Fly me to Cancun..... (Tesco Clubcard)

Member Name: andymcf

Product:	Tesco Clubcard
Date:	21/11/02 (1474 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy way to earn Air Miles, Makes shopping a liitle less tedious

Disadvantages: Can make you an obsessive shopper!

Here am I, merrily singing "Fly me to the moon" when, of course, I am perfectly aware that this is not a British Airways destination - not yet, anyway. Cancun is, however, and it kind of rhymes with "moon". Hence the title of this review about a supermarket loyalty card. So, now you know!

I am a complete sucker for loyalty schemes and their associated plastic cards, I confess. I think my first foray into corporate loyalty was probably "Air Miles" - many years ago when it was still a paper voucher operation. Things have moved on and now my wallet is bulging (or is it simply happy to see me?) with plastic cards which denote my devotion to big businesses. I have a pretty-well unused "Nectar" card, loads of hotel group cards, airline frequent flyer cards (including Aeroflot - Gawd bless 'em and all who dare fly with 'em), petrol cards and two very special, favourite cards. One is my Hilton Hhonors Gold VIP card, and the other little beauty is my Tesco Clubcard. I'll call her "Tess". She's lovely.

Tess is a great companion. She goes everywhere with me. She sometimes gets swept (or swiped) off her feet by checkout girls at my local Tesco supermarket, but she always comes running straight back. She gives me superb gifts. She's pretty flexible. All in all, Tess is a rewarding companion. She loves giving me points - and points inevitably make prizes.

I get a point each time I spend £1 at Tesco. My baby son Josh (his mother is my other love, Amanda, not Tess, before you ask) was baptized recently and we threw a great party afterwards. "Get your wine in France" they all said. "Go to Tesco" said Tess. "Psst - I'll be extra nice to you, I promise", she added. I trusted her and followed her advice. Cheap, but extraordinarily good wine was bought a-plenty and Tess gave me 100 bonus points per bottle. She's like that; unpredictable, but flirtatious
and very generous. Bless her! My clubcard balance went through the roof.

Tesco award points every three months and you can opt for free shopping, days out or - and this is what I always choose - Air Miles. LOTS AND LOTS of lovely Air Miles. This morning, I checked my Air Miles account and noted that Tess had credited me with no fewer than 2,176 of them. And she gave me 848 in the last quarter when we were just newly-acquainted and just starting to get to know each other. That's 3,024 Air Miles in just 6 months of a blossoming relationship which is growing stronger by the day.

With the current Air Miles promotion, that is going to take you a very long way indeed - almost anywhere in the USA, for example. My Air Miles account has been dormant for quite a while. Since my relationship with Tess, I could fly to Hong Kong for just £40 in taxes and still, almost, have enough Air Miles left over to take Amanda to Prague (which I love). Certainly by the time my next statement arrives I shall - and this (November) is no time to be planning a trip to Prague. It's chilly out there!

Tess, as I said, gives me a point for each pound I spend. Very often, there are bonus points to be had and, very often, these are on things I actually want to buy. Sometimes they aren't and - sucker that I am - I usually give way to temptation. I have only regretted it once, when I bought some Tesco "Finest" burgers in order to obtain 100 bonus points. They were pretty rank, to be honest. Generally, Tess keeps me on the straight-and-narrow.

Tess likes me buying groceries, DVDs, electrical goods, petrol, presents for baby Josh, and all manner of things from either Tesco themselves, Tesco on-line warehouses (quick check to make sure I typed "a" and not "ho" - no; I'm OK there!), H Samuel and a whole whost of on-line partners. And in return, I love her.

Before signing off, let me explain the cryptic comment in the
"Disadvantages" comment. Well, Amanda is not quite as obsessive as I am and tends to venture into Safeway, M&S or (shudder) ASDA on occasions. I've tried to reason with her but she's got a mind of her own, especially when it comes to shopping. These don't earn points and hence don't earn miles. Tell me, does she really deserve to come along on the free flights if she's going to obstruct the mile-earning process so willfully and so stubbornly? Vox Pop vote coming up - feel free to vote "For" or "Against" in the comments section.

Personally, I'll start the vote off by saying that YES - she can come along. She may be a bit of a maverick, but I love her to bits and I wouldn't want to fly to Cancun without her. Amsterdam, maybe - now that's a different kettle of fish - and that's only 250 miles.....

"Hey, Amanda - d'you fancy popping out to Sainsbury's? I've just got to nip out. Might be a few days......"

Hope you enjoyed this. If you enjoyed reading this half as much as I enjoyed writing it,...(then I enjoyed writing this twice as much as.......) I must write an op on my 10 most annoying expressions. That is certainly one of them.

All the very best!

Andrew

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