Scholar Dollars only redeemable after 35 days
Sara McGuire
Contributor
The bookstore’s new Scholar Dollars reward points system program, introduced this year to help students save some cash and attract business to the York Bookstore, comes with a number of catches.
According to the brochure, if students make a purchase using Flex dollars on their YU-card, they can earn back five per cent or more of that purchase amount in Scholar Dollars.
However, the amount of Scholar Dollars you earn is based on the tax percentage of your total purchase, explains Steven Glassman, director of the York University Bookstore.
While books, which are taxed at five per cent, will earn you back five per cent of your total in Scholar Dollars, other items, like stationery, clothing, magazines, and gifts, which are taxed at 13 per cent, will earn you back 5.38 per cent.
On the other hand, purchases with no tax on them, like used books, will earn you 4.76 per cent of your total purchase in Scholar Dollars.
The credit can’t be earned using payment methods other than the YU-card, and any Scholar Dollars you earn can only be used at the Keele and Glendon York University Bookstores.
“I think [the Scholar Dollars program is] a good idea because I had to buy a lot of new books at the bookstore this year so it’s nice to get something back,” says Nicole Sequeira, first-year international development studies major.
Sequeira says she wouldn’t, however, make it a point to purchase items from the bookstore just to get Scholar Dollars when there are many places to get used books at a lower cost.
Tiffany Liang, a third-year theatre major, says she would think twice about going to the bookstore even for used books even though she thinks the Scholar Dollars program is beneficial.
“I’ll still be spending more money even if I get Scholar Dollars,” Liang says. “When I buy books, I tend to buy from Amazon because I still think York’s bookstore is pricey,” she says.
Students should also be aware that there is a 35-day delay before Scholar Dollars become available for use on the YU-card, which is the time it takes for the balance to be recorded and loaded onto the card. It also ensures that students don’t use the Scholar Dollars immediately after the purchase, and then return the books.
Each Scholar Dollar is the equivalent of one Flex dollar. Therefore, the reward for a $100 purchase is a credit of $5 that you can spend at a future date.
“I hope that this loyalty program is generous enough that it will be found to be not just convenient, but as competitive as anywhere else,” Glassman says.
