To Hell With Reward Points!

Yes, you read that correctly. I am no longer going to concern myself with loyalty to a store in an effort to spend more money than normal all in the name of a reward system.   

Please don't get me wrong, everyone likes saving money, but trying to save via a rewards system will leave you spending more than intended. So, allow me to be more specific, I will no longer be trying to get and or keep rewards at Ulta or Sephora. In the beginning, just making a purchase allowed you to have a card that would track your purchase. The more you spend, the more money you get. It's almost like a dope dealer giving you your first hit for free, only nothing in this life is ever really free.   

Once the invitation is accepted, then there is the goal to reach each tier outlined, with the end goal of being in the top tier. Although more money is being spent, it's mainly the excitement of being at the "top." We, people, like exclusivity and convenience and are willing to pay. I paid. The first card came from Ulta. They actually allowed for their points to be converted into cash, well the equivalent to cash, which always came in handy when spending more than planned and not wanting to put anything back. However, Ulta did not have the same brands as Sephora. With that in mind, the next mission is to climb Sephora's ladder. To be honest, they had better brands, but the point/reward system was not as good as Ulta. I can say that with Sephora, there was the option on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get a $100 gift card, but naturally, there was a catch to that. You had to give up so many points and the gift card was on a first-come, first-serve basis.  

The best advantage was the notification of storewide discounts and both applied to Chanel fragrances, which is rare at other stores. However, Ulta no longer allows discounts on Chanel and Dyson products. Clearly, after that, Ulta lost the little bit of favor given to them.   

Earlier this year, I came to the conclusion that spending more money than necessary to achieve some sort of arbitrary achievement was not prudent. The return on investment of money and time is not as profitable as one might think, in my opinion. Currently, I'm in the process of clearing out all points from both stores. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I will never shop there again, but I will no longer feel the need to try to get points in an effort to get something at the end that is nowhere near the amount of time, effort and money put into the pursuit.