Everything You Need to Know About Benefit and Discount Changes on Grab with Your SCORE Membership - Should You Renew?
Grab and FairPrice announced a subscription-based membership last year to give more value to customers in the form of exclusive ride discounts on Grab as well as various other benefits like rebate at FairPrice and other participating merchants. The promotion dynamics of SCORE have changed ever since and I have recently had the opportunity to look through some of these publicised perks to make the decision on whether or not another year's of subscription is worth it.
Photo Credit: SCORE
I purchased the membership last year for merely SGD 18 (introductory price) and it has been great since the program used to give me 30x 20% off Grab rides (capped at SGD 4) after taking four rides in a calendar month. In my renewal email, I have been offered a promotional price of SGD 29.99 (instead of the usual price of SGD 49.99) for another year of Grab benefits. Now before I touch on the benefit changes on Grab rides, it is important to recognise that SCORE introduced a number of additional perks over the year - you can now enjoy savings across FairPrice, Unit, Warehouse Club, Cheers, Qoo10 and ZALORA. However, since I have only utilised the SCORE membership for discounts on my Grab rides, I will touch on the changes that I have noticed since its introduction below.
20% Discount on 15 (down from 30) Rides per Month - Negative
If you are a heavy Grab user for transport, the first thing that will probably affect you is the number of discounted rides you can take each month. Instead of having 30x vouchers each month, you will now only get 15x vouchers (a 50% reduction!). While I would not imagine an average user to take more than 30 rides a month, this will definitely have an impact on those that commute regularly with Grab.
Photo Credit: SCORE
Removal of 50% Discount on Third Mondays of the Month - Negative
SCORE used to offer a really odd 50% discount (capped at SGD 6 and up to 5 redemptions) on every third Monday of the month - this benefit is now discontinued. Even though this was a once-monthly-only benefit, it was certainly nice to take 50% off a short ride on selected days. The removal of this benefit without one of balance off this write-off is obviously a move in the wrong direction.
Five (up from Four) Rides Required to Trigger 20% Discount for the Month - Negative
You are now required to take five non-discounted rides (instead of four discounted or non-discounted rides previously) before the 20% discount is triggered for the calendar month. As mentioned earlier, the number of 20% discount vouchers have been reduced from 30 to 15 so clearly, have to do more for less is not a move in the right direction from a consumer standpoint.
Photo Credit: SCORE
Discounted Rides are No Longer Qualifying - Negative
Now this is a small change and it will probably not affect many people but discounted rides no longer count towards the first 5 rides (otherwise known as discount-qualifying rides) that you have to take before the 20% discount vouchers are issued. What this means to say is that if you used to purchase and utilise discounted Grab vouchers from Fave to trigger your monthly bonus, these rides will no longer count towards the five-ride rule each month. In order to trigger the 20% discount, you will have to take five non-discounted rides each month first.
20% Discount Capped at SGD 5 (up from SGD 4) per Ride - Positive
The only positive change in my opinion is the increase in discount cap on the 20% discount vouchers - it is now capped at SGD 5 instead of SGD 4. What this means to say is that you will now enjoy a greater discount on more expensive fares (i.e. 20% discount is now capped at SGD 25 rides as opposed to SGD 20 rides previously).
Photo Credit: SCORE
10x Free Delivery on GrabFood - Positive
Finally, SCORE has also introduced 10 free delivery on GrabFood orders (minimum order of SGD 20 required) each month but these coupons cannot be utilised in conjunction with discounts that GrabFood runs from time to time.
Final Thoughts
In summary, I will probably not be renewing my SCORE membership this year. Sure SGD 29.99 is a small price to pay since it works out to only SGD 2.50 a month but having moved closer to the city and seeing how the surge has been on the Grab platform, I have found myself using Grab a lot lesser in recent months - if I do need transport to the airport, I can get a limousine (Mercedes-Benz E-Class Saloon or better) arranged for just SGD 45 with my OCBC VOYAGE Card.
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