Well, I’m trying to catch my breath. I’ve just run around my home like a madwoman, ripping apart plastic grocery bags and digging through the trash. I was searching for any and every recent receipt I could find clinging to the bottom of my purses or stuffed in between the couch cushions. (And I’ve racked up a lot of receipts lately, thanks to Darling Hurricane Sandy.) No, I wasn’t planning to return everything; I was getting ready to enhance my mobile savings lifestyle with this little app called Punchcard, which basically acts like one giant loyalty club membership for just about every single store out there.
Here are the facts. Download Punchcard, login with Facebook, and grant access to your current location. Punchcard will pull up participating retailers around you, but you can also search for particular stores and restaurants.
Once you make a purchase at any of these stores, tap the “Punch” button and take a picture of your receipt. You have five days from the receipt date to take a picture, and you have to capture all the receipt’s information (use the “Add Part” feature to take multiple pictures if your entire receipt doesn’t fit in one). Each receipt counts as one “punch” on your mobile customer loyalty card. Capture ten punches in 6 months, and you’ll receive cash back or freebies from that merchant via Punchcard. Most rewards come in the form of a check, good for the average amount of your punchase at that store, up to $30.
I’m really blown away by this concept. Today I punched a $26 receipt from Wegmans. Wegmans is my favorite grocery store, and I make $25-$30 purchases there a couple times a week. If I punch all of my receipts, that means I’ll receive a check for at least $25 from Punchcard after every five weeks of shopping. And that means I’ll be at least $250 richer by the end of the year. At that’s just the savings I’ll get back from one store.
Today, I punched my first receipts from Target, Wegmans, and Walgreens. I frequently shop at all three of these stores, so I should fill up my punch cards pretty quickly. I can’t wait to report back on the rewards.
Check out the Punchcard FAQs to learn more.