amount of traction, so I’m now posting it on DeliberateChange.ca™ as well.

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You may have heard the news today that PC Points and Shoppers Optimum are merging as of Feb 1, 2018. I’ve gone through the many FAQs, run the calculator and examined the points charts supplied. Here’s the lowdown:

In general not much will change, other than you will now be able to collect points at both Loblaws/etc. stores and Shoppers. The biggest change that I can see is with the Optimum points side of the house. Optimum points are currently set up on an increasing scale, meaning that the more you have/redeem at once, the more each point is worth. At the low end, they’re worth 1.25%, and at the high end they’re worth about 1.8%. (PC Points are always worth 1.0%, except maybe for special promotions.) With the new joint program, points collected at Shoppers will be collected at a consistent rate of 1.5%.

So, if you’re the person who redeems often and for low amounts, the new system will give you more points. If you wait until you have many, many points, then you will be earning less.

Overall, though, kudos to PC for creating a simple, straightforward and apparently fair transition to the new program, and for making so much information readily available. As a bonus, they’re even giving more points than they need to when they transfer you to the new system.

Dislaimer: Although I’m not receiving any compensation for this, I’ve been a PC points collector for over 15 yrs, so I might be a bit biased…!

Your Turn Now!

What do you think of the new PC Optimum program? Will you stick around or join up, or do you have another preferred points plan that you love and can’t wait to tell us about?