TESCO has announced customers will no longer get three times the value of their Clubcard vouchers when buying its delivery plans – in a blow for online shoppers.
At the moment 50p’s worth of Clubcard vouchers can be exchanged for £1.50 of vouchers to buy a Tesco delivery pass, which costs up to £83.88 a year.
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So up until now, anyone wanting a pass worth £83.88 need only have used £28 of their Clubcard vouchers.
But from November 14, the vouchers will only be worth their face value when buying delivery passes.
Anyone wanting a bargain pass should trade in their points before then to get the better rate. But Tesco said they will only retain the higher value for six months after that date.
Tesco offers various delivery passes – including 12-month off peak ones (delivering next day after 3pm) costing £47.88 or any-time ones for £83.88.
Six month passes are also available at £29.94 for off peak deliveries or £47.94 peak.
You can also pay monthly rather than upfront.
The change has been slated by Clubcard holders with delivery passes, including some who vowed to shop elsewhere.
One said on Twitter: “Incredibly disappointing news that you’re removing the triple value Clubcard vouchers when renewing delivery saver plans.
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“Greed of the worst kind, at the worst time for so many customers.”
And another added: “Very disappointed with email just received about Clubcard voucher only having 1x value instead of 3x for delivery saver plans.
“Once next renewal ends I’ll have to cancel. Shame, have been a customer for years and the 3x delivery saver voucher was only way I could do it.”
Meanwhile a third raged: “Tesco doing all they can to make things harder for customers by making vouchers worth x1 instead of x3 for delivery saver plans.”
Shoppers get one point for every £1 spent in-store and online at Tesco, one for every £2 spent on fuel. One point is worth 1p in Tesco.
Sarah Coles, of investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Supermarkets are losing money on deliveries, and the less they charge for each one, the more they lose.
“At full price, someone buying a peak time pass and having one delivery a week pays £1.60 per delivery. If you used the Clubcard deal it would cost just 54p.
“Analysts estimate that it can cost up to £15 to pack and deliver your shopping, so supermarkets are subsidising the cost of delivery.
“Of course, as the cost of everything from petrol to wages increases, the cost of the service ramps up too, so the more they’ll be losing.
“Supermarkets have tended to see this as the cost of doing business. They don’t want to lose market share, so they’re prepared to take these costs on the chin.
“However, the pandemic threw a spanner in the works by massively ramping up demand for home deliveries – so that more of the UK’s food shopping was loss-making for the big names.
“In the month before the first lockdown, internet orders made up 5.8 per cent of food shopping, it then peaked at 13 per cent in January 2021, and while it has dropped back since, it’s still at 8.6 per cent, significantly higher than before the pandemic.”
“By keeping the annual delivery pass Tesco may be hoping to avoid customers going elsewhere for their home deliveries, but by ditching the Clubcard offer it may be either trying to improve the margins on online sales, or encouraging people to consider ways of shopping that provides them with better margins – including in store shopping and Click and Collect.”
A Tesco spokesperson said: “Clubcard is how our customers get the best value from shopping with Tesco – from Clubcard Prices on thousands of products to Clubcard points on food, fuel, clothing and more in store and online.
“Our Delivery Saver plans provide great value for our customers, starting from as little as £2.49 per month for our Click & Collect plan and £3.99 per month for our cheapest home delivery plan.
“Clubcard customers will still be able to get three times the value of their vouchers on Tesco Delivery Saver plans until the 14th November.”
