A great reward for shopping
Not long after moving here in early 2004 I noticed that most people at the grocery stores had customer cards that they gave to the cashier when ringing up their purchases. I figured they were something like my VIC (Very Important Customer) card from Harris Teeter back in Virginia. At Harris Teeter, you can only get the good sale prices with a VIC card. (Side note: I was pleased to find out that I was still able to get the sale prices last month when visiting Arlington. They just looked up my old, no-longer-in-use, phone number and found my account!) So I promptly signed up for customer cards at both Coop and Migros, only to realize later that it seemed like nothing but a big sham. You don't get better prices by having a Coop Supercard, for example, you just collect all these points for every purchase you make. Nonetheless, for over a year now, I've religiously used my customer cards and continue to rack up the points-- primarily at Coop because I'm not much of a Migros customer. It's just one of those things you do when living in a foreign country just because it makes you feel a bit more like you know what you're doing.
I recently discovered the value of a Coop Supercard. You can cash in your points for lots of great prizes. They put out a huge catalog every year with everything from kitchen goodies, to toys and games, to travel accessories. For months now I've been trying to decide what to get with my points. I'm now very thankful that I held out as long as I did, because just this month they came out with a great promotion. This morning I cashed in 10,000 Coop points for 10,000 frequent flyer miles on Swiss! Nothing is more valuable to me than accumulating miles. More miles means free flights! Of course miles on Swiss might not be that valuable considering all the trouble Swiss is having, but they recently merged with Lufthansa where I've been collecting lots of miles. Pretty cool, huh?
Probably the most interesting thing I learned from this experience is that I've spent more than $10,000 at Coop in the last year or so. It's scary to think about how much you spend on groceries, alhtough I guess it shouldn't be a surprise considering Swiss prices and how much we love to eat!
I recently discovered the value of a Coop Supercard. You can cash in your points for lots of great prizes. They put out a huge catalog every year with everything from kitchen goodies, to toys and games, to travel accessories. For months now I've been trying to decide what to get with my points. I'm now very thankful that I held out as long as I did, because just this month they came out with a great promotion. This morning I cashed in 10,000 Coop points for 10,000 frequent flyer miles on Swiss! Nothing is more valuable to me than accumulating miles. More miles means free flights! Of course miles on Swiss might not be that valuable considering all the trouble Swiss is having, but they recently merged with Lufthansa where I've been collecting lots of miles. Pretty cool, huh?
Probably the most interesting thing I learned from this experience is that I've spent more than $10,000 at Coop in the last year or so. It's scary to think about how much you spend on groceries, alhtough I guess it shouldn't be a surprise considering Swiss prices and how much we love to eat!
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