Shop Your Way Rewards - Free and Bonus points thread

Sears Went Into Bankruptcy—but Its Lavish Rewards Program Won’t Quit
The shrinking number of people who still shop at the retailer can leave with bags of freebies, thanks to one of America’s most generous customer programs

Michelle Price and a knife set bought at Sears that earned her points she used to buy pillows. PHOTO: MICHELLE PRICE
By Suzanne Kapner
April 2, 2019 10:57 a.m. ET
During one of her regular Sears shopping sprees, Kyra Dwyer picked out $150 of clothes for herself and her daughter. She was charged $18.


The 47-year-old is a member of Shop Your Way, Sears’s loyalty program. She regularly stopped at the store near her home in Fairfield, Conn., until it closed in January, on her way home from her work for the Coast Guard. She scooped up Craftsman tools, Lee jeans and a snowblower for her parents. Nearly all of the items were paid for with rewards points.

Fewer people shop at Sears these days. Of those who do, many leave with bags full of freebies, thanks to what is considered one of the most generous rewards programs in the business, one that persists, zombie-like, despite the company’s financial woes.

“Other retailers don’t even come close,” says Michelle Price, business-development manager for Hip2save.com, a deal-tracking website.

In the fall, Ms. Price bought sheet pans, a sauce pan and tights for a total of $36.77. After applying her Shop Your Way points and other rewards, her final tally: $0.

Shoppers earn $1 in points for every $100 they spend at Sears and its sister chain Kmart. Sears also offers cash back, sometimes in the equivalent amount of the purchase, for instance, giving $60 in credits back to a shopper who spends $60. And there are free cash bonuses in which Sears simply gives shoppers money, notifying them by text or email. Unlike some other retailers that require people to pay with a store card to earn rewards, Sears shoppers can use any type of payment.

Ms. Price and her co-workers, who all work remotely, send alerts on the Slack messaging service when they see Sears giveaways. “We’ll say, OMG, there’s $10 in free cash today,” she says. She often buys things she doesn’t need, because they are essentially free, like the eight pairs of nylons she once scored.


Kerry Ozmelek with a dress she bought at Sears using her points. PHOTO: RYAN OZMELEK
People don’t even have to shop at Sears or Kmart to rack up points. Members get $1 for every Uber ride. They can also get cash back for spending at partner websites like Expedia or Ulta Beauty. And by linking certain credit cards to their Shop Your Way account, people can get rewards for online purchases at retailers such as Walmart and Target that compete with Sears. There is also a Sears Mastercard that sweetens the payouts.

“It seems almost too good to be true,” says Amanda Dawson of Millville, N.J. The 33-year-old nurse says she never shopped at Sears or Kmart before signing up for the membership program a year ago, which she came across on one of the couponing apps she uses.

Since then she has accumulated points that allowed her to buy $30 to $40 of goods a month, usually without having to spend any additional money. Her bounty includes a wooden filing cabinet.

Sears Holdings Corp., which owned Sears and Kmart, filed for bankruptcy protection in October and closed hundreds of stores. It agreed to sell its remaining stores, rewards program and other assets to a new company controlled by Edward Lampert, the hedge fund manager and former Sears CEO.

The next most generous plan after Shop Your Way is Kohl’s Corp.’s Yes2You Rewards, according to Hip2save.com. “With Kohl’s you have to purchase up front in order to earn the reward,” Ms. Price says. “Sears will just give you cash.”

The giveaways have left some customers who are aware of Sears’s perilous financial state puzzled.

Richard Wagoner bought six shirts from Sears that cost $50 in total, and only paid half that amount after deducting points. “They were ridiculously cheap,” says the 55-year-old math teacher, who lives in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. “I’m sure Sears lost money on them, and that is one of their problems.”


Richard Wagoner and shirts he bought at Sears using Shop Your Way points. PHOTO: RICHARD WAGONER
Leena Munjal, a Sears co-CEO, says the loyalty program, which was introduced in 2009, not only rewards its 49 million members but helps Sears learn about their shopping preferences and needs. She says about 15 million members have redeemed rewards in the past 15 months.

“These are people who are not only receiving points but they’re coming back and redeeming their points, which shows they understand the value of these points,” Ms. Munjal says. “And that’s a great asset to have—that gives you a direct line of communication with your member base.”


Fred Imber, who worked as a mattress salesman in a Sears store in Bethesda, Md., says shoppers were encouraged to come back, but then picked a lot of goods free. “I never saw a reward card that gave away so much money,” he says.

A Sears spokesman says the data it collects from the program will help it stay competitive. “We look forward to continuing to expand Shop Your Way’s partners and services and creating more opportunities for our members to engage with their favorite brands and retailers,” he said.

Ms. Dwyer, the Coast Guard worker, says Sears peppered her with emails reminding her to use points before they expired. She shopped often enough to attain VIP Platinum status in the Sears program—a distinction for those who make 30 purchases totaling $2,000 a year. That entitled her to a “personal shopper,” extra cash back during her birthday month and four $4.99 oil changes a year.

Some Sears fans say it’s getting harder to earn and redeem points. Not because Sears is changing the program rules—some airlines do that after filing for bankruptcy—but because the stores are disappearing.


Sears offers customers various ways to earn reward points. PHOTO: RICHARD GRAULICH/THE PALM BEACH POST/ZUMA PRESS
There are currently about 220 Sears and 205 Kmart stores, down from more than 2,000 combined locations a decade ago. Many Shop Your Way members say they don’t buy as much online, because point redemptions don’t count toward the $59 minimum required for free shipping.

Kerry Ozmelek had gotten free items at Sears almost weekly using her points, including a $40 dress from the Simply Emma line. Now that the Sears near her home in Latrobe, Pa., closed, she isn’t shopping at the chain as much.

“It was a good deal while it lasted,” says the 50-year-old high-school career counselor.

Write to Suzanne Kapner at [email protected]