Wait did anyone else realise that registering with a fake birthday for store loyalty programs gives you free stuff multiple times a year

Bit of a weird discovery. Most retailer loyalty programs send you a birthday reward when your registered birthday comes up each year. Free coffee, percentage off discount, free dessert, that kind of thing.

If you register with the same birthday across multiple programs you only get the rewards on one day per year. If you register with different birthdays across different programs spread throughout the year, you get the birthday rewards 12 months of the year.

I am not advocating for fraud. The birthday field on a loyalty program signup isn't really fraud territory because no one is verifying your actual birthday. It's a marketing field that triggers a promotional email.

Programs that give meaningful birthday rewards in my experience. Starbucks gives a free drink any size. Sephora gives a free gift you pick from a list. Dunkin gives a free drink. Krispy Kreme gives a free donut. Ulta gives a free birthday gift. Various restaurant chains give free desserts or 20 percent off.

The strategic approach is registering for these programs across different months of the year. Sephora in February, Starbucks in April, Sephora birthday gift in February isn't going to feel like enough but accumulating birthday rewards across 12 brands across 12 months of the year produces small but consistent value throughout.

The total value isn't life changing but it works out to maybe 15 to 25 USD per month in free items across the programs combined.

The mechanic works because the programs are designed for marketing engagement rather than identity verification. They want you to feel appreciated and visit during your birthday month. The exact date isn't what they're tracking.

Anyone else been using this approach or am I the only one who realised the birthday field is essentially infinite?