STOKE NEW WORLD LOYALTY POINTS EXPIRE OVERNIGHT, PENSIONERS FORM ORDERLY BUT FURIOUS LINE
One woman had been saving since 2019 for a ham. The ham is now theoretical.
A quiet uprising broke out at the Stoke New World on Wednesday after dozens of shoppers found their loyalty points had expired overnight. One customer called it "the closest Nelson's been to a riot since the parking changes".
The points vanished at midnight under what the supermarket called "a standard programme refresh". Customers called it other things. By 9am the line at customer service stretched past the hot bread and into the wine aisle, which several people said was at least convenient.
Gloria Whitcombe, 71, of Stoke, said she'd been saving for the Christmas ham since the last Christmas ham. "I had enough for the ham and a leg of lamb," she said. "Now I've got enough for a packet of chewing gum and an apology. They can keep the gum."
A younger shopper, Reuben Castle, 24, said he'd only just signed up and lost "about four dollars worth, but it's the principle". Asked what the principle was, he thought about it and said "four dollars".
A New World spokesperson said the expiry had been "clearly communicated" via an email sent in 2022, and that affected customers were welcome to "start fresh". The store manager was reportedly hiding in the chiller.
Gloria has since moved her custom to the Pak'nSave across town, where she says the points are also rubbish but the cheese is cheaper. The line at customer service was, at time of filing, still going.
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Reader Letters
NelsonNana
Bloody outrageous! They should honour the points!
Trev_Hornby
An email from 2022? Bit of a piss-take really.
bread_boi
Lol.
Garry (Hillside)
Back in my day, you couldn't trust the supermarkets either, but we did have a bloke called Hammy who sold ham from his ute. Never expired!
tech_savvy_susan
Thanks for illustrating why I shop online. No queues, no disappearing points!
rational_roy
Mate, you can't just expect loyalty points to last forever. Prices change, businesses need to keep up, and honestly, who plans Christmas around them?
skeptic_steve
Sounds like Reuben just wanted a bit of publicity for his four-dollar fame.
conspiracy_colin
Supermarkets rake in cash and still can't afford to honour a few points? Sounds like another corporate money-grab.
cheese_fanatic
Actually, Gloria is bang on about Pak'nSave's cheese deals. But try Mataki, their cheddar is a steal!
spectator_sam
I was there! Wish I'd brought some popcorn for the show.