Today's a big day for McDonald's Canada as they officially announced their new rewards program MyMcDonald's Rewards. This program replaces the current McDonald's Rewards and marks the restaurant chain's move into a points world. The new digital rewards program is a points based system where members will be able to earn points on almost all purchases at McDonald's and then redeem them for most menu items. If you live in Manitoba or parts of Northwestern Ontario well this may not be news to you as many of you got to pilot program there for a few months!
For the rest of you let's take a look at this new program!
To join the program simply download the McDonald’s mobile app, register and activate your account. If you already have the app, no action is needed on your part.
New program welcome bonus offer
All new sign ups (this includes existing McDonald's Rewards members) will receive 5,000 bonus points on their first transaction of $1 or more. These are enough points for a couple of Tier 1 or a single Tier 2 redemption! See below for those redemption tiers.
What happens to the existing rewards
Existing McDonald's Rewards members who have outstanding punches will be credited with 300 points per punch from the old reward program. Also if you have existing Free Rewards (ie the ones you get every 7 punches) those will need to be redeemed on or before February 28, 2022.
How to earn and the earn rates
The new program will earn 100 points per $1 spent on qualifying purchases with McDonald's. Almost everything is included so it easier to show what is not included. The following are excluded from earning points
- Taxes, bag, cups and bottle fees, and other surcharges or fees.
- McDonald’s Card purchases or loading money on a McDonald’s Card (but when you use a McDonald’s Card to make a qualifying purchase you will accrue points)
- Delivery orders
To earn points members will simply have to scan or provide their MyMcDonald’s Rewards QR code every time they make a purchase at kiosk in-restaurant, at the Drive-Thru, curbside pick up or at the front counter (delivery excluded).
How to redeem & redemption rates
Once you have enough points, which is 2,000 or more you can redeem for free rewards through the McDonald's app. The app will show you your eligible tier based on your points total. You can redeem for any item or items up to the value of points that have. The points redemption tiers are as follows:
- Tier 1 (2,000 points): any size McCafé coffee, tea or iced coffee; Hash Brown; Cone; two Li’l Donuts
- Tier 2 (4,000 points): any size World Famous Fries; Sausage McMuffin; Cheeseburger; any size McCafé Latte
- Tier 3 (6,000 points): McDouble, any Egg McMuffin, Junior Chicken, snack size McFlurry
- Tier 4 (10,000 points): Big Mac, any Egg McMuffin Extra Value Meal, 6-piece McNuggets; any Happy Meal
- Tier 5 (14,000 points): QPC Extra Value Meal; Big Mac Extra Value Meal; McChicken Extra Value Meal; 10-piece McNuggets
So if we look at the everyday earn rates (not including the welcome bonus or any other bonuses the may have) you will have to spend $140 to get a Tier 5 reward. If we take an average $10 value for those Tier 5 Rewards since some cost more than $10 and others are just below $10 (at least here in Calgary they are) you are looking at a per point value of 7 cents.
Here's a small selection of some of the best options to redeem for:
- Large fries for 4,000 points = 9.475 cents per point (based on a $3.79 cost)
- Hash Brown for 2,000 points = 9.45 cents per points(based on a $1.89 cost)
- Vanilla Cone for 2,000 points = 8.95 cents per point (based on a cost of $1.79 cost)
- Large McCafe Latte for 4,000 points = 8.95 cents per point (based on a $3.59 cost)
Some of the options significantly lower per point redemption value like 6 nuggets for 10,000 points (5.3 cents value) or a Happy Meal (5 cents value) but as we always say any redemption you are happy with is a good redemption. So if you aren't about maximizing value and simply want to get anything off the menu for free, redeem away for what you want. Plus the next section will also play into the factor of redeeming!
Points expiry
Just like other programs of this nature that tend to have rewards will a value of under $50 there is a points expiry rule. MyMcDonald's Rewards points will expire 6 months after being earned. Members will be reminded via the app that they have expiring points coming up.
Wrapping it up
It's nice to see McDonald's Canada switch up the program that was limited to just fries and hot drinks. The ability to now earn on almost anything you purchase at McDonald's and the ability to redeem for many more items should make this new reward program extremely popular. I'm sure the previous iteration limited actual participation in the program and now it is set to encourage repeat business seeing that members could potentially earn enough points in one purchase ($20 or more which is pretty easy to spend for a couple or a family) to be able to redeem for a reward.
And to further maximize your earn on those McDonald's purchases you ideally want to pay for those orders with a card that has a dining accelerator, namely the American Express Cobalt® Card, MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® or the Scotia Gold American Express Card which all earn 5x points on dining purchases.
No comments:
Post a Comment