MSE News: Waitrose to scrap free hot drinks offer in its cafes

Murphybear

We love Waitrose and have enjoyed the free pot of tea for ages (don't drink coffee). I'm not surprised they have changed the rules as the system was abused. One of the Waitrose branches we go to has a branch of the University, the main Hospital, police station and magistrates courts all within easy walking distance. Sometimes you couldn't move for their staff queueing for the free coffee and most of them didn't buy anything in the shop.

We will carry on getting our free drinks along with one of their yummy bacon rolls:D

haycorns

edinburgher wrote: »

First world problems....

They do quite a few go things actually -millionaires shortbread is yummy and they will do go toasties. Fruit is gf too!

Pincher

The end is nigh.


Went in today to get the free Sunday Times, which entails spending £10. You must go to the service counter, and show your MyWaitrose card to get a cup. It's still free, but the counter staff swipes the card to produce a receipt, so that you can only get one that day.

6_6_6

jon81uk wrote: »

I think the till will only allow one per card per day anyway. The people taking more than that are blatantly stealing as they are just walking out with their coffee and don't even go to the till to process it. I think this is why many stores force you to get a cup from customer services first.

You can't steel what is free. What if you have 3 cards ? What if the staff who keep having to scan the stupid cards just get fed up and don't bother. It does not change the fact that there is no charge for the coffee dispensed. So shouting theft is dimwitted at best.

All it could ever be construe is as a breach of contract, and that's a civil matter.

However, I believe Waitrose would have been better to have dispensed tokens at the checkout and used tokenized machines! I am totally against randoms turning up, queuing then leaving with a free coffee and no purchase. All that causes is a mess. All this goes away if they had a minimum £1 sale condition on a token or such like.

When I talk of tokens, this might be in the form of a physical coin, or a bar code reader on the machine that allows your coffee when your daily £1 spend limit is reached after submitting your code for scanning at the checkout.

surfsister

ampersand wrote: »

Emporium staff hint: 30p upgrade on drink type circumvents 'free' block, but 30p is cheaper than anything within the caf!.

Our friendly lot are working on other dark ways:-)...

yes was told this the other day ask for a free upgrade cheapest item in cafe!!

think I'll go back to starbucks as getting too complicated!!

surfsister

Murphybear wrote: »

We love Waitrose and have enjoyed the free pot of tea for ages (don't drink coffee). I'm not surprised they have changed the rules as the system was abused. One of the Waitrose branches we go to has a branch of the University, the main Hospital, police station and magistrates courts all within easy walking distance. Sometimes you couldn't move for their staff queueing for the free coffee and most of them didn't buy anything in the shop.

We will carry on getting our free drinks along with one of their yummy bacon rolls:D

another point is how slow the staff are at making drinks! 7 to 10 mins average to get a mocha from ordering to drinking - starbucks about 3!! I can't see why it takes them so long - they wipe the machine nozzle, bang the metal cup, can't find the drinking chocolate etc etc none of which I ever see at other cafes. The other day one person was in front of me for tea and toast and it took 15 mins to get my tea!!! They went to get cups yet a half tray of cups, then half way through my tea they went to get milk yet there was loads of milk in little jugs.

so it's not just the freebies which slow the cafe up

jon81uk

6_6_6 wrote: »

You can't steel what is free. What if you have 3 cards ? What if the staff who keep having to scan the stupid cards just get fed up and don't bother. It does not change the fact that there is no charge for the coffee dispensed. So shouting theft is dimwitted at best.

Except you are only entitled to one free drink per person per day and only one myWaitrose account per person. Therefore if you are getting more than one drink per day and deliberately not going to the till for the drink to be registered by the till then it is theft. It would be the same as picking up an apple and not weighing it on the till. The drink is only free if it is "scanned" at the till and your myWaitrose card is scanned.

As another poster pointed out, this is why some stores have switched and will only give you the cup after the card is scanned and the drink put through the till, instead of trusting customers to go to the till.

Girl_Overboard

6_6_6 wrote: »

You can't steel what is free. What if you have 3 cards ? What if the staff who keep having to scan the stupid cards just get fed up and don't bother. It does not change the fact that there is no charge for the coffee dispensed. So shouting theft is dimwitted at best.

That's not true. You have to pay for the coffee, just like you have to pay for the newspapers. If you produce a myWaitrose card this charge is then deducted from your total spend. So in theory taking a coffee without producing a card is no different from taking a newspaper without paying for it.

maman

Apologies if this point has been made before but I've only scanned the thread.


Just as there's no such thing as a free lunch there's no such thing as a free coffee!!


I'm confident that I could save hugely more than the price of a cup of coffee by not shopping in Waitrose. Then with the money saved I could go to a coffee shop of my choice.


Obviously it was a promotional thing which they feel isn't having the desired effect and/or it's being abused/wasting staff time. It's no different to all the tricks that others are up to. Sainsbury's, for example, have new cheaper pack prices on meat and fish. Yes, but they've withdrawn the 3 for £10 offers and the new prices are higher than £3.33.


Threads like this can be useful for giving a heads up to what retailers are doing though. It makes it easier to choose where to shop.

worried_jim

First world problems. Get a grip people!