Waitrose free coffees

This something offered....you are free to say "no thank you."

I think it's more to do with keeping shoppers in the store tbh, but agree that wandering around with a paper cup of bitter free coffee doesn't add much to the pleasure ( or pain) of shopping.Like Monica I prefer to get it all done, and home to relax, feet up, with a decent cup of coffee.

I find it extraordinary how food and drinks must now be offered to us at every conceivable opportunity. Yet we know that constant snacking contributes to ill health. It is of course all a marketing ploy aimed at making us consume more and more food. Are we really unable to resist it?

DH and I get a free drink and a cake voucher per month each from John Lewis but I do not have a loyalty card or shop there very much. I expect that will go soon as well. I proably wouldn't choose their café for a coffee stop if it weren't free their coffee is not very nice. I prefer Nero's or a small Italian independent coffee shop.

I love Waitrose and like a lot of my neighbours was very pleased when they opened a store locally a few years ago. Great choice of products, pretty good service, a free flower wrapping service, a free newspaper paper if you spend over £5 in the week and over £10 at the weekends, and up until now a free coffee whether you buy anything or not. I shop there most days and don't always have a free coffee. I sometimes meet friends in the café - you get a free coffee or tea with a purchase. Running large stores is costly - they have facilities for shoppers and for disabled and whilst they might be more expensive than Lidl or Aldi I know where I would rather shop. I also get the free coffee and cake vouchers from John Lewis sometimes - which are welcomed. I do agree that it is annoying to see people wandering around the shop holding coffee cups - even more annoying to find them dumped on the shelves when they are finished with!!

personally I've never bothered with the free coffee but used to go at least once a week to get the free copy of the Times or Telegraph with my shopping if I spent £5+. However now the required amount is £10 I rarely go because it's difficult to find £10 worth of things I really want which aren't too heavy to carry home, and I wouldn't spend £10 on such goods very often.

Come on now, as you complete your shop is it not pleasant to get a coffee or tea and sit in the sometimes comfy settees or chairs and drink them at your leisure? Have enjoyed coffee in all its diverse forms all over the world, from Turkish in tiny cups to in Kenya from a bent little man with a charcoal burner served with a pinch of chilli, and find Waitrose's very pleasant. It is a pleasant gesture from Waitrose, accept it with good grace, appreciate their range and good ideas, just enjoy.

Completely agree with you both Grannypiper and MawBroon! An accident waiting to happen. We don't need to have something just because it's free. Why on earth do people feel the need to wander around with a cup in their hands? Sit down, relax for five minutes and enjoy.

I know - I'm old fashioned !

No Monica the condition at Waitrose was/is one hot drink per day in the cafe on production of the "My Waitrose" card if you also buy something to eat (a banana is the cheapest option) but in store, the coffee machine will dispense free coffee to anyone who has been shopping or not, again, to get a cup to go, you have to have a card.
My slight regret is that now the café is no longer the place to leave DH with a cuppa and a bun while I fill the trolley. I would like to see them find a way round this.

Beyond commenting that the free coffee in Waitrose doesn't taste very nice, I am not sure that anything said on this thread has been a complaint, MawBroon. Mainly puzzlement that Waitrose have gone big on a condition for the free drink that seems perfectly reasonable and that, as far as most of us has experienced, has been in place for some years.

Personally, it is not a freeby I particularly want. Generally I do not mix coffee and my weekly shop. I just bustle around, get all the shopping down and then go home and enjoy a relaxed cup of coffee at home. Out of curiosity, I did try the coffee once, didn't enjoy it and have felt no desire to repeat the experience.

The John Lewis stores also give out occasional vouchers for free cake and a drink to customers with a loyalty card. The only time I used mine DH was with me who picked out a rather expensive sandwich for himself, defeating the benefit of my free cake ?

I think it is hilarious that we are complaining about the conditions attached to a FREE (the clue is in the adjective) coffee and, for some, its quality!!
You don't have to have one, you know ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️

Booths are cutting their benefits too from the end of March. No more free weekend newspaper. You can still get a free hot drink - I don't know whether you have to make a purchase or not.

Post me a loaf in the morning?

I don't think I've ever had a loaf of bread from anywhere that's as good as what I make at home.

Since you mention it, roses

M'off to bed ?

I hardly use Waitrose now, think it's gone downhill, have never had a good loaf of bread from there, and they are trying to do too many basics goods.Their free coffe is awful, once was enough.

Feel cheated now, at our Waitrose you always had to spend a minimum amount the. With a bag of shopping walking out with your coffee was so awkward. I did it once, didn't bother after.

We do not have to make a purchase at the moment though most people do. We just need to show our card at customer services and they give us a mug.

How ridiculous! I thought you only got the free coffee after you'd done your shopping...

(there isn't one anywhere near me, so I have no experience of this strange practice!)

I am so glad, wandering around the store pushing a trolley whilst holding a cup pf hot coffee is a recipe for disaster. I laughed out loud one day as a young woman with a very confused look on her face tried to shop with a coffee in one hand and a basket and phone in the other she didnt know what to put down to so she could pick an item up off the shelf. priceless

The coffee at our Waitrose cafe is nicer than the stuff out of the machine, possibly because it's hotter. I can't drink coffee without eating something, preferably sweet (though I don't like sugar in coffee), so I don't have a problem with having to buy a scone if I want a cafe coffee.

If I want a coffee and a sit down in the cafe I have to buy something there, even if only a packet of crisps. It does not matter if my trolley is fairly full.

My thoughts were similar to MOnica's and Jane that one had to buy something. When I do self service I pop the carton in the car and reheat it when I get home. I take it black and add the milk at home to save any spillage.

The machine is beside Customer Service and the exit in my local Waitrose.

I tend to sit in the cafe and read any one of their free papers. Different Waitrose shops have different facilities. If I want one "to go" I can also get it at the patisserie counter and "zap" it with my scanner, the price being deducted at the quick scan till when I pay.

Like M0nica, we get asked if we would like a coffee at the end of the check out after presenting our loyalty card. If we say yes, we get given a cup and go to the machine. There are a few bar stools at a shelf where we can sit and read the paper, if not we walk along the road drinking.

Waitrose is obviously worried about the rise and rise of Aldi and Lidl. They cut staff bonuses this tear and have reduced prices of many basics. A large whole meal loaf is now only 50p.
You have to spend £10 to get your Guardian free (used to be £5) but I've never got a free cup of coffee. Why can't people do anything without a coffee in their hand?