**Update, 11/7: PCHP sent out a three-link email; it was for a total of 5 points instead of the former 9. Also, they’re removed their only 5000 point redemption, for $5 in Burger King GCs. Now the cheapest (non-charity donation) redemption is 9000 points.
Users of PCHPoints have noticed that their paid emails have recently dropped in point value, to one point from 5 points each or three 3 point links. Site visits up in the Earn Points, Visit Websites section have also been dwindling in number lately. Now today, the site has dropped the value of its Site of the Day from 10 points to 2 (they dropped from 25 to 10 in February) and the site visits in Earn Points, Visit Websites from 3 points to 1.
This is all coming just about six weeks after the other two sites that were operated under license from Memolink, LuckyPoints and SavingsRegisterRewards, announced that they were closing shop. The signs were there in advance for those sites’ demise, too — besides the same point drop for the SOTD that PCHPoints had in February, in June both LP and SRR eliminated site visits entirely…and LP dropped its SOTD to 5 points while SRR eliminated theirs. Four months later both sites announced they were closing.
PCHPoints has always been the most popular of the three sites, probably due to its ownership by a big-name corporation, Publisher’s Clearinghouse.
IMHO it would be stupid for a rewards site with a significant number of members to shut down before the holidays (whether we’re talking about PCHPoints or MyPoints, another site with an iffy future). This is the biggest shopping season of the year coming up and they’d be forfeiting a lot of potential revenue. No, it’d make more sense to wait until after Jan. 1 to shut down, and that’s my prediction of what’s going to happen with PCHPoints. (MyPoints’ situation is slightly different — they’ve announced they’re selling the program, and hopefully, and if they find the right buyer, the site won’t close down entirely but will just switch names and lower point values.)
Anyway — my advice for PCHPoints members, as has been my advice for members of MyPoints, is to please consider taking your shopping business this holiday season to a more stable rewards program. Those 2%s and 5%s and 10% rebates add up, and you don’t want to gamble with being paid.
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Got an email today-it’s definitely closing.