I’m part of the club

It seems that nowadays, everyone is drowning in a sea of plastic membership cards to their local stores. At least I know I am. It’s hard not to when the membership is free (if it’s not, I NEVER sign up) and there are discounts offered. The quality of these programs vary from What a Deal! to “This membership card isn’t even worth the plastic it’s made of.” Well today, I’m going to highlight a What a Deal! membership – The Word Market Explorer Rewards Program.

First off, does anyone remember when it was called Cost Plus? I’ve been shopping there since I was a little kid and I can never remember that it’s now called World Market. It’ll always be Cost Plus in my heart. Anyway…

The membership requires no membership card! No plastic junk to crowd your wallet! Instead, your phone number will be your membership number. When you check out at the store, simply enter your phone number in the keypad and you’ll start to earn your rewards.

And what are those rewards, anyhow? Well, first there’s the typical members only price for specific items around the store. We’ve all seen this before. Then, when you sign into your account online, there will coupons available. Ok, not so new.

Then, they have two extra rewards programs – gourmet & coffee rewards. In the coffee rewards program (which I personally have not tried as I’m not a java junkie), for every six 12 oz bags of World Market coffee you’ll get one free. Pretty snazzy. In the gourmet program (of which I am a big fan of), you earn a $10 gift certificate for every $100 you spend on food items. Now, you may think that’s not so great but for me, an avowed lebkuchen lover, Cost Plus World Market is the place to be at Christmas time and it doesn’t take too long to spend the required amount. So, if you’re a fan of international food products, it’s a pretty nice incentive.

But wait, there’s more! Every year on your birthday, you will get a $10 gift certificate. Yes, you heard right. A $10 gift certificate as a birthday gift! Now, that’s worth the sign up alone. Just guess what I’m going to spend mine on;)