'I broke a rewards program': Crafty customer buys 1,400 packages of cookies to finesse massive amounts of rewards points

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 28, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

This person flew a little too close to the sun while trying to cash in on an incredible deal. 

No one has a malicious compliance story quite like u/DuckDownRob's tale. They share the way they accidentally broke a rewards system by acting like an extreme couponer of sorts. There have been plenty of failed promotion programs throughout history. It can happen to any company if they aren't cautious about the wording of their offers, as well as limiting the amount of products that people can purchase. These companies plan for your average Joe to participate in the contest, but there are also folks who take things to the extreme, and they want a piece of the pie, too. 

This person technically did nothing wrong, and they're going to have a wealth of sweets to snack on for the indefinite future! Just because the company doesn't like their results, doesn't mean the original poster wasn't completely within their right to push the limits. You can read the whole story of their clever idea to turn cookies into savings down below. 

Up next, this kid managed to have their father serve detention time instead of them after they were continually late for school. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10394081280
    via No Revisions on Unsplash
  • 02
    1,400 Packages of Cookies: I Broke a Rewards Program
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 03
    The Year was 2000 in Canada. One if the better grocery store chains Loblaws, had introduced their new President's Choice PC Points Reward Program. This was tied into their PC Financial MasterCard.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 04
    There was a month-long promotion where you could get bonus points for purchasing select items. One of the items was their signature President's Choice Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are amazing cookies that are still around today.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 05
    The offer was: For every bag of cookies purchased for the regular price of $1.99, you got 1,000 PC points when you used your PC Financial MasterCard. That 1,000 PC points was worth $1 for a later redemption.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 06
    Buying a package of great cookies for half price after reward value would not make for a good Malicious Compliance story now would it... I figured something out and started some major malicious compliance with their offer.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 07
    I started by going from store to store and buying every bag of cookies I could find. I even asked if they had cases in the back. From one store, I was able to get 8 cases. I ended up getting 1,400 packages of cookies over a 3-week period before the program broke.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 08
    Having 1,400 packages of cookies created a problem. What was I going to do with all those cookies I bought for $1.99? At the time, I was a field sales rep for a company with 4 factories in the province. I ended up selling most of the cookies. for $1 a package to the employees. They thought it was a great deal and could not get enough.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 09
    On to the points: Every couple of days the bonus points would show up in my PC Points account. I realized I could take my PC Points and convert them online from PC Points to Petro Points (Petro Canada gas station rewards program). Once I had 100,000 PC points, I would convert to 100,000 Petro Points.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 10
    I would then go online into my Petro Points account and convert those points to Sears Club Points (Sears was a department store that is now gone). Eventually I would redeem the Sears Club points for vouchers that could be used for in store purchases at Sears.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 11
    The Break: After converting 1,400,000 PC Financial points to Petro Points over a couple of weeks, Petro Canada caught on and immediately stopped all conversions to Sears for everyone. No more points could be converted. It even was marked as not available on their website. I called Petro Points when I found out
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 12
    and after a little discussion regarding the sudden end of the conversions, was allowed one final conversion. The Math: 1 Package of cookies cost $1.99. I sold the package of cookies for $1. Earned $1 in PC Points.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 13
    Exchanged that $1 in PC points to $1 in Petro Points. Exchanged the $1 in Petro Points to $5 in Sears Club Points.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 14
    **Edited. Messed up the math. It was $1,400 net investment not $700** For a net investment of $1,400 (after selling the cookies), and transferring 1,400,000 in points among programs, I ended up with $7,000 in Sears Club Vouchers that I used on sale and clearance items at Sears.
    via u/DuckDownRob
  • 15
    It was a fun 3 weeks while it lasted. TL;DR Grocery Store had a points bonus, did a number of transfers to get 5x+ in value. Broke a program affiliation in the process.
    via u/DuckDownRob

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reward Canada malicious compliance shopping malicious-compliance-reddit broken food malicious compliance reddit funny program cookies
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