With proud Canadian roots, Tim Hortons opened its doors in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario. Founded by the company’s namesake, a hockey player on the Toronto Maple Leafs, this coffee and donut destination grew into an international chain. Its menu expanded too, now ranging from sandwiches and soup to breakfast classics and specialty drinks. Known for its Iced Capps and double-doubles, this spot remains popular among those of all ages.
As with most companies keeping up with these 21st-century times, it has offered a rewards card point system since March 2019. It gives loyal customers the opportunity to cash in on their coffee, incentivizing consumers to choose Tim Hortons in order to gather points and redeem them for future purchases.
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All About Tim Hortons Rewards
Tim Hortons tends to be one of the more affordable coffee shops, with a small drink running $1.45 as opposed to $1.85 at Starbucks. However, even when being frugal, buying one coffee every weekday morning works out to $378.45 every year. The rewards system is designed to help you get more out of this investment.
A free cup of coffee just tastes better, and you don’t really have to count the calories on a donut bought with points. Figuring out how to make the most of your Timmies points can slash your coffee budget and give you that glorious feeling of getting something extra when you start your morning. The key is figuring out how you can optimize your Tim Hortons rewards. It’s easy to get started, even if you’ve never used the Tim Hortons reward card before.
Register an Account
All you have to do is download the Tim Hortons app. There’s a website too, but you’ll likely have your phone on hand when you’re grabbing your morning coffee, so it helps to get the app (available on the Apple store and Google Play). Simply register your account with your email and, moving forward, you can just log in to access your Tims card.
If you prefer to go old-school, you can pick up a Tim Hortons card next time you visit a location. You can then use the app or website to register the card. Any card from before February 26, 2020, needs to be registered with a Tims account to optimize the rewards it can access. Once you have the card in hand (or the app), you can start to gain points.
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Start Earning Points
The new points system is fairly straightforward. For every eligible purchase at Tim Hortons, you get ten points, so long as you show your card or app. To qualify, simply spend a minimum of $0.50 before tax. A full half an hour must elapse between purchases in order to gather points. It’s designed to optimize points without leaving a huge loophole of buying one donut at a time, back to back to trick the system. However, with a full ten points for each coffee, it is still a pretty competitive system.
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Redeeming Your Points
As it turns out, ten points isn’t too shabby (especially considering the reasonable investment to get there). It only takes 70 points to get a coffee, with an average cost of $1.45, ten points is worth roughly $0.21. In order to cash the points in, you simply navigate to the app or website and choose the category that you plan to use your points on. You can pick from breakfast, lunch, baked goods, or beverages and are able to change your preferences easily if a sandwich craving takes hold midday.
When you make a purchase that includes an item from your chosen category, the rewards are automatically redeemed, provided you have sufficient points to cover the amount of the item in full. This way, you aren’t continually draining your points by making your everyday coffee purchases. If you prefer to cash in on your rewards in a major way instead of with something small like a coffee, you can opt to bank them. There is an option on the website or in-app that lets you store them until you’ve accrued as many as you like.
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What Tim Hortons Points Can Get You
| Pointe Needed | What You Can Get |
| 50 | Hash brown, classic or specialty donut, cookies |
| 70 | Coffee, tea, dream donuts, bagels, baked goods |
| 100 | Hot chocolate, French vanilla, iced coffee, wedges |
| 140 | Iced Capp, frozen drink, espresso drink, ten Timbits, yogurt |
| 180 | Breakfast sandwich, soup |
| 220 | Farmer’s breakfast, lunch sandwich, chilli, BELT |
Linking Your Tim Hortons Card
With the onset of the new points system, customers now get to choose how they gather points. Linked cards open up a world of rewards items, ranging from food to drinks, while the older system limited choices. Effective October 28, 2020, though unlinked cards can continue to gather points, they cannot be used until the card is linked to the account.
If you have an old card that has points you gathered before October 28, 2020, you can still use them for a baked good, coffee, or tea if you don’t want to affiliate with the system. The purchase must meet the 120 point threshold of the older system to qualify. If you fall short of the threshold, bring the card to Tim Hortons and you will receive a one-time bonus to bring your point total up to the 120 threshold. Due to the convenience of the app and the overall system improvement, it makes sense to opt for the up-to-date points program.
Using your credit card with your Tims card can help you gain extra points. Check out these budget-friendly credit cards.
Other Tim Hortons Rewards Benefits
Tim Hortons offers extra features for those using the rewards system, aiming to incentivize purchases and keep customers happy. The coffee shop industry has become more competitive, so the goal is to promote consumer loyalty. In order to do this, the cards also come with perks such as:
Games and Contests: When you use the app (or access your account on the website) you can get weekly offers and access to games and online contests. In efforts to promote social distancing and associated measures, the traditional roll-up-the-rim contest has gone digital. Unlike times past, it offers a reward with every virtual lid.
Among the other promotions are games to earn more points. Recently, the Tim Hortons NHL Hockey challenge let customers earn points when their selected players scored. If they also played the game every day for a week, the customer was entered into a draw for a week’s worth of free coffee.
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Exclusive Offers: The regular rewards give you a chance to redeem food and drink, but the exclusive offers are curated specifically for you. The app is able to track your purchases and uses this information to curate promotions directly to you. In order to qualify, you need to make an eligible purchase on the card and the exclusive offers are usually time-sensitive.
Birthday Special: To access the birthday offer, you need to include the information on your account. When you use your card or scan your app, you can get a free offer on your birthday. It can also serve as a reminder to cash in your gathered points since they expire annually.
Additional Reading
Tim Hortons Rewards FAQs
Do Tim Reward points expire?
Is there a limit on how many points I can earn?
Can I use Tim Rewards if I don’t link my card?
Final Thoughts on Tim Hortons Rewards Points
Any chance to add value to purchases you are already making is handy. If you are an existing customer of Tim Hortons, then it is likely you can get a lot of advantages out of the card. The smallest prizes are worth 50 points, with each visit to Tims being worth ten points. Since the rewards points expire after a period of a year, in order to make it worth your while, you would need to make five trips to Tim Hortons over the course of a year. Since that is fewer than one per month, and it is one of the most common coffee chains in Canada, it is likely that you can get real value out of the card.
The cards are free, as is the app and website, so there is no financial risk associated with making an account. If you are a Tim Hortons enthusiast, it only makes sense to get a reward card.
