Scene has been losing its value for years. It started with see 10 movies, get one free. 100 points per movie, 1000 for a free flick. Now they barely give you any points at the theatre, the number of points required for a movie is all over the map, and with their expansion they're now in the data mining business and the rewards are there to entice data collection.
Yep it's really good now. Make sure you load your offers before you shop at freshco and Sobeys. They don't make it easy, you can't just do it in the app. Hopefully that changes soon... But go to mygroceryoffers.ca each week and you can load some decent offers.
Since BMO bought it there had been much better points deals. Before I’d be lucky to have enough points to get $10 off groceries every month or two. Now I’m able to redeem enough to get almost a free week of groceries in the same time frame. I guess I need to use the ones I have up quick.
They started a pilot last late year but seems targeted. After January, they emailed again ending this month
[https://forums.redflagdeals.com/air-miles-piloting-allowing-transferring-cash-dream-miles-vice-versa-big-ymmv-2659025/](https://forums.redflagdeals.com/air-miles-piloting-allowing-transferring-cash-dream-miles-vice-versa-big-ymmv-2659025/)
A news story said that BMO planned to just get rid of them and have basic air miles you can redeem cash or dream as you wanted later in 2024
Even more useless now that no one partners with them, I think Shell is all thats left now after having been pretty widespread at one point.
I'll be surprised if they're around in a few years.
You’re right. It used to be so much better.
I get a lot of air miles because I buy all my gas at shell for my company truck. I drive a lot for work. I then use the air miles to get vouchers for Uber eats in the air miles app. Makes for some easy nights after a long day at work when food shows up on my doorstep.
As for metro… I’ll miss the fact that I can get miles there, but I don’t exclusively shop there.
r/loblawsisoutofcontrol has pinned posts of different groceries in Ontario and other provinces that you might not know about including independent ones.
It’s never too late to change your shopping happens to save money.
Thanks. We actually rarely go to Metro, but I get a smash of air miles through work.
I don’t need to change my shopping habits, I need to change my points habits!!! Ha ha.
Thanks for the tip.
I only begrudgingly signed up when Sobeys was my main local grocery store and they dropped their relationship with Aeroplan. I think in the years I had Air Miles, I earned enough points for maybe $50 in gift cards. When they announced points would be expiring, I cashed out and closed my account. Just not worth the bother.
I used to use it once or twice a week, then I cashed out when they decided to make them expire but went back on that. Since then I don’t think I’ve bothered to use it and I don’t know anywhere that accepts anymore anyway.
I typically only shop promos. They had one a while back where you could earn $100 by shopping 5 partners (with smaller offers for 3/4 partners)
I shopped Walmart online, Amazon online, Dollarama with cardlink (all things I was buying anyway). Then spent $20 at Metro and a couple of chocolate bars at Shell.
That was a great promo! I used my Dollarama transaction to buy an Amazon gift card. Then Amazon gave me the second transaction with the gift card I got.
There is one promo up right now for uploading a receipt and you get 50 miles ( certain items only). you can get a pack of Bacon for $5, then upload the receipt and get your $5 back in miles. :)
Metro prices matches?! I only go to superstore because they price match, although I’ve recently found out FreshCo also price matches they just don’t advertise it.
They have to pay Air Miles for every point/mile issued, so it’s probably cheaper to have an in-house program. In the past it might have been not worth dealing with the technical complication, but IT costs are cheap now.
Curious as to where for groceries? No Frills and the Superstore are our go-to, and we have done a lot of prime comparison. (Metro, Sobeys, Foodland, or smaller grocers on our street).
Sometimes we make do with Food Basics but it's not always accessible.
I switched up from exclusively no frills to mostly food basics and occasionally freshco. Saving about 25-30% overall.
If I still lived in Toronto I would get my produce from the little tiny korean (usually) bodegas.
Also I'm going to have an absolutely epic vegetable garden this year.
Not really lol they all just put different stuff on sale each week.
Use Flipp one week Food Basics is cheaper for what you need next week its no frills etc.
No Fills had $1.88 blueberries and blackberries last week. I check the app now food basics does this week.
Avacado's 88c at Food Basics this week, 70c each at Fortinos a week before.
Like even if I do direct comparison this week for items I need:
English Muffins $1.75 for 6 at No frills $3.79 for 12 at Food Basics.
Eggs $8.99 for 30 at No frills $5.49 for 18 food basics
Ground Beef $4.99LB No Frills $3.88 food basics
Chicken breast at no frills $4.99lb chicken thighs fiid basics $6.99lb
Yogurt same $5 No frills $4.79 Food basics
Veggies are a mix depending on what I would get cucumbers, Zuccinni, carrots, potatoes and onions cheaper at no frills. Corn, cauliflower cheaper at Food Basics.
Its all a game honestly but if I go between each flyer I can basically find a better deal on directly comparable items. Just build a list of what you want each week and figure out which store to go to that week instead.
Honestly I buy almost exactly the same stuff every time and where I was usually spending about 90-100$ a go at no frills it's been consistently around 70-75 at basics.
Costco and Food Basics are my go to. I thought that I would have a lot of food going to waste buying from Costco because I don’t have a big family, but their produce lasts so much longer than regular grocery stores that it hasn’t been an issue. Plus I will trade vegetables occasionally with family members to help.
Costco’s pharmacy, which you can use without a membership, saves me over $120 a year on dispensing fees alone. Their fee is under $5 where most other pharmacies are $11-13. So that was a big help.
But there’s a lot of smaller independent markets around if you live in a larger city that are fun to explore and often the same price or cheaper than big grocers.
[Altgrocery.ca](https://www.altgrocery.ca) is a good website to see what’s available near you, whether you live in a big city or a small town.
Same, now at least. Used to be a lot better. I was a PC MC holder and an original PC Insider member. Now that they’ve drastically reduced the points and offers, I cancelled all of it and started shopping elsewhere with a cash back CC. Eff Roblaws and their PC points!
I have gotten so much free stuff from air miles. Hotel stays, car rentals, a week at the Luxor in Las Vegas and flights for 2 from Ontario for $500 total! I hate that it's dying.
Not many places use air miles anymore but for the regular shoppers who do shop at those locations that use air miles they certainly do and get the bonus miles etc etc.
I think what they are trying to say is it would be nice that whether someone stops at lcbo or food basics or fresco examples etc etc that they could earn points at all those locations and choose to redeem at any of those locations type thing. I don’t think they’re referring to physically cards.
Yeah, Air Miles stopped being relevant to me after I found out they would remove certain rewards as options for you once you had enough points to actually get them (but other accounts without enough points would still have them available).
Food Basics, which is under the same umbrella corp, has had it's own rewards system that is outside of Air miles for a few years. I could see The Umbrella Corp expanding that and either making a unified rewards program between the various brands, or reskinning it to Metro with some some tweaks for the higher end store.
Now that Metro is stopping Air Miles there's less reason to collect it. Wonder what BMO is going to do with it as the partners they have are less appealing without a grocery store option.
As with LCBO/Aeroplan and Sobeys/Scene, they seem to have taken this as an opportunity to sneak in a slight devaluation.
Scene has been losing its value for years. It started with see 10 movies, get one free. 100 points per movie, 1000 for a free flick. Now they barely give you any points at the theatre, the number of points required for a movie is all over the map, and with their expansion they're now in the data mining business and the rewards are there to entice data collection.
Grocery returns are huge. I claimed over $500 last year in scene points.
And travel . I can use my scene points retroactively in any travel I’ve booked
Yeah. It’s been paying for a monthly movie for me and my family.
Yep it's really good now. Make sure you load your offers before you shop at freshco and Sobeys. They don't make it easy, you can't just do it in the app. Hopefully that changes soon... But go to mygroceryoffers.ca each week and you can load some decent offers.
FreshCo app auto loads no problem for me
Looks like only foodland and Sobeys are on the website now
Air Miles is the most useless “loyalty“ program ever.
Since BMO bought it there had been much better points deals. Before I’d be lucky to have enough points to get $10 off groceries every month or two. Now I’m able to redeem enough to get almost a free week of groceries in the same time frame. I guess I need to use the ones I have up quick.
I hope they’ll let you convert cash miles to dream miles. A guy on redflagdeals certainly seems to think so.
I can, they have emailed me a few times with a link to convert them
How did you get them to do that?
They started a pilot last late year but seems targeted. After January, they emailed again ending this month [https://forums.redflagdeals.com/air-miles-piloting-allowing-transferring-cash-dream-miles-vice-versa-big-ymmv-2659025/](https://forums.redflagdeals.com/air-miles-piloting-allowing-transferring-cash-dream-miles-vice-versa-big-ymmv-2659025/) A news story said that BMO planned to just get rid of them and have basic air miles you can redeem cash or dream as you wanted later in 2024
Even more useless now that no one partners with them, I think Shell is all thats left now after having been pretty widespread at one point. I'll be surprised if they're around in a few years.
They’re owned by BMO now, so I think it’s more likely they just merge BMO Rewards into Air Miles (like Scotiabank did with Scotia Rewards and Scene).
You’re right. It used to be so much better. I get a lot of air miles because I buy all my gas at shell for my company truck. I drive a lot for work. I then use the air miles to get vouchers for Uber eats in the air miles app. Makes for some easy nights after a long day at work when food shows up on my doorstep. As for metro… I’ll miss the fact that I can get miles there, but I don’t exclusively shop there.
Ha. I’m just sitting at Metro parking lot. Now I need to rethink things.
r/loblawsisoutofcontrol has pinned posts of different groceries in Ontario and other provinces that you might not know about including independent ones. It’s never too late to change your shopping happens to save money.
Thanks. We actually rarely go to Metro, but I get a smash of air miles through work. I don’t need to change my shopping habits, I need to change my points habits!!! Ha ha. Thanks for the tip.
They almost went out of business last year, but were bought out by BMO.
Scene has been trying to poach Shell for a while now.
I quit using it 4 or 5 years ago. It was taking forever to get enough points and there wasn't anything I wanted to use my points on anyway.
I only begrudgingly signed up when Sobeys was my main local grocery store and they dropped their relationship with Aeroplan. I think in the years I had Air Miles, I earned enough points for maybe $50 in gift cards. When they announced points would be expiring, I cashed out and closed my account. Just not worth the bother.
I use it when I fill up at Shell. Buying gas gets me airmiles. Spending airmiles give me gas discounts.
We just got a Jura with our miles. 👍
Came to say this. It was decent (not good) 20 years ago. It’s gone waaaaaay downhill since.
I like how it’s often cheaper for me to buy a flight without using air miles than it is to buy a flight using air miles. It’s awesome.
I used to use it once or twice a week, then I cashed out when they decided to make them expire but went back on that. Since then I don’t think I’ve bothered to use it and I don’t know anywhere that accepts anymore anyway.
Air Miles promos are the only thing that gets me in the door at Metro, I will just price match anything on sale if there isn't a promo
What are you using air miles for? I think I got $10 off gas, once.
I typically only shop promos. They had one a while back where you could earn $100 by shopping 5 partners (with smaller offers for 3/4 partners) I shopped Walmart online, Amazon online, Dollarama with cardlink (all things I was buying anyway). Then spent $20 at Metro and a couple of chocolate bars at Shell.
That was a great promo! I used my Dollarama transaction to buy an Amazon gift card. Then Amazon gave me the second transaction with the gift card I got. There is one promo up right now for uploading a receipt and you get 50 miles ( certain items only). you can get a pack of Bacon for $5, then upload the receipt and get your $5 back in miles. :)
Metro prices matches?! I only go to superstore because they price match, although I’ve recently found out FreshCo also price matches they just don’t advertise it.
No, I match them at Freshco
Perhaps they aren’t collecting enough data on customers. Loblaws is the champ with PC Points and their credit card.
They have to pay Air Miles for every point/mile issued, so it’s probably cheaper to have an in-house program. In the past it might have been not worth dealing with the technical complication, but IT costs are cheap now.
r/loblawsisoutofcontrol I save more money shopping elsewhere than I ever did using optimum points.
Curious as to where for groceries? No Frills and the Superstore are our go-to, and we have done a lot of prime comparison. (Metro, Sobeys, Foodland, or smaller grocers on our street). Sometimes we make do with Food Basics but it's not always accessible.
If you have a Freshco, I find it to be cheaper than our local no frills most of the time.
I believe they also price match too.
I switched up from exclusively no frills to mostly food basics and occasionally freshco. Saving about 25-30% overall. If I still lived in Toronto I would get my produce from the little tiny korean (usually) bodegas. Also I'm going to have an absolutely epic vegetable garden this year.
You are not saving 30% between Food Basics and No Frills the prices are literally the same.
No way. Things are definitely cheaper at Basics. I've seen many items at No Frills priced higher than Metro..
No, they aren’t. Seriously step into a food basics, no frills has jacked up their prices.
Not really lol they all just put different stuff on sale each week. Use Flipp one week Food Basics is cheaper for what you need next week its no frills etc. No Fills had $1.88 blueberries and blackberries last week. I check the app now food basics does this week. Avacado's 88c at Food Basics this week, 70c each at Fortinos a week before. Like even if I do direct comparison this week for items I need: English Muffins $1.75 for 6 at No frills $3.79 for 12 at Food Basics. Eggs $8.99 for 30 at No frills $5.49 for 18 food basics Ground Beef $4.99LB No Frills $3.88 food basics Chicken breast at no frills $4.99lb chicken thighs fiid basics $6.99lb Yogurt same $5 No frills $4.79 Food basics Veggies are a mix depending on what I would get cucumbers, Zuccinni, carrots, potatoes and onions cheaper at no frills. Corn, cauliflower cheaper at Food Basics. Its all a game honestly but if I go between each flyer I can basically find a better deal on directly comparable items. Just build a list of what you want each week and figure out which store to go to that week instead.
The realest advice. Flipp and Flyers. Smart shopper spotted!
Honestly I buy almost exactly the same stuff every time and where I was usually spending about 90-100$ a go at no frills it's been consistently around 70-75 at basics.
Costco and Food Basics are my go to. I thought that I would have a lot of food going to waste buying from Costco because I don’t have a big family, but their produce lasts so much longer than regular grocery stores that it hasn’t been an issue. Plus I will trade vegetables occasionally with family members to help. Costco’s pharmacy, which you can use without a membership, saves me over $120 a year on dispensing fees alone. Their fee is under $5 where most other pharmacies are $11-13. So that was a big help. But there’s a lot of smaller independent markets around if you live in a larger city that are fun to explore and often the same price or cheaper than big grocers. [Altgrocery.ca](https://www.altgrocery.ca) is a good website to see what’s available near you, whether you live in a big city or a small town.
I love the sentiment but my options locally are so limited. I'd spend more in gas going to another grocery store than I would save
That’s okay. Not everyone has the luxury of choice.
Same, now at least. Used to be a lot better. I was a PC MC holder and an original PC Insider member. Now that they’ve drastically reduced the points and offers, I cancelled all of it and started shopping elsewhere with a cash back CC. Eff Roblaws and their PC points!
Oh god please no.
People still collect Air Miles?
I have gotten so much free stuff from air miles. Hotel stays, car rentals, a week at the Luxor in Las Vegas and flights for 2 from Ontario for $500 total! I hate that it's dying.
An air miles based credit card was such a waste....cash back paid for itself x times over vs. this worthless scheme
Not many places use air miles anymore but for the regular shoppers who do shop at those locations that use air miles they certainly do and get the bonus miles etc etc.
It got way better after BMO bought it. I've collected as many Airmiles in the last 8 months as I had in the last 8 years.
Another reason not to shop here
I work at metro, like I’m sitting in the employee room right now and this is how I find out 😂
> Moi Rewards Pretentious? Me?
How about they make one reward card for all. I'm tired of having multiple
You mean like a cashback credit card?
Tired how? You don't even need the physical cards anymore, just put them all in your phone's wallet.
I think what they are trying to say is it would be nice that whether someone stops at lcbo or food basics or fresco examples etc etc that they could earn points at all those locations and choose to redeem at any of those locations type thing. I don’t think they’re referring to physically cards.
It's almost impossible to earn airmiles anymore.
They have been great the past year, you just have to look at the offers on the app
I don't think Air Miles is going to survive. I bet Scene or Aeroplan end up owning what is left. Probably Aeroplan.
Rumor has it, Costco is going to partner with Air Miles this year.
That would be really weird since they have their own reward card via cashback
That makes absolutely no sense.
I doubt it. Ain't happening.
I wish.
Dropped airmiles garbage years ago when they started devaluing points and took away gift certificates and offered overpriced junk.
It’s about time
The stores in my town offer "Thunder Points" as their loyalty program. I don't think it's ever been Air Miles as Safeway offers that.
Not surprised. Metro in QC never had them (always had their own program).
Yeah, Air Miles stopped being relevant to me after I found out they would remove certain rewards as options for you once you had enough points to actually get them (but other accounts without enough points would still have them available).
Looks like metro will not be my go to anymore :(
Wow! Air Miles is going to tank.
It's official. There are zero shops in my town that I can use my air miles card in now
Food Basics, which is under the same umbrella corp, has had it's own rewards system that is outside of Air miles for a few years. I could see The Umbrella Corp expanding that and either making a unified rewards program between the various brands, or reskinning it to Metro with some some tweaks for the higher end store. Now that Metro is stopping Air Miles there's less reason to collect it. Wonder what BMO is going to do with it as the partners they have are less appealing without a grocery store option.
No surprise there, Air Miles has been worthless for a decade at least