Waitrose is stopping using newspaper subscription coupons with the spend £10 & get a free paper

xylocopa

For any newspaper subscribers like me who have benefitted from the My Waitrose free newspaper deal, i.e. spend £10, get your free paper, then use the coupon to recoup your subscription cost, I've been told by staff at 2 different branches that this is coming to an end this week ( they thought the 17th or 19th June).

This means that, while you can get a free newspaper when you spend £10, it can't be the one you have a subscription to. So, you can either use your subscription coupon (that you have already paid for) OR get the free paper you can claim as a My Waitrose card holder. I was told that I could claim a free paper in one transaction and use my coupon in a separate transaction on the same day, but why would I want 2 copies of the same paper? It will be possible, though, say, to get a free Observer on Sunday with your £10 shopping, then, separately, exchange your Sunday Times sub coupon for a second paper.

I have a weekend only subscription to The Times and make a point of walking to Waitrose on both Saturday and Sunday to do my weekend shopping in 2 batches to take advantage of the free newspaper deal. Now I won't bother, as the corner shop will exchange the coupon for a paper, so there is no advantage whatsoever in going to Waitrose, as I will no longer get 'my' newspaper for free.

General_Grant

xylocopa said:

For any newspaper subscribers like me who have benefitted from the My Waitrose free newspaper deal, i.e. spend £10, get your free paper, then use the coupon to recoup your subscription cost, I've been told by staff at 2 different branches that this is coming to an end this week ( they thought the 17th or 19th June).

This means that, while you can get a free newspaper when you spend £10, it can't be the one you have a subscription to. So, you can either use your subscription coupon (that you have already paid for) OR get the free paper you can claim as a My Waitrose card holder. I was told that I could claim a free paper in one transaction and use my coupon in a separate transaction on the same day, but why would I want 2 copies of the same paper? It will be possible, though, say, to get a free Observer on Sunday with your £10 shopping, then, separately, exchange your Sunday Times sub coupon for a second paper.

I have a weekend only subscription to The Times and make a point of walking to Waitrose on both Saturday and Sunday to do my weekend shopping in 2 batches to take advantage of the free newspaper deal. Now I won't bother, as the corner shop will exchange the coupon for a paper, so there is no advantage whatsoever in going to Waitrose, as I will no longer get 'my' newspaper for free.

Well you wouldn't need to get 2 copies of the same paper.  You could get two different newspapers in the same shopping basket/trolley - one paid for with the coupon and a different one as a card holder.  But if you don't want to read a second paper you don't have to take a free one - and you could support your local corner shop instead.

briskbeats

General_Grant said:

xylocopa said:

For any newspaper subscribers like me who have benefitted from the My Waitrose free newspaper deal, i.e. spend £10, get your free paper, then use the coupon to recoup your subscription cost, I've been told by staff at 2 different branches that this is coming to an end this week ( they thought the 17th or 19th June).

This means that, while you can get a free newspaper when you spend £10, it can't be the one you have a subscription to. So, you can either use your subscription coupon (that you have already paid for) OR get the free paper you can claim as a My Waitrose card holder. I was told that I could claim a free paper in one transaction and use my coupon in a separate transaction on the same day, but why would I want 2 copies of the same paper? It will be possible, though, say, to get a free Observer on Sunday with your £10 shopping, then, separately, exchange your Sunday Times sub coupon for a second paper.

I have a weekend only subscription to The Times and make a point of walking to Waitrose on both Saturday and Sunday to do my weekend shopping in 2 batches to take advantage of the free newspaper deal. Now I won't bother, as the corner shop will exchange the coupon for a paper, so there is no advantage whatsoever in going to Waitrose, as I will no longer get 'my' newspaper for free.

Well you wouldn't need to get 2 copies of the same paper.  You could get two different newspapers in the same shopping basket/trolley - one paid for with the coupon and a different one as a card holder.  But if you don't want to read a second paper you don't have to take a free one - and you could support your local corner shop instead.

Customers do buy 2 copies of the same paper at my work. One's for them and the other is for their parent/sister/friend/neighbour - these are the people that customers are saying its for

I know which customers do this and saves me saying "Do you know you got 2 Suns?" as sometimes, esp this time of the year, papers are thin.