Salt Lake City, December 17 / PRNewswire (UT) — The Utah Education Association and Utah-based Access Development have joined forces to help educators with their holiday shopping this year. A new, cash-back rewards program allows teachers to register any credit or debit card online and take advantage of automatic cash-back rewards up to 15%. Hundreds of online retailers are in the program, like Target.com, Old Navy, Macy's, Apple, Best Buy, Best Western and Toys-R-Us.
Rewards are unlimited on the program, and "double-dipping" is allowed, meaning that teachers can register a card that already offers cash back or other rewards like miles or points.
"I knew UEA offered discounts, but I don't take advantage of them as often as I should," said Mary Ann Christensen, a first-grade teacher in Davis County School District, "That's definitely changed now that our year-end bonus has fallen prey to budget cuts—you can bet I’ll be using the rewards program to save money this Christmas."
Like many existing UEA discounts, the new electronic rewards program is administered by Access Development, a 25-year-old discount and loyalty program provider in Salt Lake City. Access currently serves 40 of the nation’s 50 state education associations, Zions Bank and a broad spectrum of corporations and organizations worldwide.
The expanded discounts come to teachers at just the right time, as a recent study reports 87% of consumers now say they prefer to shop at retailers who offer coupons, and 89% say they are more likely to use coupons in a recession (Packaged Facts, 12/08). Access confirms this trend: “As the economy has shifted, we have seen Access members using the program more,” explains Access President Casey Kleinman, “Retailers and companies also rely on Access to help them better acquire and retain customers who are looking to save.”
We are excited to offer this new Access program to help educators stretch their dollar a little father, especially this time of year,” reports Mark Mickelsen, Executive Director at UEA. “We have offered Access discounts to our members for years, but see the expanded program as a way to directly help teachers in this tough economy.”