Funny Money For Gasoline

Being a Canadian myself I’ve shopped many years at Canadian Tire stores across Canada. I find that the stores carry pretty much anything you’re looking for just about like Walmart but with more outlets.

The cool thing about Canadian Tire is that when you purchase an item, you receive Canadian Tire money which can be used the purchase any thing the store has to offer except for one thing. Gasoline.

One day living in Ontario, I left the house for work. As every morning I was in a hurry to beat the Toronto traffic. While sitting in the traffic I realized that I had forgotten my wallet! Since turning around and going home to get it would beat the purpose of trying to beat morning rush hour traffic, I decided I’d be alright so I thought.

During the day I was called to meet with a client 2 hours away and totally forgot about the wallet situation until I was returning from my appointment. As I was driving back to my office that late afternoon I heard my low fuel buzzer telling me I had about 30 kilometers before I had to start pushing the car. Unfortunately I was still about 100 kilometers away!

Coming in eye sight of a Canadian Tire gas bar, I suddenly remembered I had a stack of Canadian Tire currency in my glove box. Without hesitation I headed for the gas station and started pumping gas. I had approximately $26.00 in Canadian Tire currency enough to get me back and then some. At the cashiers counter I started to count all that funny money when the attendant said to me, “you’re not planning on paying with that are you?”. “What?” I answered back. “Isn’t this part of Canadian Tire?” I continued. His answer was “yes” but as he explained was that the funny money can be used to buy anything available in the store but you could not buy any products from their Canadian Tire gas bars.

That being said I was left with no other alternative at that time but to leave my drivers license and come back to pay for the gas and retrieve my drivers license.

Like most Canadians who shop at Canadian Tire we end up with a surplus of Canadian Tire funny money. I personally know folks who have sums between $200-$600 in Canadian Tire funny money. When asked if they would prefer the option of being able to pay for gas with Canadian Tire currency, the response was overwhelming.

Solution:

And now for the solution which by the way is completely legal. Gather up all your Canadian Tire funny money and head down to your local Canadian Tire store (must live in Canada) and head for the check out alley. At the cash register there should a display rack of different gift cards as well as denominations starting at $10 to $100. Pick a Canadian Tire gift card that closely matches the amount of funny money you have and pay for the gift card with that funny money! Now you’re ready to spend that gift card anyway you desire including the purchase of gasoline!

Happy motoring,

Wheeler Dealer