Where to Store All of These Loyalty Cards?
Ok, so they are stacking up inside your wallet, layer upon layer. Thankfully with no cheese or sauce in between. Messy in the pants or purse. Save me from getting another loyalty card.
“Would you like to join our soup club?”
“Are you a member of our fish market?”
“You should take advantage of our frequent sock buyer points program.”
Good lord, where will I store all of these cards? How will I remember all of the member numbers and passwords? And will they shower me in junk email?
Wait. I Don’t Have My Loyalty Card With Me.
And of course, when you really are spending money, say at a hotel, you get into this conversation:
“Thank you for staying with us at the Booja Booja Hotel here in New York city. I have you here for 8 nights, total will be $3,395. Wow that’s a lot of money. I am hoping that you are a member of our points club because you would have enough points for a 2-night stay at any of our hotels worldwide?”
“Argh, dang, nope”
“Great, well if you like you can go online and join our points club when you have the time.”
“If I do that, can I use it for this stay?”
“Unfortunately…no. But you can set it up for your next stay.”
“You mean there is no way to set it up now so I can collect points on this stay?”
“No, unfortunately not. Thanks for staying with us here at the Booja Booja. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable.”
Hate Setting up and Storing Loyalty Cards?
Hmm. Did you ever find the time to set up that loyalty card? Didn’t think so. And of course, when your brother-in-law jets away for his guys fishing trip “all on points” (said with a big toothy grin) it hurts all the more.
Take some time now and apply for all of the loyalty clubs of every major product or service company that you use or are likely to use. Focus on the ones with apps that work on your smartphone. Do some searching in the Apple App Store or in Google Play to see which of them have mobile apps. Download the ones that you are likely to use. Ideally, they have virtual cards that live in your Apple Wallet on iOS or Pass2U Wallet on Android. If you aren’t sure how to set them all up, get a tutorial from your techie friend and buy her lunch.
Start by setting up your:
- Main grocery store
- All of the major hotel chains
- Movie theatres
- Drugstore
- Coffee Shop
- Clothing retailers
And Deliver Me From More Passwords
Avoid the usual password hassles by using one of the password keeper tools. On iOS, iCloud Keychain is an easy to set up to store your iOS passwords. LastPass provides similar functionality and works across just about every browser and platform. Boom, you are in there without having to remember 20 passwords.
As you book new travel, frequent a new grocery store or change gasoline retailers, take the time to join their program and add their loyalty card to your electronic wallet. And when they ask if you are a member, smile and flash the e-card at them.
Oh, almost forgot the junk mail. Set up an email rule that routes these vendor emails into a “Special Offer” folder in your computer. Then, when you need a new pair of pants/flight/3 pack of toothpaste, do a quick search on your Special Offer folder for the deals.
Redeem and enjoy!
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