Strange rule on Airmiles at Metro

The last time I was at Metro and buying a gift card and some groceries, I was asked what did and at the same time didn’t sound like a strange question. The cashier asked if I will be using “Airmiles” on the transaction. I presumed she meant if I will be redeeming Airmiles on the purchase to shave a portion of the bill so I replied “No.” Later, when I presented my Amex Cobalt to get 5x on the purchase along with my Airmiles, she appeared annoyed and stated thats what she asked me earlier and I had replied “No.” In all honesty, I responded that I was not planning to redeem but to collect Airmiles on the purchase as can be done and what I have done in the past.

So, I asked her to explain again what this was all about and what has changed since the last time I shopped at Metro. She explained that when one purchases gift cards along with groceries, in order to use/earn Airmiles, the amount of the groceries should be greater than the value of the gift cards being purchased in the same transaction i.e. if I am buying a gift card for $100, then the groceries should be worth $101 or higher, else I cannot earn AirMiles on the groceries if they are $99 worth or lower. When I said that I have done this in the past, she added that this is a new rule in effect at Metro.

I wonder if this is to disallow redeeming Airmiles against giftcard purchases i.e. using say 950 Airmiles to purchase a gift card worth $100.
However, I guess someone could still purchase groceries worth $101 and get a gift card for $100 and pay 950 Airmiles for $100 worth of groceries, pay $1 on the remaining groceries and pay the additional $100 for the gift card for a total of $101 on the Amex Cobalt, which will net you 505 Amex MR-S points.

I will try on another day to purchase a giftcard for $100 along with one candy bar and do a separate bill for groceries worth $50.
Then, yet another time I will try one bill for $50 worth of groceries and a gift card for $25 in the same transaction.

I will report back shortly on how these scenarios play out.

Written by Dominic Fernandes aka CanadaPointsGuy.

Image Photo by Maria Lin Kim on Unsplash