How To Save Money at Canadian Tire

1. Before buying anything online, apply for the Canadian Tire Options MasterCard or join the CT affiliate program first. You will get more rewards for your family's purchases.
2. Watch for any gift card promotions, e.g., free gift card with a minimum online purchase of $49 or $99. Look for any coupons for CanadianTire.ca. Pay with your CT credit card to get up to 2% CT Money reward (12¢ for every $5.99).
3. Alternatively, you can order CT gift cards at a discount by emailing Consumer Buddy. For every $100 in GC you buy, you will get a free $10 gift card. Buy as many discounted GC that you will use within one year. Each CT gift card expires two years after its first use. Since GC are worthless if the company goes bankrupt, you may want to use or sell your remaining GC if there are indications that CT is in financial trouble.
4. Try to use the GC only on items that are not cheaper elsewhere, e.g., CT flyer specials or Gas Bar.
5. For example, if you had spent $600 on the $50 gift card promotion, you get back approximately $154 worth of rewards, or 25.7% (154/600). You can then use the $154 reward to keep buying gas; each 40-l purchase will earn $0.80 CTM. It is like getting one free fill-up on every fifth fill-up! Assumptions: purchased each of the $50 gift cards with a CT credit card, 40 litres per purchase, 75¢/litre and 4x gas multiplier coupon. [(12 * $10 GC) + ($600/$4 * $0.12) + ($600/$30 * $0.20 * 4] = $120 GC + $18 CTM + $16 CTM = $154.

Canadian Tire 'Money'

CTM is issued on a pre-tax amount of $2.00 or more. If you purchase an item for $2.00 you will earn 5 cents (2.5%). For a purchase between $2.00 and $5.98, you will earn 5 cents (0.8%-2.5%). For every additional $5.99 you spend you will earn an additional 10 cents (0.84%- 1.67%). It used to be 10¢ for every $4.00, but CT disgustingly did not inform its customers that the CTM program became more than 50% worse than before. For example, a pre-tax purchase of $100 will only earn $1.60 in CTM (1.6%) instead of $2.50 before (2.5% or more than 50% better).

Options MasterCard holders will receive 20 per cent more than the paper award amount in Canadian Tire 'Money' on the Card. For example, if you charge $5.99, you will get 12¢ CTM (1-2%) instead of 10¢. Options MasterCard customers will continue to earn 1 per cent of Canadian Tire 'Money' on the Card, on purchases made outside of Canadian Tire stores.

Strategies for maximizing CT Money:
1. Use your CT credit card to earn up to 2% reward on your purchases. If you have the President's Choice MasterCard or other card that you can earn a 2% reward, you will probably be better off using that card instead of CT.
2. If you will buy something online at CanadianTire.ca for $125 or more, first join "My Canadian Tire". Members can earn $5 Canadian Tire 'Money Online' on purchases of $125 or more.
3. Try not to buy less than $2 in a CT store since you would not get any CT Money. It is better to buy $2.00 items separately instead of a single purchase to earn the higher 2.5% reward rate.
4. If you find an item at CT that costs 12¢ or less, you can add it to your cart to get to the next $5.99 reward increment. For example, if your purchase is $11.86, you will get 12¢ back, but if you add a 12¢ item, you will get 24¢ back on your $11.98 purchase making the last item free.

Gas Bar

1. Get the bonus gas coupon from the store or weekly flyer, i.e., 4 to 10 times the single issue of Canadian Tire 'Money'. For example, there is a 6x bonus gas coupon until September 19, 2004; if you buy exactly 40 litres of gas, you should get $1.20 back in CT Money instead of 20¢. See the table below.
2. Wait until you have an almost empty tank then buy as many litres as you can that is divisible by 10, i.e., 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70 litres. For example, if you buy exactly 40 litres of gas, you get $0.20 back in CT Money, or $2 with a 10x bonus coupon; buying only 39.9 l instead of 40 l means you only get half the coupons.
   
   

   Minimum Litres Purchased	Single Issue Without Coupon	Four Times Issue With Coupon
   20	5¢	$0.20
   30	10¢	$0.40
   40	20¢	$0.80
   50	30¢	$1.20
   60	40¢	$1.60
   70	50¢	$2.00

3. Always pay for the gas with your discounted GC. Get the discounted product coupon.
4. You get a higher reward/litre the more litres you buy. For example, you get almost 3 times more CT Money if you fill up once at 60.0 litres instead of making three trips to buy 20 litres each time. You can even try to buy gas at the same time with a friend, e.g., you pump 35 litres into your car then switch the pump to your companion's car to buy 35 more litres. The two of you can then split the CT Money earned ($2 or more) from buying the maximum 70.0 litres.
   

Gift Card Terms & Conditions

On the package: "This Gift Card is only redeemable for merchandise and service at any Canadian Tire retail store or gas bar, and may not be redeemed for cash or applied as payment on any Canadian Tire credit amount. Use of this Gift Card will entitle the recipient to receive Canadian Tire Money only for purhases made at Canadian Tire stores or gas bars. Purchase of this Gift Card is final and non-refundable. Canadian Tire Corporation Limited has issued this Gift Card and agrees to honour all redemptions at any Canadian Tire retail store or gas bar location under the terms and conditions of the Gift Card program."
"This Gift Card, and any remaining balance, will expire 24 months after the date of purchase. Remaining balance and expiry date will appear on your receipt once you redeem the Gift Card."

Consumer Buddy Resources
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