My Blu-ray Collection Expands Yet Again, Thanks to Amazon’s Shop with Points Rewards Program

One of the few good things about my Chase Amazon Visa credit card is its 5% rewards point system, which “gives you back” five cents for each dollar you spend on Amazon and other selected places, plus lower amounts (3% and 1%) every time you use it at other places of business. Its main benefit to me, though, is that it’s one of the four credit cards I have which participate in Amazon’s Shop with Points program.

In the past, I usually spent my rewards points as soon as I had accrued just enough of them for a Blu-ray, CD album, Star Wars The Black Series action figure, or book in the $25-$30 price range. (Roughly, between 2,500 to 3,000 points). This wasn’t a common occurrence when I started using my credit card regularly, and because I am careful about how I manage my credit, it’s still a rare event when I opt to pay for an Amazon purchase with “Shop with Points.”

Sometime last year I decided to hold off on redeeming my points when they reached the “can I buy a decent book or movie with this?” level and just let them accumulate until they were past the “equivalent to $150” before using some of it for something I want but not enough to go into debt for.

Well, last night I finally found an item that was Shop with Points-worthy: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 35^th Anniversary Limited Edition 4K UHD/Blu-raybox set.

Released on September 12, 2017 as a 3-disc “deluxe” counterpart to Universal’s basic 2-disc 4K/Blu-ray edition, the. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 35^th Anniversary Limited Edition set comes in a slipbox with a lenticular cover (similar to the one Universal used last year for the 45^th Anniversary Edition of Jaws), a collectible booklet, and a CD with the remastered version of the original E.T. soundtrack album featuring the score by composer John Williams.

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I could have bought the less pricey 2-disc set and saved some of my points to get something else later; according to my invoice, I paid $27.91 (including Florida sales tax), or 2,791 points, but I don’t have the E.T. soundtrack on compact disc. (I bought the cassette edition when I was in high school; the movie came out when I was a junior at South Miami High and became one of my favorite films.). Had the E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 35^th Anniversary Limited Edition set just come with the slipbox with the lenticular cover and the booklet sans the soundtrack, I might have opted for the less expensive 2-disc set.

I ordered E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 35^th Anniversary Limited Edition late last night and it won’t get here till tomorrow, so I’ll probably be reviewing it in the near future.

This purchase now brings my 4K UHD Blu-ray disc collection to 34 titles. As is my habit, I tend to upgrade my favorite directors’ films or preferred franchises first, and then – almost as an afterthought – get “new-to-me” content when I can. So far, most of my 4K collection consists of upgrades: of all the 4K titles I have in my collection, only the five Bourne films are new-to-me in any format.

Maybe next time I use my points on Amazon I’ll be a bit more, erm, daring and get something I have not seen anywhere.