While I like to refer to being a member of the Saverocity Forum, this post is not about being a member of the forum. Although it is a good idea if you aren’t already. I dislike signing up for multiple memberships to various sites and stores because that means another username, password, and possibly another phone number I must remember.
For managing usernames, if a site allows connecting to GMail, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn I will jump on that opportunity, this saves me from creating another username and password.
For phone numbers, I always give my Google Voice number for any marketing calls.
Besides that, I encourage you to join any loyalty member program to a store you frequent. We already do it with frequent flyer programs, why not with other programs? If you are hesitant about giving your email address out, don’t forget that GMail accounts are quite novel in how you receive emails. For instance, I could use this as my email sign up: chasingthepoints+starbucks@gmail.com and I could instantly filter all those emails some place else instead of the main inbox.
It’s worthy to sign up because you could receive plenty of free things as you make your normal purchases like Starbucks. Once you become a gold member you get a free birthday treat. Panera gave me a free birthday pastry. For the longest time, I had not purchased anything from Best Buy. Then the American Express offers came up and now having the Best Buy Rewards account I am an “Elite” member and I get free 2 day shipping on virtually everything.
Ebay also has their Ebay bucks account as well for 2% cash back on virtually all of your purchases.
I don’t encourage opening up every loyalty program because sometimes they offer a new accounts and you could grab some easy points through that. I can’t find the recent bonus for opening an account to Intercontinental Hotel Group.
This might sound contradictory, but some retailers offer discount codes that are unadvertised on initial sign up so you’ll have to use your best judgement. Don’t forget to log in and shop around and leave items in your cart as they might send you an email about you forgetting something and offer you a discount to commit to the order.
Another perk for the retail front, if they have a credit card, there’s the shopping cart trick that PFDigest and Doctor of Credit can tell you about. I’m keeping my eye out for a Comenity card with the shopping cart trick – but they recently redid their site so I’m not sure if it’s still valid. If it is, I’ll be sure to update and let you know.
