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Waitrose Changes Free Drink Scheme AGAIN

  • New conditions to get a free hot drink
  • Affects members of the myWaitrose scheme
  • Other changes were made to it earlier this year
myWaitrose Card holders will have new rules on how they can get their free tea or coffee. Image: Getty
myWaitrose Card holders will have new rules on how they can get their free tea or coffee. Image: Getty

Supermarket Waitrose has announced plans to change its hot drinks scheme to myWaitrose Card holders.

The store will be removing all disposable coffee cups in its shops from autumn, as part of an effort to reduce plastics and packaging.

This will change how member of the loyalty scheme can get their free tea or coffee.

Although these will still be available, customers will need to bring in a reusable coffee cup from home to get one.

Members also will not be able to claim their free hot drink in the supermarket’s 180 in-store cafes, to avoid customers without a reusable cup putting pressure on the catering areas.

Instead, members who purchase a tea or coffee in a cafe will get a choice of food options for free, or with a discount, the company said.

This is not the first time Waitrose has made changes to its loyalty scheme- earlier in the year it changed how rewards will be given out to customers.

Sainsbury’s could also be making changes to its Nectar card points, which has angered customers online.

Cups will start to disappear from nine shops from the 30th April, before the scheme is rolled out nationwide in autumn.

Waitrose said that this will save more than 52 million cups a year, the majority of which would go to landfill as they are hard to recycle.

Tor Harrie, Head of Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing at Waitrose, said, “We realise this is a major change, but we believe removing all take away disposable cups is the right thing to do for our business, and are confident that the majority of customers will support the environmental benefits.

“It underlines our commitment to plastic and packaging reduction and our aim is to deliver this as quickly as possible.”

Which nine stores will be affected?

The scheme will be starting in the following nine stores on the 30th April- Banbury, Oxfordshire; Billericay, Essex; Ipswich, Suffolk; Newmarket, Suffolk; Norwich, Norfolk; Sudbury, Suffolk; Wymondham, Norfolk; Upminster, East London; Fitzroy Street, Cambridge.

If one of these is your local Waitrose, make sure to buy a reusable coffee cup before then.

What do you think of the changes? Let us know in the comments.

Comments+20 points
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Username10418

A nuisance, as will have to remember to take a cup, and find a way to clean it afterwards.

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garygemmell

Are Brits really so lazy? Is it such a big hassle to buy a travel coffee mug for a £1 in Home Bargains and keep it in the car for a free drink at Waitrose - methinks not!

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Username10418

garygemmell full credit to Waitrose for the free drink. Cups easy to buy, just a nuisance having to remember cup, after taking it indoors to wash. Also not everyone has the luxury of a car.

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garygemmell

ivenailedit wash not me i used to just leave the old cup in my old car and just reuse it in waitrose helps to skip the queues or you could just wash it in the waitrose bogs if yer that pernickity about cleaning stuff - maybe i am just a dirty bugger who knows!

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abedweather55

I love having a free drink

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Username10418

Me too abedweather55, really grateful.

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garygemmell

Cant understand the complaints they are saving the environment good on em - Disposable coffee cups cannot be recycled remember!!!! Are Brits really so lazy? Is it such a big hassle to buy a travel coffee mug for a £1 in Home Bargains and keep it in the car for a free drink at Waitrose - methinks not!

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Username10418

garygemmell totally agree on positives for the environment, but as said above, full credit to Waitrose for the free drink. Cups easy to buy, just a nuisance having to remember cup, after taking it indoors to wash. Also not everyone has the luxury of a car.

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garygemmell

ivenailedit you could always buy one of those popup cups - i cycle no car for me so i use my cycle water bottle now lol

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Username10418

garygemmell thanks for link. Really good idea, but mixed reviews. You must be fit with all the cycling.

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garygemmell

ivenailedit yeah but i am getting long in the tooth for carrying a rucksack with 50 pounds of food in it home OR HANGING TWO ASDA BAGS OFF EACH HANDLEBAR QUITE DANGEROUS AT TIMES ON A TOURING BIKE but its only a mile from home so only 15 mins cycle. I was a bodybuilder for 20 years so those years in the gym have paid off well most folks think i am in my thirties!

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Username10418

garygemmell I’ll have to take your for it 😜 Seriously though, shd take up cycyling if knocks years off you.

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garygemmell

ivenailedit I wouldnt be so sure - swimming is a better bet - cycling can kill you - the number of times people have opened a car door when i am whizzing down a main street or a bus pulls into you its quite scary!

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Username10418

garygemmell always pros & cons with everything in life. Just make sure you take care.

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