Free Coffee

There have been loyalty cards available from coffee shops, and indeed anywhere that you can purchase a cup of the brew, for many years.

I’ve spent a good many years myself peeling the little stickers off McDonald’s coffee cups, collecting the required six per card to claim my free cup of latte.

For some time I’d also had my Marks and Spencer loyalty card stamped, although this required ten stamps to qualify for a freebie, until the service at my local branch deteriorated somewhat, and I decided to seek refreshment elsewhere.

Last year I acquired a Tesco Family Café (Fonta Nella) card, which in the spirit of McDonald’s requires six stamps for a free coffee, and is handy for grabbing a latte to get me through the weekly shop.

But most recently, I’ve added a Greggs’ loyalty card to my collection – rather startling considering I’d had a bit of a falling out with them just over a year ago. I still haven’t returned to their cafés, but do sometimes grab a take-away coffee when on a shopping mission. In this case, you have to get the card stamped nine times (strange number) to be rewarded with a coffee, so it’s not as good as Tesco and McDonald’s but preferable to M&S.

Mind you, all of the aforementioned cards appear to offer better deals than a Costa card as far as I can see. I abandoned thoughts of getting this one, when it appeared that I’d have to spend the equivalent cost of a small family home (OK, bit of an exaggeration) to having any hope of having a coffee on the house.

But I have to say, free is always good, so I’ll keep collecting those stamps!

Follow me on Twitter @shoppersjoy