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 had forgotten about the free coffee. Bet they breathed a huge sigh of relief when they knocked that on the head.

Waitrose is my local supermarket and I hate it. I just grab a few things when I'm short of time. I don't get the love for it, I don't find the produce that great, it's expensive, and no matter what is on my (short) list at least one will be out of stock.

The only thing I like is a wine they sell which I can't get anywhere else.

I didn’t know so many people read actual newspapers. The news is a day old by the time it’s in print.
My Mum and Dad like one for the crosswords but they are in their 80s and always had a paper every day.
Not sure why the free coffee was that popular.
The My Waitrose card means I can use the scan as you shop so it’s worth it for me for just that.

Do you get early notification of their online Christmas delivery slots at all? I was thinking of joining as I thought maybe you might - I've started using waitrose online after Ocado teamed up with Marks & Spencer.

Newspapers are about so much more than 'the news'.

The weekend ones have lifestyle features like food and travel, puzzles, personal finance news and advice, TV/film guides, all presented in a format that accessible without being a screen.

Plus old newspapers are useful for all sorts of things, lining pet cages/beds, wrapping rubbish, drying wet shoes etc etc.

I used to get the Saturday Times because I liked the Caitlin Moran column and the travel features and often made a special trip to Waitrose because it was free instead of £2.50, which is quite a lot, but I found I didn't get time to read it all, but now I get the iweekend, because it's cheaper and smaller and I missed not having a paper to read, the TV guide and having a supply of old newspapers.

I quite like the monthly free food magazine which you get at the till.

Very much miss the coffee.

@JanuaryJones22

Do you get early notification of their online Christmas delivery slots at all? I was thinking of joining as I thought maybe you might - I've started using waitrose online after Ocado teamed up with Marks & Spencer.

I don't know but I might have the emails turned off on mine.

I do get fairly regular money off vouchers, eg £8 off a £40 shop, which I mainly use to stock up on special offer naice gin, but that could be because I don't shop there regularly and they want me to.

@Sparklingbrook

I didn’t know so many people read actual newspapers. The news is a day old by the time it’s in print. My Mum and Dad like one for the crosswords but they are in their 80s and always had a paper every day. Not sure why the free coffee was that popular. The My Waitrose card means I can use the scan as you shop so it’s worth it for me for just that.

@Sparklingbrook - I only ever buy the Sunday Times It gives a round up of all the events you might have missed plus we like the magazines and the business and travel sections.

I thought this exact thing yesterday. Usually I use it automatically (releases scanner) but I scanned it yesterday at the till and did question why I was bothering.

I loathe the little paper vouchers they send through - seems so old fashioned and such a faff to remember and use. It was ok when there were decent cash off vouchers but they only seem to be for online now. There also doesn't seem to be any advantage to scanning it for each shop - DH gets through the same value of vouchers that I do (the 50p/£1 off type) but I do the bulk of the shopping and spend approx. 5 x more than he does in there!

I’ll miss the free newspaper offer. It was even better when you used to be able to deduct the cost of the Waitrose magazine, the free coffee and the newspaper from the £10 spend (nowadays you can only take the newspaper off). I used to spend about £3 and get a free Sunday Times every weekend, it was great.

I don't even bother scanning mine now. I never bothered with the free coffee but occasionally I got the free paper.

But the queues to get in were so ridiculous during covid that I stopped going there anyway. Now I only go in to use up JL vouchers that we get from using the Partnership card (and only buy stuff like posh chicken kievs or free range gammon that I can't buy anywhere else nearby).

I actually find the LIDL app pretty good value. You have to spend regularly and the voucher has to be used within a week but every month I save £12 on £200 worth of shopping plus the odd extra voucher. And it's all on my phone so I don't have to remember a bloody card or voucher!

I miss the lovely fresh cakes they used to do. All the reasons I used to love Waitrose are slowly vanishing!

@keepyaheadup - I was going to say exactly the same thing about cause and effect - if you want to retain jobs then surely you need to retain customers!

Surprised so many people are saying they will still use waitrose solely because they offer scan as you shop-was it the first to introduce this or something? Because most big superstores do it now.

Good to know they are still donating to charities. Yes, both M&S and Waitrose cards are now pointless. Tesco one is great - as well as money off food just got another £15 of vouchers and often use them for magazine subs. You can also donate them to charity.

Everyone should email Waitrose with their thoughts. I miss the vouchers I got when I first started shopping there. I don't drive and rely on delivery and they are fantastic for delivery but I might go back with Tesco.

Yes, why is their bakery counter still closed? The cheese/meat/fish counters are open and have been throughout.

Superdrug and Coop are also good ones for getting money off - schemes need to be simple. I'm not going to carry around lots of paper vouchers, would rather they didn't bother at all.

I work for Waitrose and am dreading the end of the newspaper offer. So many customers take advantage and it was so nice to have a tangible benefit to offer when people ask what is the point of the MyWaitrose card. Sooo many customers are going to kick off.
We are actually trialling the free coffee offer in 24 stores from the 23rd Feb, so that may be rolled out again to everyone. Customers like that one, although staff hate it as it takes so much time to clean and maintain the machine etc!
There are meant to be more targeted offers coming in too, so fingers crossed they get that right. Get moaned at enough already!

Haven't the bakery counters been closed permanently? Lots of individually wrapped / help yourself cakes instead. And ours is mainly sushi now rather than a deli counter

Forgot to say, there is going to be an improved permanent offer for card holders across the counters (meat & fish, deli, bakery etc) which is good.

They have added a charge for delivery for online shopping now. Free delivery and newspaper was how how I justified the higher prices. Thinking about switching to Sainsbros

@BestKnitterInScotland

Yes, why is their bakery counter still closed? The cheese/meat/fish counters are open and have been throughout.

We have a bakery counter and always have, as do local stores.

I used free coffee offer only a couple of times and never used their offer for free newspapers ( I don’t read newspapers I’ve got my news from MN). I was annoyed by their money off vouchers. They’ve sent me £4 off £40 a couple of times, I spent some of them but not all. Then they started sending me £8 off £80 which were absolutely useless to me.
So when I’ve got email about personalized offers I was genuinely interested. I’ve planned to go to them yesterday but couldn’t so DH offered to go instead. And here the catch! To use these bloody offers ( 50p off Essential Parmesan) he needed to learn my password, log into Waitrose in the shop, find these vouchers, scan them. I know it’s really minor and of course he is able to do all these, but who wants so much bother? Sparks card offers are on after choosing and you just need to scan the card. The new approach in Waitrose requires too much effort for my liking. So DH went to Aldi: quicker and cheaper.

The bakery counter in the Waitrose I go in is down to a limited selection of prewrapped items, plus possibly cake ordering.

DP used to like the Berliner (a donut with chocolate on the top and chocolate cream inside) but that disappeared at the beginning of covid when ranges were scaled back so they could maximise production of essentials and hasn't come back.

I hate how special offers generally have to be activated in an app. I wonder what the thinking behind that is? Tell people there's an offer but rely on most people forgetting to use it?

Printed vouchers are so much easier because you just put them in your purse next to your payment card and they're there to see when you pay.