Woolworths has confirmed that it is removing the earning of Qantas Frequent Flyer Points from its Rewards program. The Everyday Rewards Program in its current form, is to be replaced by Woolworths Rewards which will offer the chance to earn ‘Woolworths Dollars’ which can then be used as a discount at the cash register,
The removal of Qantas Points will remove a couple of streams of Points earning opportunities. Firstly, the standard one Qantas Point that is earned for each dollar over $30 in a transaction, and any associated bonus points that may be offered.
The Second stream to go is the points earn that was available through the Caltex tie up. Under this program, you were able to swap your 4 cents per litre discount for an earn of 2 Qantas Points per litre of fuel. While the actual fuel discount will remain in place, the opportunity to swap it for Qantas Points will be removed.
The new scheme is set to launch on Wednsday, 28 October, with Everyday Rewards running in parallel, before it wraps up on December 31.
Under the new program, members will be awarded Woolworths Dollars for buying selected products. When the have accumulated 10 Woolworths Dollars, they will be able to redeem the Woolworths Dollars for an instant discount at the register.
The reason for the change is widely reported to be due to the cost of runnng the Everyday Rewards program. Various estimated indciate that Woolworths has been paying Qantas somewhere around $80 million to $90 million per year for the points it is giving to members of the Everyday Rewards scheme.
There is some debate around how engaged the average Everyday Rewards member was with the Qantas Points program. It is hard to get solid numbers on these things, however, some estimates suggest that up to half of all Everyday Rewards members were not linked to a Qantas account. Of those that were earning points, there was also a sizeable propotion, reported to be 60%, that had not redeemed anything in the past year.
However, for some members it was a good trickle of points that could help to keep an account alive, preventing points from expiring. These members are now going to have to find a stream of points to enable their accounts to remain alive.
The door remains open to the possibility of some changes with indications that Qantas and Woolworths are still in talks. This may result in the newly announced program being augmented in some for to include Qantas, but there are no details available.