Welcome Wednesday: Loyalty cards!

[Dave LIAO]

👋 Happy Wednesday, Atlassian Community!

We've made it to mid-week. Hope everyone's feeling great!

Do you collect loyalty cards?

I do! (I think I hoard them, actually. 😬) I recently audited them and found:

• If I combine certain cards, I've got four free coffees (three in NYC, one in Philly).
• Five coffee shops have closed since the last audit. 🫠

Yes, I have a lot of cards. There are even more off-camera

My question this week: If you collect loyalty cards, how do you keep them sorted? Do you keep any as souvenirs?

I have a DISloyalty card I've been keeping as a souvenir forever, but I'll be redeeming that for a free cuppa soon. ☕️☕️☕️

[Dave Rosenlund _Trundl_]

I have a handful (less than 6) for my favorite local restaurants.  And that's it.  I mostly forget to use them, too  🤪

[Dave LIAO]

Yeah, I schedule reminders in my calendar to use certain cards. The rest just live in my flat rent-free. 🤣

[Urmo]

Usually in Estonia, they (paper loyalty cards) have an expiration date, and by the time you find yourself eating or having coffee somewhere that offers such a stamp card, they have typically expired. So it seems easier not to collect them on paper.

Digital loyalty cards, however, are perfectly good things because they are available on your phone in a wallet-like application. Personally, I prefer loyalty cards that fit into a wallet versus having to download an app for every single place. I don't want my phone to be a trash can for apps.

[Dave LIAO]

@Urmo - I agree - a physical card is an obvious reminder to revisit the place, and you can also share it easily with others.

There's a cafe I visit occasionally near my friend's place, but far from my home. To join their loyalty program, you give them your mobile number. For fun, I gave them my friend's number, so she (1) gets credit for my visits and (2) gets an SMS whenever I visit the shop. 😂

I did the opposite at a different cafe - a stranger was in front of me in the queue, and I suggested she join their loyalty program. She said she was too lazy, but I could join the program on her behalf. Now I get random SMS confirmations every time she makes a purchase there. 🤣

[Barbara Szczesniak]

The last such paper card I had was for my hairdresser—10th haircut free. I think I was able to get 1 free haircut before they cancelled the program. 

Now, for programs I belong to, I just need to enter a phone number to get some sort of perks.

[Matt Doar]

I generally reject them as part of being annoyed by most marketing. Grump, grump.

I do enter my phone number in a few places for discount but mark all email from them as spam

I know people who do well with planning points on credit cards, but it's more work than I usually want to do for the dollars.

Get off my lawn, darn marketers!

[David Cowley]

I haven't seen a paper loyalty card in a long time. I've got a folder on my phone dedicated to the loyalty apps, and have a couple credit cards that collect into those pools of loyalty points.

We have a number of large loyalty programs which multiple retailers participate in, so you can collect points for all sorts of things.

But maybe coffee shops still do it the old fashioned way, I don't drink coffee, so wouldn't notice one way or the other.