Bazza gives Mick some flak about flybuys over a few cold ones.
Mick straightened his shoulders.
“It’s very straightforward and if you are not doing it… well, poor fool you… it means you subsidise blokes like me who are pretty good at it.”
Mick pulled out his phone, scrolled and tapped the "flybuys" app.
“Okay, you blokes… watch and learn. First up, you have to maximise your points. That means shopping at places that sign up to flybuys.”
Bazza took a sip and rubbed his chin.
“But Mick… what if you want to buy something from a shop that does not recognise flybuys?”
Mick openly sighed and tapped his phone.
“Don’t be difficult, Bazza. If you are going to be a serious collector of points, you have to make the odd sacrifice. Now, here is a list of retailers that recognise flybuys. If you cannot get what you need from that list, there is something wrong with you.”
Mick paused for a sip.
“Now, let’s get back on track. It is not just a case of shopping at the right store but shopping smarter. You have to work the system. Here in my emails are the promos and if I spend $170 in one transaction before 16 August, I get 6,800 bonus flybuys points.”
Mick let out a deep breath; Timeless Tom’s eyelids became heavy and Bazza motioned to speak.
No need Bazza… I know what you are going to say. You just have to try hard to make sure you spend the $170 in a single transaction. You have to use a bit of imagination to reap the rewards.
Now, a little tip for everyday shopping. At the supermarket checkout it is important to stop the cashiers on each spend of $30 and ask them to start a new transaction. You will get more points for separate transactions.
Timeless Tom’s head leaned towards his shoulder and Bazza chuckled.
“You can’t be serious, Mick! So, on a shop of, say, $150… you ask the cashier for five separate transactions? The people behind you must want to throttle you.”
Mick bit his bottom lip and positioned his phone on the bar table.
“Skin in the game, Bazza. It’s all about maximising your points. I admit it can get a bit stressful but check out my efforts. I have 173,964 flybuys points, which converts to $869.52. Now… you also need to spend the points in the smartest possible way.”
Mick scrolled through his phone for a few minutes as Timeless Tom let out a snore.
“Okay, Bazza… here’s the best deal. A hairdryer for 7,000 flybuys points. That is a great deal and I would be mad to pass on that one.”
Bazza took a long sip and fixed his gaze on Mick’s bald head.
“Yep… mad is the word, Mick. So, how long would you spend working through all these tricks?”
“Hours upon hours, Bazza. In fact, I plan my day around accumulating as many points as I can.”
Bazza rubbed his forehead.
“Out of curiosity, Mick… do you reckon the time spent rewards you to the same extent as your hourly rate of pay?”
Mick blinked a number of times while Timeless Tom shook himself awake.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Bazza. Now, I’ve got to get to work on spending that $170 before midnight, or I will miss out on 6,800 bonus points.”
John Longhurst is a former industrial advocate and political adviser. He currently works as an English and History teacher on the South Coast of NSW.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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