Royal Dutch Shell, the second largest Big Oil company in the world, operates about 1,300 Shell-branded retail stations in Canada.
Rather than offer their own rewards program like Petro-Canada’s Petro-Points or Esso Extra, Shell is a sponsor of the AIR MILES Reward Program. Customers that fill up at Shell can earn AIR MILES on eligible purchases at participating stations in addition to the miles that can be earned with other retail partners.
Shell recently changed their rewards structure yet again. It used to be that you earned 1 mile for every $20 spent on gas. Then, it became 1 mile on the first $30 and 1 mile per $20 spent in the same transaction thereafter.
Now, getting that first mile is much easier with only a 15L purchase required, but chances are it will be the only mile you earn on a single fill up. Have they gone too far with the changes this time?
Read on to see exactly how earning miles at Shell works and how you can maximize your rewards.
Earning AIR MILES with Shell
With Shell, members earn AIR MILES reward miles in the following increments.
|
Purchase Type |
Points |
|---|---|
|
Minimum 15 L fuel purchase in a single transaction |
1 |
|
For every $10 purchased in-store in a single transaction |
1 |
|
Oil Change Service: $14.99 or Less |
2 |
|
Oil Change Service: $15.00 – $29.99 |
3 |
|
Oil Change Service: $30.00 or more |
5 |
Getting More Miles Faster!
With each AIR MILE being worth around 10-20 cents, that single lonely mile per fill up is looking pretty pitiful as a meaningful discount on your gas purchase.
Fortunately, there are a few ways to amp up your earnings:
Collecting Bonuses
Members can earn more miles through special promotions. Offers vary by location, but can include up to 20X the AIR MILES on purchases of varying grades of fuel or up to 5X the reward miles on convenience store purchases. Current promotional offers are available via Shell’s How to Earn site.
Related: How To Earn AIR MILES Really Fast
Do Multiple Transactions
The new 1 mile per transaction rule is a real bummer, but you can actually earn more miles than before if you are willing to take the time to split up your gas purchase into multiple transactions.
For example, if you have enough room in your tank for a 45L fill up, then you can stop filling up after just 15L and repeat the process 3 times. That sounds like a big waste of time, and it is, but if you use the pay at the pump feature it doesn’t really take that much longer to triple your rewards.
This technique is best combined with a multiplier bonus like 20x the miles on VPower fuel. The only thing to watch out for there, is that most bonuses require a minimum 25L purchase. Therefore, to get your bonus you would need to split your purchase in 25L increments.
Therefore, if you were filling up for 50L, instead of getting just 1 mile at the regular rate, you could get 40 AIR MILES by taking advantage of the 20x bonus twice. That’s 40x the usual amount.
Related: BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard
Refuel Rewards
Regularly refuelling at Shell comes with additional bonus rewards. Swiping the loyalty card with every fuel purchases can give members a monthly bonus in the following increments:
|
Purchases |
Points |
|---|---|
|
Minimum 225 L fill up with any grade of fuel |
10 |
|
Minimum 500 L fill up with any grade fuel |
25 |
Redeeming Miles Earned At Shell
Redeeming miles collected at Shell can be redeemed the same way AIR MILES earned any other way can be: for flights, car rentals, merchandise and much more. Rewards with the program start at 25 reward miles. There are now two ways to redeem them:
- Online with AIR MILES Dream Rewards or
- In-store with AIR MILES Cash Rewards.
By default, members earn miles in the Dream account but can allocate a percentage of the reward collection towards their CASH account to instantly redeem for cash. If, for example, you earn 20 miles on a given purchase and you’ve opted to split the points 50/50, 10 points will be allocated to AIR MILES Cash balance with the remainder in Dream. The choice is yours.
AIR MILES Dream Rewards follows the more traditional rewards redemption structure. Reward miles are redeemed online for travel bookings, activities and merchandise.
AIR MILES Cash Rewards are a newer addition to the program that allows members to instantly redeem reward miles in the CASH balance towards everyday purchases at participating Sponsor locations. AIR MILES are redeemed in the following increments:
|
AIR MILES CASH |
Savings |
Points Required |
|---|---|---|
|
AIR MILES Cash |
$ 10.00 |
95 |
To Shell or Not to Shell
An average family spending $2,000/year on regular fuel at a cost of $1.05 consumes roughly 1,904 L. Assuming the average family drives a small car with a 50L tank, each top up at the station would result in 38 AIR MILES for the year, not factoring in any promotional offers.
That’s not good for very much at all. It would take $5,000 spent on regular, filling up an empty 50L tank with $1.05 regular fuel, to come up with the 95 AIR MILES required for $10 off at the register. That’s a whopping 0.2% return – again, not a very big incentive. Suffice it to say, collecting AIR MILES rewards exclusively through Shell is likely the worst possible method to get rewards on your fuel purchases.
Now, if instead your car needs supreme fuel at $1.15 per litre and you were able to fill up only on 20x days while splitting all your purchases into multiple transactions, the story would be very different. Then, the same $2,000 would yield 1391 AIR MILES. That’s worth about $146 in rewards, or a return on spending of 7.3% – pretty decent!
The benefit of collecting rewards miles with Shell rests in the collective value of the AIR MILES program as a whole. Collecting AIR MILES from Shell is meant to enhance point collection offerings. With over 120 sponsors and countless opportunities to collect bonus reward miles via promotional offers, AIR MILES add up quickly if you frequently shop at retailers that are part of the program.
Are you adding to your AIR MILES balance by collecting AIR MILES with Shell?
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Comments
So dumb ...
The new rules are ridiculous - they should definitely change it back.
Yes, Aeroplan can represent some great value especially when you use your miles as you've described. This article is about AIR MILES at Shell though, which is a different topic...
Don't believe they do the doubling here in Atlantic Canada Code, but for those who have that as an option - it is a good deal. Finding a close SuperStore gas bar can be a bit of a pain as well. I had nearby at my previous residence, but now I don't.
Yes, I agree that Aeroplan is more valuable, but you have to consider that each AIR MILE is worth from 3-5x as much as an Aeroplan mile (depending on how you do the calculations). If you redeem your Aeroplan miles for gift cards, etc, then an AIR MILE is worth 10x as much. Even still, Aeroplan is much more valuable and easy to collect IMO.
That said, I never collect Aeroplan at Esso because collecting Esso Extra and using them for car washes gives you a higher return on your spending (except maybe if you use your Aeroplan miles for first class travel or really expensive routes).
Around here, almost all the gas stations have the same prices always for regular fuel. So really the only difference between them is the rewards you can get. Good observation though about keeping an eye on the price.