VIP Rewards - do you save or spend them asap?

[GuaranteedUnity]

* However, anything larger than 25 still only gives one stamp,

That must have varied by store, as my local would give me a stamp for every $25 spent; so a $175 purchase would get me 7 stamps.

and anything smaller doesn't give any

Always found this to be at the discretion of the employee, but if I was reasonable close to the next $25, they would more often than not give me the stamp anyway.

* As a result, small purchases do not add up-so unless you bought about 25-30 dollars worth of LEGO every time, VIP is better.

VIP is much better for smaller/casual purchases, which -- being a $30 roundtrip in gas and tolls -- my store purchases never were. The stamp card worked out a WHOOOOOOOOOOLE lot better for me.

[BobaFett2]

* However, anything larger than 25 still only gives one stamp,

That must have varied by store, as my local would give me a stamp for every $25 spent; so a $175 purchase would get me 7 stamps.

and anything smaller doesn't give any

Always found this to be at the discretion of the employee, but if I was reasonable close to the next $25, they would more often than not give me the stamp anyway.

* As a result, small purchases do not add up-so unless you bought about 25-30 dollars worth of LEGO every time, VIP is better.

VIP is much better for smaller/casual purchases, which -- being a $30 roundtrip in gas and tolls -- my store purchases never were. The stamp card worked out a WHOOOOOOOOOOLE lot better for me.

Eh, I guess that varies by employee.

[SpaceNinjaDino]

I'm surprised anyone would want to not use them on their next purchase. It's not like saving them gives you an extra bonus or compounded interest. As long as you people promise not to allow them to expire, the math is the same ... except for the people who put the remaining balance on a credit card that is not paid in full each month.

One of my credit cards use to have a $25 bonus if I saved up over $200 in rewards (cash). That's deal is long gone, but was able to take advantage 3 times before they removed that feature. Since you could not credit your statement, I think their game plan was to get your spending habit up (with "free" money) so that you overspend in the long run and carry a balance forward.

[BobaFett2]

I'm surprised anyone would want to not use them on their next purchase. It's not like saving them gives you an extra bonus or compounded interest. As long as you people promise not to allow them to expire, the math is the same ... except for the people who put the remaining balance on a credit card that is not paid in full each month.

One of my credit cards use to have a $25 bonus if I saved up over $200 in rewards (cash). That's deal is long gone, but was able to take advantage 3 times before they removed that feature. Since you could not credit your statement, I think their game plan was to get your spending habit up (with "free" money) so that you overspend in the long run and carry a balance forward.

Thing is, larger sets are always sweeter than smaller ones. So we save up to get "more" money off of our large ones.

[jeffrach]

My feeling on any kind of rewards, no matter what store or program, is to use them before you lose them. There is so much fine print in the world that it's best to be safe than sorry. Example - I had $25 worth of TRU rewards that I was "saving" for a sale or a set that wasn't in stock, so I could get the best bang for my buck. Well, my bad , I went to spend them and they had expired the day before. Just use the dang points before they're no longer useable. I learned my lesson don't be a miser like me.