From a just-received e-mail:

"We've made it simpler than ever to get your membership rewards. Our new program kicks off April 12, and here are all the details:


Now, for every $150 you spend on qualifying purchases at Borders, Borders Express, or Waldenbooks in a calendar year, you�ll earn $5 in Borders Bucks, issued the first week of the following month and valid until the end of that month. The more you spend, the more you get. There�s no limit to how many Borders Bucks you can earn!


We know you love our coupons, and the great weekly member coupons and exclusives will continue to arrive each week in your inbox. You�ll keep getting the latest news, recommendations, and more, and you'll be invited to exclusive members-only savings events. Look for the first one in April.

Good news! The holidays are coming early this year. Starting April 12, you can redeem your entire Holiday Savings Rewards balance.

Plus, getting rewards just got simpler. Instead of the $200 necessary to qualify for Holiday Savings Rewards, you only need to spend $150 to start getting Borders Bucks�and you can redeem them from the first week of the following month.

While Holiday Savings Rewards and Personal Shopping Days will be phased out, any Holiday Savings Rewards and Personal Shopping Days earned through April 11, 2007, will of course be honored until their respective expiration dates.

Also, these changes to the program are automatic�no new card or additional signup is required.

For more information, visit www.BordersRewards.com.

Thanks for posting, I hadn't seen this yet.

I'm glad I did my e-rewards for 2007 to Borders in January, that's an easy $15 right there I can spend in a couple weeks.

(Just checked, looks like they are currently "out of stock" of the Borders rewards.)

I wonder if that helped kill the holiday savings aspect of the program? That was one of the best rewards while it lasted.

I am not sure that this is not a change for the better if you are an infrequent customer. Before, I knew that whatever I spent would be accumulated and I could buy books for my godson for Christmas. Now, it appears that I'll have to spend that $5 in a shorter, ill-defined time frame.

All this does is encourage breakage...

I also got this email today. This is not a change for the better for anyone. Reward used to be a flat 5%. Now that is reduced to 3.33%.

I think it's a lousy change - as mentioned a 1/3 devaluation right there. I don't like being forced to use it within a month; I'd rather have one year from date of accrual.

Actually under the old program the reward was 15% : 5% from the Holiday rewards + 10% from always buying $50+ each month on a single day and using the previous month's personnal shopping day (10% discount).

Now it has been reduced to 3.33%, a major devaluation.

On the other hand, if they continue to hand out their 20-30% off coupons on a regular basis, they are still a better deal than Barnes & Noble which earlier this month offered a 25% coupon for the first time in close to a year.

It certainly is a major devaluation (especially when the cancellation of the "Personal Shopping Days" is factored it.)

I haven't seen any 30% off coupons in a while, but I hope that all Borders shoppers are aware of the following:
http://www.visitborders.com/index.php?c=A
which is a 20% off coupon, always good for the next 6 days after printing (unlike the weekly e-mailed coupons which expire in 3 - 4 days.)

Under Borders as a partner, it shows $15 Borders Bucks as "coming soon" - likely after April 12th.

The coupons that they gave out in the store last weekend for this coming weekend were for a 30% coupon

B and N gives a 15 % off coupon at least once a month--assuming memory serves--this is on top of a 20% off hard covers and 40% off best selling hard covers.

At least at B and N I get a discount at the cash register rather than having to remember to use my card and then at some point getting some sort of discount based on my purchases.

Of course, I have to pay up front for the B and N discount.

I had been disappointed that it would appear my (whopping!) $22 spending during 2007 was going to be "rolled over" to the new Borders Bucks program; I could never make $150 by December, and would lose the $1.10 from the old program, up to 4/12. This morning, I looked online; the system showed $1.10 as 2007 Holiday Spending with no mention of any Borders Bucks. So ...

I purchased a $6.99 book with a 20% off coupon (no minimum), asking the clerk if I could please use my $1.10. She made one effort and said, "I seem not to be able to do that." I stood my ground, and she was thrilled to pass off the problem to the manager. That individual understood completely when I explained that I felt it was unfair to neither apply the $1.10 nor credit me anything towards the new program (which I didn't want). The manager was able to over-ride the system to "force" the accrued Holiday Money towards the purchase, and zero out that balance.

Sometimes, it pays to be persistent.

Technically you were 1 day too early : you had from 4/13 to Jan/2008 to use that $1.10!

That might explain why the money was in "limbo" then? Still, under the rules, I had inferred it was going to be rolled over as $22 towards the new $150 theshold. I don't think I was supposed to be able to use the $1.10 at all, but thought I'd try.

Unless the program has had such negative feedback already that they've delayed implementation?

Definitely not better as an infrequent shopper.