Baristas work in a Starbucks in Manhattan on Dec. 2, in New York City. In May, Starbucks updated its policy so Starbucks Stars now expire six months after the calendar year in which they were earned.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Vass Bednar is the managing director of the Canadian SHIELD Institute and co-author of The Big Fix.
Your loyalty points were never really yours. Now the law might finally admit it. New Ontario legislation may allow points to expire, reversing an expiry ban currently articulated in the Protecting Rewards Points Act (2018).
On paper, that’s a boring consumer protection change; but in practice it reclassifies loyalty programs as a revocable, programmable corporate currency, allowing firms even more control over synthetic value in the modern economy. And the so-called “loyalty” bargain has been steadily deteriorating.
For instance, in May, Starbucks updated its policy so Starbucks Stars now expire six months after the calendar year in which they were earned. This change makes it harder for Frappuccino drinkers to accrue points.
Their prepaid coffee cards had a stored-value liability of US$1.78-billion at the close of fiscal 2025 – signalling that Starbucks clientele are so loyal to the union-averse brewer that they are essentially willing to loan the company money interest-free. Now those loyal customers face shrinking odds of ever seeing a tiny treat as payoff.
As of October, 2025, Dunkin’ similarly rewrote the rules of its rewards program in ways that quietly eroded its value to customers. Points now expire 12 months after they’re earned, scrapping the long-standing ability to accumulate indefinitely.
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Redemption thresholds have also been pushed higher across much of the menu, and even small add-ons have become harder to unlock, reducing the real return on every dollar spent and making the path to a “free” reward longer and steeper. Is that a “reward” or a punishment?
Similarly, some hotel programs have dynamic redemption rates for points, which makes it challenging to anticipate the true value of the points you have. These programs are also jacking up redemption rates in a major test of the consumer loyalty they’re courting and counting on.
The ability to accumulate points over time can be highly motivating for shoppers, turning consumption into a hedonic behavioural treadmill where each purchase feels like progress. A recent report from the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator frames contemporary loyalty programs as what they are: sophisticated surveillance schemes. Major Canadian programs such as Air Miles, PC Optimum, Scene+, Aeroplan, Triangle Rewards, Petro-Points and Tims Rewards are building long-term behavioural profiles on us. They create a first-party cross-channel ID that we voluntarily maintain, essentially becoming an adtech vehicle for the affiliated company for the privilege of shopping there.
But on a company balance sheet, points represent deferred costs. And during inflationary periods such as the hellscape we are currently in, companies can shortcut improving their financial position simply by raising redemption thresholds or lowering the value per point.
Putting aside the depreciating redemption value of many loyalty point programs, what we think of as an exchange of data for beneficial savings could actually be the first step toward individualized price hikes delivered through mobile applications. That’s because the programs extract intelligence from our purchasing behaviour so they can discount selectively.
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Policy can create and buttress a consumer right to stable purchasing power through loyalty accumulation. As it stands, many of these initiatives function less like a reward system and more like a personal inflation machine.
According to a 2023 federal review, Ottawa acknowledged the lack of direct regulation and suggested that loyalty currency could (in principle) be defined as a non-cash payment instrument deserving protections akin to other payment forms. But as of now, this is only a suggestion, not law, though a 2025 global loyalty program survey suggests more jurisdictions are leaning toward placing restrictions on expiry or dormancy fees.
Loyalty schemes should be subject to privacy and anti-price-discrimination laws. Under the Competition Act, price-discrimination provisions primarily apply to “articles” (goods) sold between manufacturers and retailers, not generally to services or typical consumer loyalty programs.
Right now, loyalty points function like a private money supply with minimal rules. Companies shrink and void value at will, exercising monetary power without accountability. Alongside massive amounts of data, we’ve handed corporations the right to mint, debase and expire our purchasing power under the guise of “loyalty.”
Essentially, these programs are a prototypical digital currency and once functioned more like one: You earned points, stored them and redeemed them at your discretion. They are becoming less straightforward and more eager to exploit our devotion. That’s why a fair economy for loyalty programs must be part of the future of money. Any government would get major brownie points for that – and then some.