KMart/Sears - Shop Your Way Rewards and points discussion

[FM]

5 hours ago, Phil B said:

You guys need to fix your accounting. Points back don't count towards your current purchase, but bring down the cost of your next purchase So in @FM's last purchase, he got a Lighthouse Point for $45 (minus any points he may have used), with $20+ back in points for his next purchase.

I understand where you're coming from and that is true.  From an accounting standpoint points perpetually roll forward and are not real cash.  I choose to examine purchases this way to help me make buying decisions as simply as possible.  When a good offer or sale or stackable deal comes along I might look at 20 purchases and make 5 and I need a level playing field to quickly compare deals.  I plug the numbers into my in-store or online buying spreadsheet and treat points as cash... which works AS LONG AS YOU USE THE POINTS   If you don't visit Kmart at least once a week (mine is across the street from our kids' school), or check your accounts regularly for points expiring you will lose a lot of points and thus profit.

We've gone from being a Walmart family to a Kmart family.  The points are 'real' money to us in the sense that they are used to buy real toilet paper, kid's clothes, snacks, toiletries, dish soap and anything else that's competitively priced.  In the past year we've let a total of $8 expire against thousands of dollars in points.

And this is how Kmart (tries) to make money... Tell customers about a great deal, like saving $10 on 40 (25% discount on everything!), but their breakage (unclaimed rewards that benefit the operator) is through the roof.  For every sharp buyer that uses 90%+ of their points there are 99 buyers that let some huge portion of their points expire.  My $.02:)  And @Phil B I appreciate your feedback.  All of your help helps our bottom lines!

[Phil B]

1 minute ago, FM said:

I understand where you're coming from and that is true.  From an accounting standpoint points perpetually roll forward and are not real cash.  I choose to examine purchases this way to help me make buying decisions as simply as possible.  When a good offer or sale or stackable deal comes along I might look at 20 purchases and make 5 and I need a level playing field to quickly compare deals.  I plug the numbers into my in-store or online buying spreadsheet and treat points as cash... which works AS LONG AS YOU USE THE POINTS   If you don't visit Kmart at least once a week (mine is across the street from our kids' school), or check your accounts regularly for points expiring you will lose a lot of points and thus profit.

We've gone from being a Walmart family to a Kmart family.  The points are 'real' money to us in the sense that they are used to buy real toilet paper, kid's clothes, snacks, toiletries, dish soap and anything else that's competitively priced.  In the past year we've let a total of $8 expire against thousands of dollars in points.

And this is how Kmart (tries) to make money... Tell customers about a great deal, like saving $10 on 40 (25% discount on everything!), but their breakage (unclaimed rewards that benefit the operator) is through the roof.  For every sharp buyer that uses 90%+ of their points there are 99 buyers that let some huge portion of their points expire.  My $.02:)  And @Phil B I appreciate your feedback.  All of your help helps our bottom lines!

I also look at it as a rolling scheme, and the points are an important part of my KMart purchasing decisions. Here's how I work:

- For every purchase, I want to get a deal. I don't include "points earned" as part of the deal. So to earn $10 in points on a $40 purchase, my $40 needs to be a deal comparable to what I can get elsewhere. For me, a deal is at a minimum 25% off, ideally 30%-50% (yes, I've gotten spoiled the past year and a half, I would have gone all giddy over 20% off a year ago).

- I then use the points I earn to turn the next purchase into a better deal. So if I buy a $60 set for $50, and redeem my $10 to get it for $40 with another $10 back, I got a deal, because I got a $60 set for $40 (33% off). Still, I try to get a deal BEFORE applying points. So I will apply points to a set that I've already gotten down to 25%+ off, but if the set is (close to) RRP, I really try to avoid it (of course I make exceptions).

- Once the points start rolling, every purchase has a point redemption component as well as a points earned component. (Unless cashing out like what I'm doing currently; KMart doesn't give you points for $0 purchases . Luxury problem).

- I have a calendar on my desk and I mark my point and key coupon expiry dates on the calendar. I also have an expiry-date-sorted Excel spreadsheet with all coupon codes in it. Never missed a point

No KMart anywhere close to me as you probably know, but the good folks at Sears have just yesterday added a boatload of sets to my "Ships to Sears" list (I keep a cart open with all sets that ship there - that way I just need to refresh the cart to see which items no longer ship) so I have a nice list of free sets waiting for me when the next rewards points post (Thu and Sun this week ).

[exciter1]

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

I also look at it as a rolling scheme, and the points are an important part of my KMart purchasing decisions. Here's how I work:

- For every purchase, I want to get a deal. I don't include "points earned" as part of the deal. So to earn $10 in points on a $40 purchase, my $40 needs to be a deal comparable to what I can get elsewhere. For me, a deal is at a minimum 25% off, ideally 30%-50% (yes, I've gotten spoiled the past year and a half, I would have gone all giddy over 20% off a year ago).

- I then use the points I earn to turn the next purchase into a better deal. So if I buy a $60 set for $50, and redeem my $10 to get it for $40 with another $10 back, I got a deal, because I got a $60 set for $40 (33% off). Still, I try to get a deal BEFORE applying points. So I will apply points to a set that I've already gotten down to 25%+ off, but if the set is (close to) RRP, I really try to avoid it (of course I make exceptions).

- Once the points start rolling, every purchase has a point redemption component as well as a points earned component. (Unless cashing out like what I'm doing currently; KMart doesn't give you points for $0 purchases . Luxury problem).

- I have a calendar on my desk and I mark my point and key coupon expiry dates on the calendar. I also have an expiry-date-sorted Excel spreadsheet with all coupon codes in it. Never missed a point

No KMart anywhere close to me as you probably know, but the good folks at Sears have just yesterday added a boatload of sets to my "Ships to Sears" list (I keep a cart open with all sets that ship there - that way I just need to refresh the cart to see which items no longer ship) so I have a nice list of free sets waiting for me when the next rewards points post (Thu and Sun this week ).

[donbee]

This seems to be giving $10 off $20 today.  Has worked so far on 3 phones.

10 back on 50 for me

[pcaster]

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

I also look at it as a rolling scheme, and the points are an important part of my KMart purchasing decisions. Here's how I work:

- For every purchase, I want to get a deal. I don't include "points earned" as part of the deal. So to earn $10 in points on a $40 purchase, my $40 needs to be a deal comparable to what I can get elsewhere. For me, a deal is at a minimum 25% off, ideally 30%-50% (yes, I've gotten spoiled the past year and a half, I would have gone all giddy over 20% off a year ago).

- I then use the points I earn to turn the next purchase into a better deal. So if I buy a $60 set for $50, and redeem my $10 to get it for $40 with another $10 back, I got a deal, because I got a $60 set for $40 (33% off). Still, I try to get a deal BEFORE applying points. So I will apply points to a set that I've already gotten down to 25%+ off, but if the set is (close to) RRP, I really try to avoid it (of course I make exceptions).

- Once the points start rolling, every purchase has a point redemption component as well as a points earned component. (Unless cashing out like what I'm doing currently; KMart doesn't give you points for $0 purchases . Luxury problem).

- I have a calendar on my desk and I mark my point and key coupon expiry dates on the calendar. I also have an expiry-date-sorted Excel spreadsheet with all coupon codes in it. Never missed a point

No KMart anywhere close to me as you probably know, but the good folks at Sears have just yesterday added a boatload of sets to my "Ships to Sears" list (I keep a cart open with all sets that ship there - that way I just need to refresh the cart to see which items no longer ship) so I have a nice list of free sets waiting for me when the next rewards points post (Thu and Sun this week ).

 

Wow.  Thank you for making me feel like my methods are simple!

 

[donbee]

I like the daily red wheel because I've allowed them to expire. If you let points expire, they send you a nice coupon. Even if it's just a 50 point spin on the daily wheel, you can get a 5 off 20 or 10 off 50.
So I now try to leave at least 100 points unspent. To see if I can expire a spin.

[Phil B]

6 minutes ago, pcaster said:

 

Wow.  Thank you for making me feel like my methods are simple!

 

But it's really not that complicated!

Edited April 25, 2017 by Phil B

[MinifigW]

[exciter1]

Math isn't their strong suit.

[donbee]

Is everything you ordered sold by Kmart?

[mizeur]

30 minutes ago, donbee said:

Is everything you ordered sold by Kmart?

And are any of the items Hot Buys?

[MinifigW]

1 hour ago, donbee said:

Is everything you ordered sold by Kmart?

1. Yes. 2. No.

[SweepyD]

Did you also find a purple chicken and throw it into the volcano?  That is the part everyone forgets

[MinifigW]

7 minutes ago, SweepyD said:

Did you also find a purple chicken and throw it into the volcano?  That is the part everyone forgets

Of course, I forgot the sacrificial chicken! I'll chalk that up as a rookie mistake.

[Phil B]

WWW is a $2 DB right now.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Phil B

[uaford]

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

WWW is a $2 DB right now.

Where does one find these oft discussed doorbusters and WWWs?

 

[psusyntar]

https://www.shopyourway.com/app/2/l   WWW is one of the instant games and it will show Doorbuster on the top left corner.  The rotating games at the top, if you hit the left arrow WWW is the first one you'd see.

Edited April 26, 2017 by psusyntar

[FM]

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

WWW is a $2 DB right now.

Thanks!  That's a cool $2.75 in the points bank.

[Phil B]

KMart math .....

Look at the points total in the top corner. It refuses to give me the $58 in points. I'm hoping it gets cleared up during the day and that they are just "stuck" somewhere, but I have expiring coupons today that I wish to use.

KMart chat agent also told me you can only apply one coupon per purchase. Funny guy.

EDIT: SYW app shows $69, so does Win It!. But even in the SYW app, if I try to make a purchase I can only apply $11.58. So those $58 in points are somehow not yet fully applied to my account.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Phil B

[KvHulk]

On 4/24/2017 at 1:25 PM, Phil B said:

Check with your cell service provider. Sometimes they put a block on these text messages - I had this for a while where I would never get Two-tier authentication messages from a bunch of popular services. Called T-Mobile and they told me I had a block activated by their system - and they lifted it for me right there and then. Have not had any issues since.

Thanks Phil, you were right. I checked with my provider and Kmarts short code isn't registered with them yet. They put in a request. They say it could be 6-12 weeks. I love that turnaround time.

Edited April 27, 2017 by KvHulk

[MinifigW]

1 hour ago, Phil B said:

KMart math .....

Look at the points total in the top corner. It refuses to give me the $58 in points. I'm hoping it gets cleared up during the day and that they are just "stuck" somewhere, but I have expiring coupons today that I wish to use.

KMart chat agent also told me you can only apply one coupon per purchase. Funny guy.

EDIT: SYW app shows $69, so does Win It!. But even in the SYW app, if I try to make a purchase I can only apply $11.58. So those $58 in points are somehow not yet fully applied to my account.

It means that you have pending points ABOUT to post, but haven't yet. Should be within 24 hours.

[Phil B]

1 hour ago, KvHulk said:

Thanks Phil, you were right. I checked with my provider and Kmarts short code isn't registered with them yet. They put in a request. They say it could be 6-12 weeks. I love that turnaround time.

So depending on where in that window they add the code, that's either just before or just after KMart finally goes belly up....

[Sfcommando14]

Anyone else having trouble redeeming points? No luck on SYW.com or app. I'm about to try Kmart app.

[Phil B]

11 minutes ago, Sfcommando14 said:

Anyone else having trouble redeeming points? No luck on SYW.com or app. I'm about to try Kmart app.

Working fine for me on KMart.com just now.

Bit of a sad way to celebrate 5,000 posts, but hey, a post is a post
 

Edited April 27, 2017 by Phil B

[exciter1]

11 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Working fine for me on KMart.com just now.

Bit of a sad way to celebrate 5,000 posts, but hey, a post is a post
 

How about some fireworks?