They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but in Brexit Britain there may not even be such a thing as a free mug of tea following Waitrose’s announcement that it has “refined” its complementary offer.
As things stand punters simply have to be in possession of a My Waitrose card in order to claim a free hot beverage every day, but from April 3rd customers will only get the drink after they have paid for their shopping.
It has caused quite a stir with people accusing the supermarket of having a lack of trust and even posting accusations that they’re clamping down on less well-off shoppers who are impeding their middle class clientele just to cash in on a freebie.
But I say fair enough.
I’ve seen on numerous occasions people walking straight out of the shop once they’ve had their fill with many people bringing in their own mugs to save them from buying coffee in or using local cafes.
Although the offer of a free drink is an effective lure to get shoppers in at little cost they’re also serving up the same sort of drinks we get charged £2 – £3 for in other outlets, so it’s hardly unfair to ask that people purchase something in return.
As the email to customers says: “Our myWaitrose free tea and coffee offer is one of the ways we thank our customers for shopping with us – and we want all our customers to be able to enjoy a free hot drink when they shop with us in our branches.
“We’ll simply be asking myWaitrose members to make a purchase before collecting their cup at the checkout.”
Nothing wrong with that in my opinion. In this day and age you don’t get something for nothing. Time to suck it up.
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