Is Earning Cash Back Worth Your Time? My Experience With Shopkick and the Hidden Cost of Chasing Deals

We all love a good deal. There’s something deeply satisfying about finding a coupon code, snagging a flash sale, or earning a little cash back on something we were already going to buy. It feels like we’re beating the system — saving money with minimal effort. But what happens when “minimal effort” becomes a time-consuming pursuit? When saving a few bucks starts taking up hours of your life?

That’s the question I found myself asking after using the app Shopkick.

For those unfamiliar, Shopkick is one of several apps designed to reward users for shopping-related activities. You can earn “kicks” (Shopkick’s in-app points system) in multiple ways — scanning barcodes of select products in-store, walking into participating retailers, submitting receipts for qualifying purchases, or shopping through the app itself. These kicks can then be redeemed for gift cards to places like Amazon, Target, Starbucks, and more.

On paper, it sounds like a great way to make your everyday shopping habits more rewarding. But as I discovered, not all rewards are created equal — especially when you start calculating the cost in hours, not just dollars.

How Shopkick Works

Before diving into the value (or lack thereof), it’s worth breaking down how Shopkick functions.

There are four main ways to earn Shopkick points:

Walk-ins: Simply walking into a participating store (with your location services enabled) can earn you a small number of kicks.
Scan products: Within the app, there’s a list of featured products at various stores. You can find these products, scan their barcodes, and earn kicks without purchasing anything.
Submit receipts: Purchase specific items and upload a photo of your receipt to get more kicks — essentially a form of cash back.
Shop online: You can shop through the app’s links to partner retailers and earn kicks based on your purchases.

The appeal here is obvious: you’re rewarded for things you’re already doing — shopping. And if you’re strategic, you can maximize your kicks through multiple activities in one trip.

But here’s the catch: most of these activities don’t pay much. Especially the scanning and walk-ins.

My Shopkick “Hustle” Phase

When I first discovered Shopkick, I was all in.

I’d carve out time during the week to visit stores like Target, Walmart, and CVS. I’d open the app, see what products were available for scanning, and then wander through the aisles, phone in hand, like a treasure hunter on the lookout for barcodes.

There were times when I would spend an hour or two inside a single store, trying to find and scan as many products as possible. Sometimes I’d leave without buying anything. Other times, I’d pick up a few items that qualified for bonus kicks. And every time, I’d feel like I was getting ahead — earning gift cards for “free.”

At the height of my Shopkick hustle, I was probably making the equivalent of $1 to $2 an hour — sometimes less.

When you put it that way, it sounds ridiculous. But in the moment, I didn’t see it as working for money. I saw it as gaming the system.

The Hidden Cost: Time

There’s a strange psychology behind reward apps. Because the tasks seem small and the payouts are framed as “free money,” it’s easy to lose sight of the time investment.

It’s the same trap many people fall into when chasing coupons, rebates, or loyalty points. Each individual task seems minor — clipping a coupon, scanning a product, uploading a receipt — but when you add them all up, you realize you’re spending hours trying to save a few dollars.

Let’s break it down. Suppose you:

Walk into 3 stores and scan 20 items
Submit 2 receipts after making purchases
Shop online through the app

Even on a productive day, you might earn 500–1000 kicks, which translates to about $2–$4 in gift cards.

Now factor in the time:

20 minutes driving between stores
30–60 minutes scanning products
1 minutes uploading receipts
10 minutes browsing and shopping online

You’ve easily spent 1.5–2 hours for a few dollars. That’s not even minimum wage.

The Turning Point

At some point, I had to ask myself: Is this really worth it?

The answer became increasingly obvious. No, it wasn’t. Not even close.

What started as a clever way to earn gift cards turned into a routine that was consuming my time and energy — time I could have spent doing something more valuable.

It made me reflect on a broader realization I’ve had about personal finance over the years:

It’s often more productive to focus on making more money than to obsess over saving tiny amounts.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t be mindful of your spending or take advantage of good deals. But there’s a diminishing return when your pursuit of savings becomes a second (unpaid) job.

Why These Apps Still Exist — And Why We Fall for Them

Apps like Shopkick aren’t scams. They deliver exactly what they promise — albeit slowly. They’re able to offer rewards because brands pay them for engagement, exposure, and data. In return, users like you and me become the product: walking, scanning, shopping data points.

It’s clever, and honestly, harmless if you’re already in the store and scanning a few products as you go. But they’re designed to feel like progress, even when the effort doesn’t really pay off.

That “ding” of earning kicks? It’s gamified to keep you coming back.

The dopamine hit of seeing your gift card balance go up? Same deal.

They know we’re wired to respond to small rewards, even if they’re not meaningful.

A Better Use of Time

These days, I no longer use Shopkick as my time is more valuable and I learned to make money without having to leave the comfort of my home.

Instead, I’ve shifted my focus to:

Learning new skills that increase my income
Finding freelance or part-time opportunities online
Investing time into side projects or passive income sources
Optimizing my finances in smarter ways (e.g., better budgeting, negotiating bills)

If you’re looking for a financial “hack,” that’s the real one: learn how to earn more, not just how to spend less.

Spending two hours learning a new skill on YouTube or a free course can pay off exponentially more than two hours scanning shampoo bottles at Walmart for $3 in kicks.

Final Thoughts: Shopkick Is Not the Enemy — But Know the Cost

Shopkick isn’t a bad app. For some people, it might make sense — especially if you’re already doing the shopping and don’t mind scanning a few items here and there. And if you’re a stay-at-home parent, a student, or someone with time to spare, maybe the tradeoff feels worth it.

But for most people? It’s not.

We often underestimate the value of our time because the reward feels tangible — a $5 Starbucks gift card is easy to picture. But two hours of lost time? That’s harder to quantify until you realize you could have earned $30 doing something else — or created something of real value for the future.

If you’re using apps like Shopkick, do it with awareness. Keep it casual. Don’t fall into the trap I did — thinking that because you’re earning something, it’s automatically worth it.

Because when you zoom out, the real deal might just be walking away.