A good deal ?? (Boots Advantage Card)

Member Name: tingrid

Product:	Boots Advantage Card
Date:	27/08/02 (685 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: special offers all year round, good on big amounts, you can treat yourself

Disadvantages: addictive, not all products are part of the scheme, too expensive

I have had my Boots advantage card for just over a year now, and I have mixed feelings about it, not through any wrongdoings on Boots' side, or any small prints, but because of the concept of the card itself (don't worry, I will explain what I mean very soon).

First I will try and explain how it works and how to get it, shall I?

Getting it is easy and there is no commitment on your part, it is no strings- attached, which is good. Just take yourself to the nearest Boots and get the form, they are everywhere in every store. Fill the form in (basic information like name, address etc), bring it back to the shop...and wait. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to keep your receipts when shopping at Boots, as the points you earn before getting your car can be put on it later, provided the said card arrives in the next 30 days.

The card itself is pale pink and features the big blue Boots logo on one side, as well as your name and a number. This number you will not need unless you order something off wellbeing.com. If you do order something, as a card holder you will get a welcome present, namely 10% off your first order. The points you earn while shopping on the Internet will be added to your point total provided you wait a week after ordering, and then go to a Boots store, insert your card in the advantage card machine, et voila, points added. It is impossible to pay with points when shopping online though.

Now how does it work ? For every pound you send at Boots, you are awarded 4 points (small print : this is not available on prescriptions--which is a shame, imagine being rewarded because you are not well--vitamins and baby products, but I think you can get points when having your photos developed at Boots, which is quite good).

Last minute update ~ last minute update ~ last minute update ~
,Collect 4 points for every £1 you spend on most healthcare products, according to wellbeing.com. That must mean they h
ave made more products available to points hunters then.

Each point is worth 1p (not 1 'real' penny though, as you do not earn money, but 'Boots' money, meaning that you can buy-in theory- 1p worth of Boots products; 1 Boots point is worth 0.0001 'real' p, if you are crazy enough to ask for a refund). Let's see, 4p off £1, 4x687/365 +12x7 -6.56, yes this is equivalent to a 4% discount if I am not mistaken. There are loads of special offers in Boots stores all year round, and special special offers on wellbeing.com, so you can rise your point balance faster if you take advantage of these. For example, I once bought a product that cost £4.99 and should have earned me 20 points, but instead I got 150 points, thanks to one of these special offers (quite a good one that was).

Every time you shop at Boots, you are asked at the till whether or not you have the advantage card. You then hand it, and the points are added to your existing total thanks to the magic of the Electronic Chip. In order to always know exactly how many points I have, I keep my last receipt in my wallet with my card (the amount of points you have is written on the receipt). There also are some cash machines looking booths (in most Boots stores) in which you can insert your card to check your point balance and learn about new offers, for which you can print vouchers. Most often than not, I find that the offers are not very interesting, they seem to be about presents you would buy for other people, so I now very rarely check, maybe it has changed or maybe I should check more often.

When, after spending much money on shampoos, razors, wax, photos, sanitary towels and whatever else, you have piled up enough points to 'buy' something you want, it has got to have an asterisk or small star next to its price on the label, as well as a price in 'Boots money' (remember, 1 point = 1p). So, don't be shy, go to the till and ask 'Hello Mr
/Mrs Cashier, could I pay for these ear buds/tights/whatever using my points please?' and if you have paid attention and chosen an item that is part of the scheme (and have been polite), than she/he will take your card, put it into the machine, and the amount of points you spent will be deducted from the amount you previously owned. It took me almost one whole year to heap up enough points to buy something I would have otherwise bought (yes, me and my bloody principles, I was very brave though, I resisted the 'urge of the treat') paying cash, which I think is quite a long time to wait, but then I only bought my shampoo, shower gel and face wash/moisturiser there, it would most definitely have built up faster if I had had a family to shop for, or even if I had bought all my toiletries from Boots. One last thing: you have to have enough points on your card to buy what you want, as you cannot make up the sum with cash.

I have just had a look at the Boots web site, and it has got some news about the very advantage card I have been rambling about for the last 800 words or so. Among other things that I deem quite uninteresting, it says that advantage card holders can now (for a limited time?) spend their points on a subscription to their favourite magazine (as long as it is Zest, Cosmopolitan, She, Company, Prima or some other women magazine) for 1,200 points (for 6 months). That is not bad at all actually.
Up to now, no problem, I have used my card religiously, got my reward (an accumulated 4% off my previous purchases in the shape of a face wash), so why am I not happy then ? Maybe I have a crooked mind but...

Let's be honest, have Boots introduced this their advantage card to do us points-loving customers a favour? The answer to this question is ... Of course not! They did it to try and make customers more faithful to their brand, to tie them to Boots in order to prevent them from wandering off to Superdrugs, and thus to earn more
money on the back of the aforementioned customers (I'd better watch my language, this is turning into a pseudo communist-anarchist-anti-globalisation speech). Now I bet you did not expect that did you? What a revelation that was, and there is more to come...

I must say this system of points is quite clever. The principle is simple, buy at Boots, earn points, and when you get enough points, get a reward. It reminds me of the system of points and rewards that is currently in use in British schools a lot, which makes the whole process a bit childish if you ask me, but I would not go as far as saying Mr Boots takes his (it has got to be a 'he') customers for children of course. Another thing it reminds me of is the way you reward a pet when it has done something good, but it does not matter, like most people I like points and rewards.

So, now you have saved enough points to exchange them for something you like, you can treat yourself. This is the first major problem with me, because I would like to thing I am saving money by using my advantage card, but I am not really when I am spending my points on something I would not have bought otherwise, as most people probably do. This is when the concept of the 'treat' comes into play, something else that is very attractive to people, me included. Once again, I am not against this, but the reason why I got my card was to save money as toiletries are so damned expensive in this country, so, so far, the card is not serving its original purpose for me.

The final and bigger drawback according to me, is the fact that Boots is so often more expensive for almost everything. In fact it is so much more expensive than the likes of Superdrugs or supermarkets, that even after taking into account the so-called ?4% off? (in my opinion, it is 'off' only if you use it to buy something you would have bought anyway), it still is more expensive to shop at Boots than somewhere else.

O
f course, the more expensive the items you buy, the more you virtually save. To make my point clearer, here is a list of prices and the matching list after a 4% discount (to simplify I have used normal prices, meaning no .99 prices) :
£1 £0.96 at Boots
£2 £1.92
£3 £2.88
£4 £3.84
£5 £4.80
£6 £5.76
£7 £6.72
£8 £7.68
£9 £8.64
£10 £9.60
etc etc etc
Thus, when buying small items, it is probably cheaper to go and buy your stuff elsewhere, even when you buy loads of small items at once. On the other hand, if you buy Chanel nail polish everytime you go to Boots, 1) I don't think Superdrugs have them (I hope Boots have them, otherwise this is one rubbish argument) and 2)you do not need to save money so it does not matter.

This is my September resolution: I will not systematically go to Boots just because I have the advantage card. Instead, I will try and compare prices and shop around whenever possible, and only go to Boots if it is not more expensive, and/or if there are some interesting offers on. God, how tedious that will be! (little devil speaking in my left ear, it is just like a normal little demon, except that it has got a superman-like 'Boots' inscription on his chest). Yes, but you know you must, we do not have much money at the moment you know (little angel speaking, it is dressed in a white dress on which you can read the name of my bank - no business of yours). Shall I start trying to stop once I have enough points to get a subscription to Cosmopolitan? (little red devil is back) No, please, let?s be reasonable for once, and remember it is back to studying soon, you will need pens and ...I will let you now later what the result of the debate was (usually little red devil wins though, and little angel ends up with a black eye).

It is ok because I have the time and (at the moment) the will to do that (little angel must have won then), but if you are a regular Boots customer, if it is mo
re practical for you to shop there (because it is well situated, because it has got everything etc), if you buy 'expensive' stuff there, if you like treats (who doesn't?), then the Boots advantage card is made for you.

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