And sorry if this is boring to you because these stores aren't near you... but they're the two major book retailers in my area.
This has actually been kind of a sore subject for me - I was frustrated with both the Barnes and Noble and the Borders Rewards programs. They each had major pros and cons. And yes, I've been a member to both.
First, my Borders Rewards membership. I've had this one for years for two reasons. One, because I worked at Waldenbooks (which Borders went and closed) when the BR program came out, and secondly because it's free, so there's no harm in having it. With the BR program, you get weekly emails with coupons - some coupons are for specific books, but there's usually a coupon good on any one item, ranging from 25% to 40% off. You also get what's called "Borders Bucks" for every $150 you spend in a year - so spend $150 and you get a $5-off coupon. I generally buy my books used, so I never paid much attention to that (until this May, when I got the coupon and realized I spend more on new books than I thought). If you don't buy books that often, that's not really helping you but at least there's the email coupons.
I got my Barnes and Noble membership for a birthday present - otherwise, it costs $25 a year to be a member, but you save 10% on every purchase. Which means you need to spend at least $250 in one year just to break even with the cost. I have to admit, I loved getting 10% off automatically. B&N also sends you email coupons, but the "on any one item" ones didn't come very often, and they were usually only 15%, so you'd save 25% total. Therefore anytime I was going to be buying a hardcover or somewhat expensive book, I'd just wait to get a Borders coupon and go there to save upwards of 30%. But having the extra 10% at B&N was nice, and it encouraged me to go there more often. Which was especially nice because I was usually closer distance-wise to B&N anyways.
Before this recent announcement from Borders, B&N and the BR programs were pretty matched; pay a fee to save a little every time you shop, or save about once a week but at no extra cost.
Then the other day I got an email announcing two main changes to the Borders Rewards program;
1. Now, once you spend that $150 in a year, you've reached "Gold Status" - on top of the $5 Borders Bucks you also get a "Personal Shopping Day" - a day to get an extra 10% on your whole purchase. Also, you only need to spend another $100 to get another PSD and Borders Bucks, instead of another $150.
2. You now have the option to upgrade your membership to a Borders Rewards Plus Member. Being a BRPM, you get all those benefits that you would as a free member, plus you'd save an additional 10% on your books, all the time - for $20 a year.
I think the scales just tipped dramatically in Borders' favor. It's a cheaper membership, with way more benefits - better coupons, the possibility for Borders Bucks and Personal Shopping Days, and the same 10% off on all other purchases. Also, apparently if you buy 5 coffees in their cafe you get 1 free. They didn't say this was new, but I hadn't heard of it before.
And if you're already a Borders Rewards member and don't think it'd be worth it for you to upgrade, log into your account online - you can see how much you've spent so far for the year. Amazingly, I'm only $15 away from my second Borders Bucks this year - apparently I spend more than I thought. (I'm trying to remember if the B&N website has that feature, and I can't recall - I don't think so, since you don't get anything special for spending a certain amount in a year).
And of course, I had just decided a while ago that I liked B&N better (I just like the store better). But now B&N is apparently having serious financial troubles and selling off it's stock, and I think Borders just delivered the final blow with their new membership offers. I'll probably actually spend the $20 on this new "Plus" membership upgrade at Borders, and start shopping there almost exclusively.
Finally, I think I'm pretty satisfied.
Here's links to their respective membership-info pages, if you want to check them out yourself:
Borders Rewards Membership
Barnes and Noble Membership
And I promise, I'll start doing more book reviews soon. I just realized I'm averaging about 1.5 a month. That's just sad :(
~Sarah