Introducing our new Points rewards system -- and general tech upgrade!
We have some exciting news at Spectator Books! We've just launched a new points-based rewards system to replace our traditional punch cards. (Don't worry -- all your physical punch cards, full or not full, are still good and can be added in to the system during your next visit!)
Here at the shop, we will miss the punch cards -- it's the end of an era! But, we know that moving forward with the times will allow more of our customers to get added rewards and benefits for shopping with us! The rewards are the same: spend $100 with us (before tax), get $10 back -- but now, every dollar counts instead of just every ten-dollar increment :))
All you need to sign up is a full name and phone number; you are welcome to share accounts but they will have to be under a single name/number. Your information will never be shared with anyone outside of Spectator Books in any form, and is always treated with utmost security here within the shop. (Getting our monthly email newsletter is a separate thing entirely, so rest assured you won't get any unasked-for spam!)
Soon we will be able to text customers who opt in to that service; we also are now able to store credit cards totally securely by converting them immediately to tokens that are never seen as numbers again. This is completely optional, and we won't save your information without permission, but it may be exciting news for some of our regulars!
Possibly the best part of all is that, eventually, everything we have will be in a searchable inventory, and we will also have a fully-updated webstore!!!
(If you are someone who doesn't join the rewards program because you want us to get as much profit as possible, many grateful kudos to you! We advise that you still sign up with the shop whether or not you join the points program. You may perhaps also like to sign up for our newsletter over at our website spectatorbooks.com, so you can be notified as soon as we set up our Friends of Spectator support program, which we hope to launch by our birthday in April! At that point, you'll be able to support the shop to the maximum degree while still earning your points, if you'd like to.)
WHY WE MADE THE CHANGE
If you've been to our store over the past year, you may have experienced some difficulty with our credit card reader, especially in regards to its tapping feature. Firstly, we apologize! Our building is in a funny little internet dead zone, and it's been a real challenge finding stable service that can handle the system needs of our business. We tried a number of less disruptive fixes, to no avail, so we decided to go ahead and make a really BIG change, and switch to a robust, hard-wired system that will alleviate MANY of the issues we've had trying to run our business to maximum efficiency and enjoyment. This new service comes with a lot of exciting tools that are going to take us a little while to fully learn, as mentioned, so stay tuned for exciting updates over the coming months, and an extra-special Indie Bookstore Day in April :)
It's been a big change for all of us, but we are so excited to have even better, easier and more convenient ways to help you find the books, cards and other tools of connectivity that you want and need! Thanks so much for your patience before and during the switch, and for your continued support in this, our ongoing collective fight against ignorance and despair :))) We are still here to remain a port in the storm, every day from 11am to 8pm, thanks to all our patrons and friends!
Gratefully,
the Team at Spectator Books