Everyone wants your money. When one puts on a promo...the others will pull out a promo to try to get you to shop there. Especially Loblaws...that was pounded into our heads when I was a department manager there. They want the customer to come into the store, once you are in the store, you will fill your cart because most people pick one store to shop in, instead of going to different stores to get the best prices for items.
I work both programs the best I can, with what my family needs. We don't have a Rexall here, so the majority of my AM come from Safeway and Shell. I'm a big shopper's shopper, and will go there first, then do the rest of my shopping at Superstore, no frills. If Safeway has items that I buy with Am attached to them, I will stop there. So just try to make the best of the programs the best I can. Then I make sure to purchase all our items on a points CC...so I'm collecting those points as well. It's a game for me.
I'm just grateful that my bank account allows me to take those " free groceries " and convert them into cash or gift cards for our family to use as fun rewards. When I was a cashier at no frills ( as a second job to help pay for DD's destination wedding ) I seen many people who would need to use those points to help with groceries until payday. So I'm very grateful for that.