I joined Replay – the Sam Goody/Suncoast bonus points club – three years ago. One of those days when you find a bunch of things you want in the store all at once, so I earned way more back in rewards than it cost me to join that evening alone. Overall, it worked well for me (and Mark, and Mike, and Brian and all the others that joined). It certainly helped that we had a Sam Goody right in town with a pretty cool staff. We always had a blast going up on Triple Point days and hanging out with whats-his-name, talking about Star Trek, games, classic rock, and his hot co-worker with the “fan club.”
But over the past year, the usefulness has dwindled. Soon I found myself going out of the way to find things to buy there so that I could push my points up to the next level. When you find yourself staring at the first season of Dawson’s Creek thinking, “Hey, that might be worth enough point to half pay for itself,” you know it’s time to let go. They just sent me an e-mail warning me that my membership is about to expire (January 31st, to be exact – way to keep on top of the e-mails, folks). Oh well, I missed out on using my last certificate (only 5 bucks), but at least I only left 168 points in my account (10,000 points = $5).
Right now I’m wondering how that company even stays in business. Come on, Best Buy offered Ju-on for $15.99 when it came out last week. Now it’s up to the regular price of $19.99. What does Suncoast have it for? $24.99! I just can’t stomach going in there anymore, hoping to find the one DVD that will make it worth it for me; looking for that one last fix to get me to the net certificate.
So I’m finally free of my addiction. I guess it’s time to check out Best Buy’s Reward Zone…