Skip to main content

Addicted to Loblaw PC Points





Lately, the manager at my local Loblaw store has been avoiding me.
Every time he sees me, he suddenly remembers an unattended problem and does an about face. He's not the only one. All the other managers and stocking clerks head for the hills when they see me.
That's because, like a growing number of shoppers, I have become addicted to PC Plus points and I spend hours harassing the staff looking for my deals.
For those living without cable, PC Plus is the brainchild of the scion of the Weston family, Galen, who has replaced old Dave Nichol as the pitchman for the companies owned by the family of Ontario's former Lieutenant-Governor. He is on television about every thirty seconds pitching expensive Black Label products and Ontario fresh farm produce in his cashmere sunflower blue sweaters and rich boy goggles.
Most of what he's selling is harmless enough, some is even good for you.
But the PC Plus points are downright dangerous, the crack to every obsessive compulsive shopper, who must fulfill her allotment of points.
Every Friday, I can't wait to hear the familiar ding on my Smartphone as my offers arrive. Usually, I get twelve offers based on my shopping preference. This week, the offerings are shrimp, red meat, dog biscuits, assorted varieties of produce, mostly worth about 20 cents on the dollar. If I have an extra $20 and I can travel down the road to the superstore, I can get 8,000 points for bulk food.
I'm there, Galen, I'm there!
The PC Points program is an absolutely brilliant idea for people like me who have to watch our pennies while seeing the cost of fresh meat and veg soar to unbelievable heights. A really good roast of beef can now cost a whopping $65 and shrimp has become the seafood of the rich, so any savings can help, right?
And sometimes, Galen throws us a bone and offers us thousands of points for a large grocery purchase, usually the week before a high holiday, in hopes of keeping shoppers in grocery stores and away from Costco, my other great addiction.
Already this year, I've saved about $500 off my grocery bill by shopping with PC Points, and I figure I'll have another $500 to spend at Christmas. Nothing to sneeze at. It beats the food bank.
That said, the program is less than perfect.
The offers aren't always clear, so for example, I buy No Name when I should be buying President's Choice or the size of the offer fools me into thinking that I'm points rich when I've bought the wrong product size. Also, my little store often doesn't offer certain products -- not much in the form of No Name, believe it or not -- so I have to get on the road to the superstore.
That's why the manager is avoiding me, because I've become almost a character in a Luigi Pirandello play, one shopper in search of a product that isn't stocked on the shelves.
The worst part about the program is that I usually have to spend a few hours a week fighting for my points. Sometimes the app doesn't work, so I'm having to harass the grocery staff, who I am sure, hate the PC Points program.
Talking to them is useless anyway because they have to grumpily handle my complaint in the old fashioned analog manner, using a calculator, while the smokers and lottery card buyers grumble, and line gets larger and larger.
It seems that most of the staff hired by Loblaw failed their Grade Nine math, and I have never yet gotten complete restitution.
This leaves me with no choice but to contact PC Plus directly to resolve my points issues. It happens three times a week, and as a result, I am on a first name basis with someone named Samantha who helps me sort out my points issues.
The good news is that the staff online are quick to resolve my points problems. Even when I've bought the wrong product, often, I'll get something called "goodwill" points along with a friendly lecture that ham is not a fresh pork product.
All in all, the PC Points Program makes me a happy shopper and I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking to save money on the groceries they already buy.
Just a word of advice: don't harass the manager.
You'll need to keep on his good side in case of a real grocery shopping emergency.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ashley Simpson: Don't Let Her Die in Vain

  Six years ago, I was combing through my Facebook and I saw post from my cousin Julie Major. Her brother and his wife were frantically looking for their daughter Ashley who just days before had Facetimed her mom saying she was planning to return to her home in Niagara. Ashley never made it home. She was murdered in cold blood in her home in Salmon Arm then buried in a nearby field. It would be five and a half years before her body was located, and her boyfriend was charged with second degree murder.  Today, Ashley's urn has a sacred spot in her parents' home, and Derek Favell is in jail awaiting trial by judge and jury. The trial is expected to go into next year sometime. This has been an agonizing journey for Ashley's friends and family. The pain has never stopped, and the wounds are broken open every time the family has to sit through a series of pre-trial proceedings. Fortunately, this ordeal will end but the pain will never wane for the people, including me, who have b...

Ashley Simpson: A Father Remembers

I have asked Ashley Simpson's family and friends to give us a glimpse into the life she lived before going missing nearly a month ago. Here is how her father John remembers his sweet girl. Ashley was a treat when she came into this world, a smashing 9lbs 8 ounces with a  head full of hair and nails that needed to be clipped. She has made many friends in her journey of life and continues to make them as we speak. She has made this world a better place by her love of mankind and this place we call Earth; unfortunately this life she has lived hasn't been the best for her. She has suffered through unbearable pain and suffering through her menstrual cycles. She has cysts on her ovaries that make those 10 days a living hell. She had one of her ovaries removed when she was just 14; the other they won't take out till she is 40 or older. Years of hell for my Ashley. I so feel her pain every month but she doesn't quit, doesn't give in.   That'...

What Bell isn't telling you about Fibe TV

Update: This week, we switched back to Rogers after spending far too long using Bell's crappy television service. For those with Bell, read and weep. For those considering Bell, think twice even if you hate Rogers. RS I've always been an early technology adapter. I had a Betamax. That tells you everything (if you're over 50 at least). My first computer was a "Portable". It weighed 40 pounds and I had to lug it around town on a gurney. I've been through probably 15 computers in my lifetime. Apple is the best. It's also too expensive so I have a piece of shit HP, the one I'm writing this blog on. I've had cable, internet and now Netflix. American Netflix . That's how far ahead of the curve I am. I get all the newspapers for free. How? I disabled my cookies so they can't track me when I'm on the newspaper sites. Even the New York Times hasn't cottoned on to that trick. Hahaha. That will be a fifty buck consulting fee. Bein...