Journie Rewards Replace Pioneer Bucks

Chevron, Ultramar and Pioneer have created a joint venture to offer a new rewards program called Journie Rewards. After using the App for a few weeks, I am very excited by this new program as it should compete well with Esso Extra and Petro-Canada. That being said, this spells the end of Pioneer Bucks that was offered by Pioneer Energy.

For those who still have a Pioneer Bucks card, you have until August 31, 2020 to redeem your cash back. Considering that this is straight cash back that members are redeeming, this is a very generous notice that a new program is being offered.

That being said, let’s take a closer look at the Journie Rewards program.

Expiry Policy

Points do not expire as long as there is an activity (earn or redeem) once every 12 months. The account then goes into inactive mode first. Accounts will be suspended if there is no activity for 60 days. After that, accounts get closed and all points are lost.

However, there is a separate expiry policy after redeeming for a reward. Each offer expires within 30 days of the moment a member confirms their reward (will discuss further below) choice.

The expiry policy is right on par with most rewards programs, except the 30 day offer seems a bit tight. The way to mitigate this is to not choose your reward until you know you want to redeem it.

Earning Rewards

There are two main ways to earn points:

• Earn 2 points for every $1 spent on in-store goods and car washes
• Earn 1 point for every 1 fuel litre filled

Exclusions include: natural gas, alcohol, tobacco purchases, gift cards, prepaid long-distance cards, prepaid cellular cards, bill payments, items that are excluded by law, and other items specified exclusions from time to time.

Conversely, watch for special limited time bonus point offers on merchandise and service when logging to the Journie Rewards phone App.

Link CIBC Cards for 3 cents off per litre

As an added bonus, you can earn an additional 3 cents off per litre by linking and using your CIBC cards (debit and credit cards). Currently, there is a 150 bonus points opportunity to link your CIBC cards before April 30, 2020.

Redeem Rewards

There are three reward tiers to watch for:

• Reach the 75 points mark and choose 1 reward (out of 3 options)
• Reach the 150 points mark and choose 1 reward (out of 3 options)
• Reach the 300 points mark and receive fuel discount

After that, the balance resets to zero and start the cycle over from 75, to 150 to 300, etc.

I’ve personally already redeemed several times (on the phone App directly) at each points mark. When I reached the 75 and 150 point tiers, I chose the option for more bonus points (increments of 20 or 30 points).

When I reached the 300 points mark, I redeem for 7 cents off per litre on my next refill. The catch is that you can only use the 7 cents on one fill up, so I had to deplete my tank to optimise the value of the reward. But when I used my CIBC credit card to purchase fuel, I essentially got 10 cents off per litre.

Thoughts

So far so good for me in terms of using this program on my phone App.

This is an interesting idea by Journie Rewards. It goes along with my theme of earning and burning. It forces members to use their points rather than hoarding them. I also really like how 3 companies (Chevron, Ultramar and Pioneer) are joining forces which immediately increases the value of the program.

I’m excited to see how they expand this program in the coming years. I will definitely be using this program going forward.