Points...is it really worth it?

"GET 5000 POINTS IF YOU SPEND $50 OR MORE 

THIS WEEKEND ONLY!"

I'm sure you've seen many of those advertisements on flyers for shoppers or some retail store.  You rush over there in time before the weekend is over and you're ready to check out your purchase expecting the bonus points. Then the clerk says your total is $49 and you can't get the bonus points because tax is not included with the advertisement. So now your back running aisle to aisle finding something for a dollar and you end up spending $20 dollars more.  Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but it does happen to most consumers.  Is it worth it for the points?  How much rewards are you really getting when you redeem your points?  

Here are a list of loyalty programs I read from an article that shows which companies you will get more out of than others spending $100 dollars worth of points also including redeeming them.

SHOPPERS OPTIMUM

Value per point: 0.17¢

Redemption Offer: Get $25 Shoppers card with 15,000 points collected

SEARS 
Value per point: 0.50¢
Redemption Offer: $10 sears gift card with 1000 points collected

BEST BUY 

Value per point: $1.25
Redemption Offer: $5 Best buy card with 400 points collected

AIR MILES
Value per point: 0.13¢
Redemption Offer (most common rate $20/reward mile): $20 Rona gift certificate with 150 points collected

HUDSON BAY COMPANY REWARDS
Value per point: 0.0125¢
Redemption Offer: $25 HBC gift card with 200,000 points collected

ESSO GAS
Value per point: 0.56¢
Redemption Offer: $10 worth of gas at Esso with 1,800 points collected

CANADIAN TIRE MONEY
Value per Tire dollar: $1
Redemption Offer: get half a cent in Canadian Tire paper money or coins for every dollar spent and redeem at par

PETRO POINTS
Value per point: 0.07¢
Redemption offer: $10 Petro Gas card with 15,000 points collected

After looking at the results I guess I can't really complain in my last post that Sears club points are more beneficial than some of these other loyalty programs.

staff, M. (2010, May). Which loyalty cards offer the best reward in Canada. Retrieved from Businessonacloud website: http://www.businessonacloud.com/news.html