Earn Up to 8,000 Blue Rewards Points with Shop the Block

The new Blue Rewards program launched less than a month ago, and we’re seeing the first Shop the Block promotion. To be fair, AIR MILES frequently ran Shop the Block before the rebranding, so let’s take a look at the newest iteration.

Shop the Block

Running until next Wednesday, July 8, you can earn up to 8,000 bonus Blue Rewards points, with an extra 800 if you hold a BMO Blue Rewards co-branded credit card.  Essentially, you earn more bonus points the more partners you shop with:

• 1,600 bonus points when you earn at least 1 Blue Point with 2 qualifying actions
• 4,000 bonus points when you earn at least 1 Blue Point with 3 qualifying actions
• 8,000 bonus points when you earn at least 1 Blue Point with 4 or more qualifying actions
• 800 bonus points (one-time) when using a BMO Blue Rewards co-branded card

The co-branded card bonus is independent, so you can earn an extra 800 points even if you only complete one qualifying action, as long as you use your Blue Rewards co-branded card.

Earn up to 8,000 Blue Rewards with Shop the Block

You do need to opt in before any activity counts towards this promotion. Blue Rewards states August 5 as the date all bonus points will post by.

This is a tiered bonus with a cumulative total of 8,000 points — you don’t earn 1,600 + 4,000 + 8,000 for shopping at 4+ brands. But it’s cleverly structured to incentivize completing more actions: you effectively earn 2,000 bonus points per qualifying action if you do 4, while that number drops to 1,333 and 800 if you only do 3 or 2.

To be extra clear, each brand (or more accurately, each qualifying action) has to be different, so you won’t earn 8,000 points for shopping with the same brand 4 times.

In terms of how lucrative the promotion is, we can consider Blue Rewards’ fixed value of 1,500 points = $10. (While you can use Blue Rewards on travel and theoretically extract more value, it’s quite unlikely.) Therefore, the earnings are worth $53.33 if you spend with 4+ brands, $26.67 if you spend with 3, and $10.67 if you spend with only 2. Using a co-branded card will boost your earnings by $5.33.

Earning Blue Points Through Qualifying Activity

I do want to highlight exactly what counts as a qualifying activity, as there are more than you might think. All the following qualify:

• Shopping in-store with partners or online with Blue Rewards Shops
  • Each unique partner counts as 1 qualifying brand
  • Only base points earned count
• Using a card offer at a unique merchant
  • Each unique merchant is 1 qualifying brand
• Live event tickets, powered by TFL
  • Counts only once towards brand total
• Blue Receipts
  • Counts only once towards brand total
• Travel booking through Blue Rewards portal, fully paid with a credit card
  • Counts only once towards brand total
  • Cruises excluded
• Redeeming points, excluding gift cards
  • Counts only once towards brand total

These for “Shop the Block”

The key to reaching 4 qualifying actions is to use the Blue Receipts, make a travel booking, and redeem points once, either for merchandise or in-store with a partner. Blue Receipts is the easiest because it only involves scanning a receipt after visiting a Blue Rewards partner — you don’t need to scan your Blue Rewards at check-out or anything.

Blue Rewards Receipts

Maximizing Shop the Block

Maximizing this offer is pretty straightforward: make sure to reach 4 qualifying actions and pay with your BMO Blue Rewards World Elite Mastercard or BMO Blue Rewards Mastercard. As mentioned above, mix and match actions and take advantage of the actions that “count only once”, which are easier to achieve than shopping at 4 different brands.

There are also sometimes flash offers at certain merchants that allow you to earn extra points through Flash Offers while shopping at a qualifying brand (working towards your Shop the Block bonus). The bonus points from Flash Offers don’t count toward a qualifying action on their own, so you’ll still need to earn at least one base point from the underlying purchase.

Blue Rewards Flash Promo

Pay attention to specific spending thresholds, as each participating partner sets their own minimum purchase requirement in order to qualify to earn any Blue Rewards points.

Earn Blue Rewards points with Dollarama

Takeaway

Shop the Block remains one of the best Blue Rewards promotions because it rewards actions other than spending. By completing four different qualifying actions, you can earn 8,000 bonus points, worth over $50 in statement credits, without necessarily needing to make any large purchases.

Blue Rewards has quite a few partners now, so I bet most people will reach four qualifying actions easily. Even so, the key is to think about Blue Receipts, redeeming points, and other one-time qualifying activities to stack your way to 8,000 bonus points. Then, make sure to pay with a BMO Blue Rewards credit card to add another 800 points on top. With a little planning, this is a straightforward promotion to maximize.