Getting the Most out of flybuys?

[thewinchester]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

I have to be honest, I don't think the program is that bad at all. Sure, they may have lost Myer and Officeworks as earning partners over the last few years but there's still value to be had.

I cash in enough points for at least $140 in Coles Group & Myer gift card each year, generally more depending on what's happening bonus offer and promotion wise.

I made a killing on a Jetset/Travelworld bonus offer this year where they were offering 5k in bonus points for online flight bookings with QF. Booked a return flight from MEL-ADL with them as a side trip while in town for the airshow in March. Thanks to a fault in their booking system, each sector was credited with 5k, with 3.5k more in points makes a $100 gift card.

 

[coco50]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

It's a shame the guy has got confused by business days.

For a start he says:



Interesting, but fly buys points can be earned on non business days. Yes Coles and Kmart, etc. are open on weekends. How many points are issued per second on weekends? not to mentions that flybuys points can also be earned on a few of the lesser public holidays.

Then there is this little gem:



There may be 48 working weeks in a year, but there are actually 52 business weeks a year (if we ignore public holidays as the author has). Just because I might be taking my 4 weeks annual leave, it doesn't suddenly turn monday to friday into non-business days.

And on your annual leave you are likely to spend more money than when you are in your work routine - perhaps at Fly Buy outlets. Also Shell and Liquorland open 7 days/week blowing the 240 business days theory out of the water.

Personally, I've relegated my FB card to an obscure part of my wallet. I can save nearly $10/week shopping at IGA so I don't get to Coles or Liquorland very much any more. Our Shell does not credit FB points.

 

[ejb]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

Personally I think the effort required to carry and present the card is greater than the benefit gained from using the card so I disposed of it some time ago.

Over the life of the program, I joined in the first week, I earnt a night at Observation City in Perth and approx $500 in gift cards so not a great earner. In the couple of years of Myer One I have earnt over $2000 in vouchers so the new program is certainly better than the old.

Shopping around and finding the best price would be better than showing loyalty to the FlyBuys retailers.

ejb

 

[serfty]

...

Shopping around and finding the best price would be better than showing loyalty to the FlyBuys retailers.

ejb

Without showing any specific loyalty I have garnered the following from Flybuys over the years:

JUN/09     2 x $20 FlyBuys Gift Card
JUL/07     $50 Coles Group & Myer Gift Card
AUG/05     Tefal Avante 2 Slice Toaster
FEB/03     Telstra F2100 Cordless Phone
JAN/00     Melbourne-Brisbane-Melbourne

In the early days, I earned ~15,000 bonus points from "Liquorland Direct" wine club. I canned that when the wince basically became cr@p.

The MEL/BNE/MEL flights I was able to upgrade to J with Certificates.

In and around 2002 I had ~15,000 points expire of a dozen months or more ...

Approx. points earned over the 10 years: 82,000 (37,000 standard, 45,000 bonii)

Approx value of redemptions: $1500

(Note I do not have a handy Coles store nearby - we rarely shop at one).

 

[basic]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

Back in August or something... Let me find the article...

FlyBuys Media Release

40,000 points per minute. So this includes weekends. that's 666.67 points/second including weekends opposed to the 307 stated in the blog.

Going through the maths again:

365 days in a year
57.6 million points/day
8.5 million card holders, 5.6 million households.
6.77 points/day/member or 10.28 points/day/household... Assuming everyone is active (which we know they aren't.)

2,500/10.28 = 243 days, or 34 weeks 5 days... for a $20 FlyBuys gift card.

 

[codash1099]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

Cost of card = 0

Effort to swipe = 0

Any benefit = bonus

 

[ejb]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

Cost of card = 0

Effort to swipe = 0

Any benefit = bonus

All human effort has a "cost" and I think that the benefits I acrue from FlyBuys are not worth my "cost".

Others may find the program worthwhile and it appears serfty has gained some good rewards.

ejb

 

[clifford]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

All human effort has a "cost" and I think that the benefits I acrue from FlyBuys are not worth my "cost".

Others may find the program worthwhile and it appears serfty has gained some good rewards.

ejb

FWIW I can't really be bothered with flybuys either.

The thing that stinks the most is the disappearing points after 2 years.

The new woolies Qantas FF points scheme is much better, so which supermarket gets our business?

 

[jsd]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

flybuys is dead to me, now that I can direct earn to my QF account with everyday rewards whats the point.

I'm still waiting on Woolies to bring QF earning to Tasmanian supermarkets though, when it does i will jump ship




Josh

 

[drron]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

flybuys is dead to me, now that I can direct earn to my QF account with everyday rewards whats the point.

I'm still waiting on Woolies to bring QF earning to Tasmanian supermarkets though, when it does i will jump ship




Josh

Having just finished 3 weeks in Tassie with another 10 to come my flybuys account has had a bit of a boost.just got another $20 gift card.The next may be the last.

 

[oz_mark]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

FWIW, I understand Coles is working on a new loyalty program. Don;t know much about it at the moment, but it is under development.

 

[Mal]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

FWIW, I understand Coles is working on a new loyalty program. Don;t know much about it at the moment, but it is under development.

They need to. Everyday Rewards must be massacring them. Once Coles gets a new reward scheme, does that mean the end of FlyBuys? They wouldn't have anyone of any clout left in the scheme???

 

[jsd]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

They need to. Everyday Rewards must be massacring them. Once Coles gets a new reward scheme, does that mean the end of FlyBuys? They wouldn't have anyone of any clout left in the scheme???

Coles Card????

Was around for a short time, but I cant find anything on the Coles website anymore about it.

I'm hoping that the new scheme may involve velocity in some way (probally won't happen)


Josh

 

[oz_mark]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

They need to. Everyday Rewards must be massacring them. Once Coles gets a new reward scheme, does that mean the end of FlyBuys? They wouldn't have anyone of any clout left in the scheme???

Flybuys may continue on with or without Coles - it's a separate company. I'm not sure whether the two will run in parallel for a while (like Myer did when MyerOne first came in).
If Coles left, then I guess FlyBuys would have to make some decisions about its future.

 

[Mal]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

If Coles left, then I guess FlyBuys would have to make some decisions about its future.

They would have to ... the scheme would shrink even more. There would still be partners left, but without a grocery store, what value would the scheme have?

 

[ejb]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

They would have to ... the scheme would shrink even more. There would still be partners left, but without a grocery store, what value would the scheme have?

If Coles left the FlyBuys scheme that would almost certainly end it, as that would surely mean the whole Coles Group would leave and that is most of the members.

Regardless it is certainly a dying scheme.

ejb

 

[Pointburner]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

Regardless it is certainly a dying scheme.

ejb

Dying scheme? With just 10 million cardholders? I don't have any trouble, and have never had any trouble getting rewards - often. It may not suit "frequent flyers", because it's not a frequent flyer program - although I too have taken advantage of the Jetset offers.

 

[Mal]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

Dying scheme? With just 10 million cardholders? I don't have any trouble, and have never had any trouble getting rewards - often. It may not suit "frequent flyers", because it's not a frequent flyer program - although I too have taken advantage of the Jetset offers.

The number of lifetime cards issued vs the number of cards in active use would be a very telling statistic. I'll have to try and track it down (if it's publicly available). Regarding whether that makes it a good or bad program - Ansett had about 3 million card holders, and that was a dead scheme.

Without the support of the major merchants in the scheme (like Coles), it would be just about dead. Even with the current support of Coles, the scheme has been dying a slow death.

 

[Pointburner]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

Without the support of the major merchants in the scheme (like Coles)

Coles (at least Wesfarmers) owns 50% of FlyBuys, so it's a moot point. Agree that active number of members is important; from a sample of one (me!) it's easy to stay active because it's working well for me.

 

[ejb]

Re: Hahaha - How Bad FlyBuys Really Is

Dying scheme? With just 10 million cardholders? I don't have any trouble, and have never had any trouble getting rewards - often. It may not suit "frequent flyers", because it's not a frequent flyer program - although I too have taken advantage of the Jetset offers.

10 Million cards does not indicate a healthy or useful scheme, as it is free and many people would have membership without even remembering it.

With EDR program joining QFF it sounded the deathbell for FlyBuys as it currently stands.

Now if they were to morph into a Velocity earning program I am sure they would attract more use of there cards, as long as the earn rate was reasonable.

ejb