Waitrose rewards - anyone else find them measly?

[Fantasisa]

We do a lot of our food shopping at Waitrose, it is the nearest and largest supermarket and it is on my way home. I like the quality and variety of the food and always use the loyalty card but it is definitely a more expensive choice than other big supermarkets.

But after previously shopping mostly at Tesco and using Clubcard points for days out/meals out etc, I find the occasional 50p discount coupon from Waitrose to be rather pointless, I invariably forget them while they are still in date.

I don't need a cup of tea/coffee as I'm going around the store so I don't take advantage of that. Does anyone else find their loyalty discounts a bit measly?

Yes, I gave up using their loyalty card as it was pointless (quite literally)

You are supposed to get your coffee as you leave, after you have done your shopping so sometimes I do that.
Free newspaper with a minimum spend on weekends.

I also think there's money off dry cleaning too, and is the discount on fish on Fridays still going?

It just works differently to the Nectar/Tesco ones as they are points related.

Asda have nothing at all AFAIK and I go there a lot.

I think your problem is that you already shop there regularly so they don't need to give you any incentive to do so.

I hardly ever shop there, so several times a year they send me a load of coupons for £8 off a £40 shop, so I only shop there if I have a coupon and generally only ever buy £40-50 of things that are on special offer because otherwise it's expensive, but combining the coupons and £8 off voucher makes it quite good value. I like the unusual selection of gins so generally bump up my shop by getting whichever one of those is on offer.

Yes, the discount on fish is still on but I don't go on a Friday and I don't see that as any different to other in store offers.

Asda presumably has a lot more in-store offers and lower prices across the board.

I don't really see the point of the Waitrose card, they are gathering a lot of data in return for very little reward and if it is premium brand I'd expect it to be doing better offers. Maybe I just need to get back to Tesco so I can have my summer days out paid for!

Agree, it's totally rubbish. I only have one so I can use the self scanning thing.

I do love a supermarket with Self Scan. I never understand why people don't use it.

I suppose if you wanted the 20% off fish on a Friday you would go on a Friday!

@BarbaraofSeville, you are probably right. I don't get any coupons for discounts off £40 shops. I get 50p off berries (which I clearly buy a lot) 50p off ham etc. I cannot be bothered carrying them around in my purse on the off chance I will remember to use it while it is still in date.

That brings me onto my next point, why haven't they configured the cards so the discounts are automatically applied? Would save paper and hassle. But perhaps the bottom line is they prefer people not to use them.

@TonTonMacoute Now the self scanning I love

@sparklingbrook 20 per cent off fish isn't enough of an incentive for me to make sure I shop at Waitrose on Friday on a day when I definitely need to buy fish. Why not just give me a 20 per cent off fish voucher for whenever I use it? Because it isn't really meant to be used by too many people.

I keep trying to get my Mum and Dad to do Self Scan but they are having none of it.

They have self scan at our local Asda now which is brilliant.

Fish Friday and ‘free’ newspapers.

I don't know, I quite like the idea of a deal being on the traditional fish eating day.

Aldi and Lidl seem to do just fine without a sniff of a loyalty scheme so maybe times are changing.

As soon as my Tesco vouchers arrive i use them on that week's shopping so I am probably doing that all wrong.

The self scan really comes into its own at Christmas!

My friend won't use Self Scan because they say they don't work for the supermarket.
Very worthy and all that but she's really missing out.

@softblocks, perhaps I'm not the target demographic of their main discounts in that case. I buy a lot of fish but don't routinely buy it for Friday dinners like some of their traditional perhaps older customers do.

And I read a lot of news but have online subscriptions for my preferred outlets and I often don't have the leisure time to read a whole paper anymore.

I want good old fashioned money off or other discounted stuff like Nectar/Tesco does. I think this is the first time I've realised the Waitrose rewards are a bit rubbish for me and I wonder why they don't target them better as they hold so much data on my preferences and lifestyle the could easily do that!

@sparklingbrook, I undestand where she is coming from but I prefer self scan as I'm going round as it is so much more efficient and I can be in and out much more quickly.

I don't like scanning my own through a till though.

Yes I agree OP. The free newspaper required a £10 minimum shop, I live locally to mine and the coffee is horrible anyway so I don't bother bringing a mug to get a free one. Even the vouchers are generally £4 off minimum £40 shop, I live alone and often don't need £40 shop. At least with Tesco you get a coupon for say £5 with no minimum spend and Nectar again you can use 500 points to get £2.50 off at Sainsburys. I have an issue with a voucher that requires a minimum spend (Morrisons also requires this) as often you will have to spend more than usual to redeem it and feel it penalises unfairly people on low incomes, singles, elderly on a tight budget whereas a coupon for £5 well you can just spend £5. As said above, Nectar and Tesco points can be used to meals & days out etc.
Money off dry cleaning - again something that would not benefit many - I feel it is geared to busy professionals really and fish Fridays well I don't eat fish and it can still be pricey even with discount.
Agree that Asda prices are on the whole lower anyway. Same as Aldi & Lidl and many prefer lower prices rather than a free coffee.

Aldi and Lidl seem to do just fine without a sniff of a loyalty scheme so maybe times are changing

^^ This. People are cottoning on to the benefit of simple low prices and no need to chase deals and carry loyalty cards to get good value.

What's better for the customer, a shop that costs £50 a week, or a shop that costs £70 a week but comes with the occasional freebie.

It's probably much cheaper to shop at Aldi and use the savings for days out etc than it is to shop at Tesco for the 'free' theme park entry vouchers etc.

Loyalty schemes cost money and give the retailer information about your shopping habits to enable them to market to you and make you spend more money. It's been reported that Tesco know so so much about it's clubcard users.

There's a story in the US which may or may not be true about a father going mad because a major retailer sent his teen DD vouchers for baby items because it's loyalty scheme had picked up on the fact that she'd stopped buying tampons, condoms and alcohol after buying a pregnancy test.

I've had the £8 off a £40 shop about 4 or 5 times. I probably shop there once a month and spend around £60. If I get the vouchers, I shop more often and end up spending more than £40 - but I'm using them for bulk-buying special offers or expensive items like booze or batteries so it works out well for me.

Once I only remembered the voucher when I was driving home, turned around and customer services still honoured it.

I have the free coffee and take it home with me. It's a nice little treat.

I know Waitrose doesn't compare on rock-bottom prices, but the quality and service is much better and their Essentials often beat other stores' De Luxe own brands.

I enjoy shopping at Waitrose, I like the store and the products. I don't get these vouchers off for £40 shops - they are probably to entice less frequent shoppers.

The Aldi is not convenient at all to get to and it is often poorly stocked, I don't like the fruit and veg quality and often you can't get parked. I don't have time to contend with that.

I just find the Waitrose one not really worth anything to me.

Yes. We were promised that we would receive a range of decent vouchers for items that we actually use. Now all I get is vouchers for £9 off a £120 spend.

No deal!

I just find the Waitrose one not really worth anything to me

Sorry to break it to you OP, but the loyalty card really isn't for your benefit. It's Waitrose doing market research and customer behaviour studies with the coupons being a little incentive to the customer.

If you want them to give you freebies, you need to stop shopping with them. But if they're your nearest and most convenient supermarket, that's also a benefit. Or you could tell them that you're disappointed that you don't get any extras as a regular loyal customer and they might take that on board, or even send you a gift voucher anyway.

I don’t get the love for Waitrose. It’s horribly overpriced for most things and I find the meat and ( always slightly stale) fresh bread especially bad in terms of quality.
I do get quite reasonable vouchers from them - I have a £6 off a £30 shop to use. Last week I had a voucher firfree fajita spices that came out with my receipt. Nearly feel over at that one.
The trouble is a £30 shop in Waitrose gets you very little .

I used the Metro £5 a £25 shop in Lidls last weekend. I spent £30 but I now have more food than I can handle and have been batch cooking and freezing all week.

I get virgin air miles whenever I use my Waitrose card, think I must have linked it on my air miles account at some point

they send me a load of coupons for £8 off a £40 shop

I get £4 off £20 quite often, so I'm clearly a real cheapskate to them!
But I can also do multiple batches/checkouts if I want to use more than one at a time.