To think Waitrose loyalty card is losing all its benefit?

[Precipice]

The free coffee disappeared at the beginning of the pandemic (it's "suspended"), in two weeks the newspaper offer is going. There were to my mind the only tangible benefits of having this loyalty card.

They claim there will be "personalised offers". Of course this is vague, but all it sounds like is that the Waitrose card will become like the loyalty cards of many shops where they get the benefit of tracking your purchases and in return for the loss of your privacy, you get nothing or almost nothing in practice, like the current occasional vouchers of "get x off if you spend ". (You can tell perhaps that I am not a loyalty card "fanatic", but I am willing to use some in some circumstances.)

I don't even bother scanning mine anymore. There's no point except giving them your data.

I haven't had any vouchers in yonks and no useful ones before that. No paper as ours doesn't sell them. And I don't drink coffee. Basically it's the thing I have to be able to use the scanner.

Haven’t bothered scanning it. Might as well use it ti scrape ice off of the windscreen of my car, the fat lot of use that is.

Yes, I dont know why they bother and, while I'm here whinging about Waitrose, they've removed the charitable donations function just as more people will be needing to benefit from it. Very annoying.

Agreed. I rarely get vouchers and often a long way off levels I might spend as they fluctuate. Not sure why I'd scan my card going forward

I’m pretty irritated by Waitrose. No reason at all to scan my card now as far as I can tell.

It has been the worst and most pointless loyalty card for years!

Oh hang on, M&S are up there too.

We've only just got the M&S Sparks card in Ireland. It's rubbish.

I used to love Waitrose despite the nearest one being 20 miles away and viewed it as a little trip out. Obviously the pandemic reduced my visits anyway but I cannot understand why they send me money off vouchers which expect me to spend such ludicrous amounts. They send four which have to be used in a relatively short time and each one needs me to spend the better part of £100
Our local Booths has stopped the free coffee and newspapers but does have some good targetted offers in their place

What pisses me off is the way they try to say they're making the rewards better, when they are not. A few years ago you could choose about 6 items to save money on, now it's 2, and then you have to remember to show a voucher at the till, whereas it used to apply the discount automatically when you scanned your card. Also they used to accept my Sunday Times vouchers and give the discount for a free paper, but they stopped doing that last year.

@longwayoff

Yes, I dont know why they bother and, while I'm here whinging about Waitrose, they've removed the charitable donations function just as more people will be needing to benefit from it. Very annoying.

I did not notice the absence of the charity tokens repository, but now you've mentioned it....we should all e-mail them?

Clubcard is the best, by far.

I guess they think they are too upper class for loyalty rewards. Shame though.

I've only ever used mine to get their free food and health magazines.

John Lewis has stopped sending us the free coffee and cake vouchers. We rarely shopped there, they must have got sick of us.

@Arabellla

Clubcard is the best, by far.

It is. At least they are honest..give us your data and you can have your shopping cheaper.

I’m not going to defend their loyalty scheme, but I know that our local branches wwre still providing the same amount of charity donations, at least over the height of the pandemic - just not gathering the green tokens and voting - as I understand it the staff member tasked local community and charity engagement is tasked with finding suitable local charities and getting in touch. I know because the local charity that I worked with over the pandemic was spontaneously approached by two local branches with the offer of their monthly donation.

Agree.

The newspaper and coffee feel like treats, but I never use targeted money off vouchers.

Maybe they are going to copy Tesco and force customers to use the card or pay more.

I remember when the card used to give you a penny off your shopping. I never worked out why.

It is. At least they are honest..give us your data and you can have your shopping cheaper.

Exactly, and you get a few quid off with the points. Not masses of money, but enough for a treat.

@PriamFarrl

I think it was because their IT was a bit primitive and deducting a penny from your bill for using it was the only way they could register your loyalty card.

You’re not wrong. What benefits are actually available??!

The free coffee and free paper are the only thing I used. I’m not daft enough to think they were actually ‘free’ as I can’t walk in there without spending close to £20 each time (at least). Now I’ll just stop going, I have a multitude of choices locally.

Hope someone from JL/Waitrose is reading this!

For me, it's worth it to be able to scan as I shop, makes life so much easier.

As a previous poster said, they are still doing monthly donations, it's just equally divided between that month's three charities.

Oh and the free Waitrose Food magazine.

The only ones I bother with now are the Boots card and the Tesco one.