Many establishments offer rewards programs for loyal customers. And if you don’t take advantage of these programs, you could really be missing out. The PC Optimum rewards program is an awesome way to earn free stuff while you’re spending!
What Are PC Optimum Points?
PC Optimum points are a sort of digital currency and loyalty program all rolled into one. These points can be be earned through everyday spending on common spending categories.
Things like filling up your car, shopping for dinner, or even picking out a new mascara can help you rack up the points quickly. You can sign up for the program in participating stores directly, or by going online. The points are redeemable towards household basics like groceries, but can also be put towards new clothes, or even home decor items!
What is the dollar value of PC Optimum Points?
Every 10,000 of PC Optimum points is worth $10 when redeemed. This means every PC Optimum Point is worth about $0.10.
After you’ve collected your points you can redeem them for a flat amount off of your next purchase. This helps you stretch out your budget even further to help you meet your other financial goals.
How to Earn PC Optimum Points
You can earn PC Optimum points by scanning your PC Optimum card at participating retailers, or by buying things with a PC Financial Credit card. If you do the latter at a place where you earn PC Optimum points already you’ll usually walk away with a few extra points for your trouble.
The easiest way to make sure you never miss out on points is to make sure you have the app downloaded to your phone. From the app you can also see any special offers you have just for you.
The offers will change every week and will be for different stores that are near you. Right now, PC Optimum points can be earned at a lot of different places! You can earn on groceries, gas, and general goods like clothes and beauty products across multiple retailers:
- Loblaws
- Real Canadian Superstore
- No Frills
- Fortinos
- Wholesale Club
- Dominion
- Zerhs
- Valu-mart
- Independent Grocer
- Independent City Market
- Maxi
- Atlantic Superstore
- Shoppers Drug Mart
- Pharmaprix
- Esso Gas Stations
- Mobil Gas Stations
- Joe Fresh
You can also earn points by becoming a PC Insider subscriber. This subscription service costs either $9.99 a month or $99.00 a year. Subscribers get offers to earn extra points, receive free shipping, and free online grocery pickup at some stores. The annual subscribers also receive a $99.00 travel credit, and a surprise gift each year. The point bonuses you earn from subscribing are also added on top of the general offers already offered to all other members of the program.
How to Maximize your Rewards when you Shop
There are a few ways you can really boost your point balance with your regular shopping. If you have the app downloaded to your phone you will be served up a selection of PC Optimum offers every week for the stores that are closest to you. These offers will change weekly, and are curated based on your past purchases.
Be on the lookout while you’re in store for the PC Optimum logo on the price cards as you go up and down aisles. These offers can sometimes make it worth your while to try a different brand of something you were already planning on picking up that week.
You’ll also be able to scan your card directly from the app while you shop making it much easier to remember to collect your points! If you see an offer that will get you a lot of points but you don’t need the item it mentions you can also use the app to save the offer for the next week so you don’t miss out.
I really cannot stress how amazing the app is to help you boost your point balance. My app is offering me 20,000 points ($20 value) if I spend $100 at my local Dominion store’s online ordering option this week. The pickup fee is waived right now, so I effectively only spend $80 and get the full $100 value on my weekly shop.
More earning opportunities!
If you sign up for the PC Financial MasterCard you’ll also gain points on every dollar spent with the card. This means that you can effectively earn points twice on every purchase you already received an offer for.
Another great way to maximize your spending in addition to your PC Optimum points is by using a cash back card. KOHO is a great option for this. It is a pre-paid Visa linked to a budgeting app that helps you increase savings and earn cash back! With your KOHO card, you earn 0.50% to 2% cash back on all your purchases. Check out our KOHO review here.
How many PC Optimum Points do I earn per dollar?
How many PC Optimum Points you’ll earn per dollar depends on where you’re shopping and what PC Optimum points card you’re using.
You can earn at least 10 points per dollar on everyday purchases using a PC Financial Credit Card. You’ll get up to 45 points per dollar with select PC Financial Cards when shopping at places like Shoppers Drug Mart.
If you opt to only use the standard PC Optimum loyalty card instead, then you’ll be a little more restricted depending on where you shop. At Shopper’s Drug Mart and Pharamprix your PC Optimum card or app will earn you 15 points per dollar spent on most things in the store (Beauty products, food basics, toiletries, prescriptions, etc).
When filling up at Esso or Mobil gas stations you also earn 10 points per litre of gas, or 10 points per dollar spent at the convenience store or car wash options at the stations. At other stores mentioned above you earn your points when they are either listed in the app as an offer, or when they are shown in store on the price tag or in the flyer.
How to add PC Optimum Points from a Receipt
If you ever forget to swipe or scan your card when you were out shopping, you can submit a claim for the missing points.
To add PC Optimum points from a receipt, fire up the PC Optimum app on your phone. Click on the Points tab, and then tap Transactions. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you should see an option to start a points inquiry. Follow the steps outlined and then submit the information required from your receipt.
Once completed you should receive an update to your points total in short amount of time once the claim is processed. You can also process an inquiry for transactions where you did show your card but you were missing points anyway.
How to Redeem PC Optimum Points
This is the fun part! To redeem your points all you need to do is show your card or app to the cashier when you are ringing out your purchase and then inform them that you want to redeem your points against the total. as long as you have 10,000 points at least you can start redeeming. You can redeem points in $10/10,000pts increments up to your total bill.
You can redeem points at most places you can earn them, but you cannot redeem on purchases at Esso or Mobil stations.
How to Maximize the value of your PC Optimum Points
If you really want to stretch the value of your points you need to keep a close eye on the PC Optimum App. Every so often you’ll see redemption offers for some stores, usually at places like Shopper’s Drug Mart, that give you bonus value for redeeming. If you manage to score one of these offers you can effectively redeem less points for more money!
These offers have, in the past, sprung up around big sale periods like Black Friday or the Holidays, so make sure you keep an ear out as we get closer to the end of the year. This works out well for someone like me who hoards their points like a dragon all year and then uses them all at once to cover a lot of my holiday shopping.
Save money with PC Optimum points!
The PC Optimum program is one of the best ways for Canadians to save a little extra money in the places they are already spending some of the biggest chunks of their budget. If you live nearby any of the stores or retailers listed you can really use the program to make your budget a little more breathable.
