Photo: Ben Watts (flickr).
IF SOMETHING IMPRACTICAL BECOMES OBSOLETE, WHY DO WE CARE?
TORONTO—Canadian Tire has announced that its nationally recognizable store currency is going digital. And the prospect of rainbow-colored Canadian Tire money becoming obsolete triggered a gasp that was heard from one side of the country to the other.
My question is this: Why in the hell do we care if the “dollars”, typically worth no more than five or ten cents apiece, suddenly disappear? I, for one, will be glad to no longer have a junk drawer stuffed full of these reminders of a quixotic customer loyalty program. Other than utilizing them as replacements for lost Monopoly money and bribing five-year-olds who think they’re worth something, I’ve never employed this waste of paper.
Let us welcome this change with open arms. When an outdated promotion finds a new and current application, we should rightfully celebrate! The digital rewards program recognizes that most of us don’t want to – in fact, never wanted to – carry around a wad of fake money. I mean, has anybody ever used the stuff to get a discount equal to the onerous task of collecting hundreds of bills?
There was the one guy clever enough to get an album made by tapping into Canada’s love of store and the underdog. Kudos to you, Corin Raymond! You found the one practical use for this arduous and archaic reward system. But the rest of us should feel relieved that we will no longer be forced to accept the notes foisted upon us by cashiers, only to turn around and try to stuff them into poorly-designed in-store donation orbs.
Okay, okay. If you’re over 65 or are for some other inexplicable reason loyal to Canadian Tire money, you can still collect the wretched bills. But short of a retro hipster backlash, I think the rest of the country will rejoice in the new digital form when it becomes available next month. However, if you really and truly feel saddened by the possibility that Canadian Tire money will disappear, you’re welcome to the 20 years worth I’ve stockpiled in my front hall closet.