Description
The fictitious Sandy McTire on Canadian Tire money.
In the blurred foreground, to the right, there is an off-coloured bill. If you look closely, you'll see that this is an original 1958 $1.00 coupon. Before the portrait of Sandy McTire, the coupons had a personified coin and tire running together. Next to them, the slogan "Make your dollars go farther".
Canadian Tire began issuing them to customers who paid cash for gas.
The coupons initially allowed Canadian Tire to undercut competing oil companies without advertising lower prices, and at the same time boost traffic in its stores. Canadian Tire didn’t want to advertise for fear of angering the oil company giants and triggering a gas price war. It happened anyway, and although it was an expensive battle, by the end of it, the oil companies had to concede that Canadian Tire gas bars were a fact of life.
In 1961, Canadian Tire began issuing the money in stores as well, hiring one of the Royal Canadian Mint’s official printers to produce the currency. It is still printed by the mint today.
The $1 coupon is the highest denomination made today. Although Canadian Tire used to issue coupons worth one and two cents, today it issues money in 5, 10, 25 and 50-cent denominations.
"No other country does it, no other store does it. "
Canadian Tire money is essentially Canada’s oldest loyalty program and has been a mainstay of the company’s marketing strategy ever since it was first issued in 1958.
Photo © Alec Freda