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.)

Yes a real shame

My DPs used to spend a fortune at their local (Buxton) store, in order to get their "free" papers . They forgave the removal of the free hot drinks, but now their Waitrose is just a run down shithole with bare shelves and no incentive to shop there.
Waitrose's loss is Tesco's gain however, as they've discovered the wonders of the Clubcard.

I am a little confused as to why people spend money in order to get a free newspaper. Doesn't it make more financial sense to shop somewhere cheaper and pay for your paper?

The rubbish loyalty card is a separate issue to the store itself. I love M&S food but I've stopped using my Sparks card, doesn't change how I feel about the brand.

If you shopped at Waitrose before the free coffee/newspaper, what does it matter?

I used to shop there because it was the only supermarket in town, I liked the food, I earnt points on my Partnership credit card and I only ever buy a Saturday Times so it was convenient. Now they've halved the points you get on the card, we have an ALDI and LIDL (with easy parking - the Waitrose car park is frequently full because it's in the centre of town) and so I'm not really bothered about the paper going anyway. It's easier for me to call into a garage to get the paper.

I am a little confused as to why people spend money in order to get a free newspaper. Doesn't it make more financial sense to shop somewhere cheaper and pay for your paper?

I know right.

The lure of free stuff...

Clubcard, Boots and Co op are the only ones we've ever benefitted from; I don't think we've ever had much from Waitrose except a couple of free magazines and some badly timed money off vouchers if we spent 80-90 - the only time we ever really use them is around Christmas and by the time they send out the vouchers we've normally already done the shop. I don't see the point of the Morrisons card either.

I am a little confused as to why people spend money in order to get a free newspaper. Doesn't it make more financial sense to shop somewhere cheaper and pay for your paper?

It's the principle of getting something extra.

If I have a choice of Waitrose or Tesco where both are about the same distance from home and both stock items I want to buy at similar prices but Waitrose offers me a freebie paper on top, then it means I'm going to choose Waitrose and if something is a little bit more expensive than Tesco, well the difference is offset by my free newspaper.

Its like when a website says "Free delivery if you spend £20" - if someone is buying a dress for £19.99 and delivery is £3, many would rather spend £3.50 on another item to get "free" delivery - even though it costs an extra 49p - because they are spending pennies more but it is worth the extra expense. Psychologically people justify the extra purchase as they feel like they are getting a better deal to spend £23.49 and get two items than £22.99 for one.

"I have one in town but frankly shopping in there is horrible. Full of very entitled people barging their way round"

Never ever experienced that in my town's Waitrose.

Before austerity, the Tesco clubcard used to be great . We managed to get afew days out on it. Now i get 3£ vouchers per year it seems.
Since Covid. I rekon many places like Waitrose have realised how much they can save.

In regards to the sense of going somewhere cheaper and paying for the paper, while Waitrose may be generally a more expensive shop, it doesn't follow that everything there is more expensive.

Some things have the same (or nearly) price everywhere, some things are actually cheaper in Waitrose than in other shops they're sold (e.g. where I live the only places I can get chicken liver are Waitrose and Morrisons, of which Waitrose is cheaper), some things are only available in Waitrose so there's no direct comparator.

When it comes to products of a similar price to competitors, the existence of an additional benefit is an enticement to buy these products/go that time to Waitrose over the competitor.

In this model:
Competitor: cost around X
Waitrose: cost around X + coffee/newspaper : )

If I had to have a freebie I would like almost anything else over a coffee and a newspaper.
Maybe a Jackson's loaf or those nice Heston hot cross buns? But as I said, I'm not sure why people expect free stuff from a shop really.

I'm not sure why people expect free stuff from a shop really.

No shop has to offer a loyalty card. But if they do, it's reasonable for customers to expect there to be a benefit from having a loyalty card. If there is no benefit, there is no point for customers to use the loyalty card -> customers do not use the loyalty card. What then is the point of the loyalty card? From the shop's view, it's to collect data on customers beyond that which they can get from just shop sales. There has to be an enticement/benefit for the program from the customer side too.

If I'm going to give shops my data I do expect to get something in return, otherwise why would I bother doing it?

I get 20% off fish on a Friday with My Waitrose card, and Friday is the day I get deliveries.

I never read my free paper as I only get it to light the fire with.

Actually the 20% off fish on Fridays is really worth having. It applies to discounted fish as well. We’ve had wonderful fish for bargain prices before

@Precipice

I'm not sure why people expect free stuff from a shop really.

No shop has to offer a loyalty card. But if they do, it's reasonable for customers to expect there to be a benefit from having a loyalty card. If there is no benefit, there is no point for customers to use the loyalty card -> customers do not use the loyalty card. What then is the point of the loyalty card? From the shop's view, it's to collect data on customers beyond that which they can get from just shop sales. There has to be an enticement/benefit for the program from the customer side too.

Yes, I get all of that but I don't know whey people would expect the loyalty benefit to be free stuff.

Then just stop using your loyalty card, go where you want for shopping and forget you ever had a free newspaper.

I used to have amazing days out and free meals at Pizza Express courtesy of Tesco Clubcard but that's all gone now so I don't shop there. I'm sure they don't miss me.

Why just stop using the card? You could even send a request for your data to be erased under GDPR art. 17.

I'm sure Pizza Express/Tesco don't miss you and Waitrose will not miss any individual customer either. I don't think that's really the point. "The company doesn't care about your opinions of its offers" is a meaningless response to a general conversation involving complaining about the company's "offers" and lack of value thereof. It's like you think companies are owed only silence or positive comments.

My post did not imply that companies are owed silence or positive comments, thats a leap.

Times change, they don't give out Green Shield stamps or free wine glasses at petrol stations any more but people cope.

A decision has been made by Waitrose and they will not be going back on it, there's no point whining about the loss of a free paper.

Yes, I get all of that but I don't know whey people would expect the loyalty benefit to be free stuff.

I don’t get what you don’t get.

An organisation/business wants to encourage a specific behaviour - use of a loyalty card or increased purchases - so it offers incentives like gifts or money off.

Customers could shop somewhere cheaper and just buy their own coffee and newspaper, but some customers prefer the experience of shopping in Waitrose and getting the complimentary coffee and paper.

Whether or not this has a positive effect on profits is up to Waitrose to judge, but there is nothing new about offering ‘free’ gifts.

"I have one in town but frankly shopping in there is horrible. Full of very entitled people barging their way round

Are they harumphing because they no longer have a free coffee and newspaper?

On the plus side they are accepting my prepaid Guardian vouchers again now.

@merrymouse

Yes, I get all of that but I don't know whey people would expect the loyalty benefit to be free stuff.

I don’t get what you don’t get.

An organisation/business wants to encourage a specific behaviour - use of a loyalty card or increased purchases - so it offers incentives like gifts or money off.

Customers could shop somewhere cheaper and just buy their own coffee and newspaper, but some customers prefer the experience of shopping in Waitrose and getting the complimentary coffee and paper.

Whether or not this has a positive effect on profits is up to Waitrose to judge, but there is nothing new about offering ‘free’ gifts.

Yes, Waitrose are/were the only shop routinely giving away free stuff. People didn’t expect it in Tesco or wherever. Now Waitrose is coming into line with the rest of the shops and only time will tell but if only 5% of cardholders even claimed a free newspaper then it’s a small minority not happy they are stopping.

I had one for years and never saw any benefit apart from getting the food magazine free. Totally pointless. Boots has by far the best loyalty scheme - I’ve used my Advantage points to, er, my advantage loads!

However, since Waitrose and JL decided unilaterally to allow ‘people to use whichever changing room they feel comfortable in’, without taking into account the views of women who would no longer feel comfortable, I’ve stopped shopping there. Used to shop in Waitrose weekly and do loads of click and collect from JL. Fuck you Waitrose, genuinely think they’ve now lost around £6-7,000 worth of revenue from me. I’m sure they don’t care but I feel better knowing their action had a negative consequence on their income.

The spiralling pointlessness of the loyalty card means I have even less regret over this stance .

I’m keeping my My Waitrose card for the scan as you shop it’s worth it for that alone.