sm advantage

we've had our SM advantage card for almost a year now and i really didn't understand how it works.  all i know is that for each purchase you make, a corresponding point is added under your name.  

i religiously surrender my advantage card on the cashier's cue:

ma'am, may advantage card po kayo?

otherwise, they will tell you to purchase a card from them.  they'll give you a temporary card (SM Advantage Express Membership Kit), use it all up until you realize that it has already expired and the points you've garnered has been forfeited already.  By the way their website says, you have to pay 150 pesos for the membership kit which contains the temp card and some forms to fill up.  You can claim your card with your name printed on it after 14 days.  make sure you claim it personally or if you'll be asking someone to pick it up for you, send an ID.  Trust me they won't give it to you.

anyway, while doing the grocery the other day i found out how the points can be claimed.  i saw an ad near the cash register which says use your SMAC to pay your goods.  Since i was a little short financially, i paid using my remaining GC and the points I garnered from SMAC.  I earned 222 points only!  i wonder how long should i use my card to reach even a thousand.  i used it all up to pay for sofi's milk.  i was so amazed.   i didn't know that the points meant peso value.  i thought this is like the point system which after earning them you can have it trade for a fixture like airpot or TV. 

i'd like to complain about how slow the earning capacity of a SMAC is,  but i realized saving me 222 pesos is quite a big deal already.  Jaims didn't know it too until i have swiped his card.  Now he's crying because he realized he could have use it to buy car shampoo for barney.