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Four alternative free coffee schemes as Pret ditches subscription perks – from Leon to Starbucks
Another scheme offers five free drinks a day
COFFEE lovers are threatening to leave Pret's paid-for loyalty scheme after the chain changed its terms.
If you enjoy treating yourself to a hot or iced beverage most days, you might find you'd now be better off taking your loyalty elsewhere.
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Club Pret's £30 a month subscribe and save worked out as up to five drinks every day for just £1.
From September, the cost of the scheme is falling to £10 a month which would work out as roughly 33p a day. But you now have to pay half the cost of your drink of choice.
If you buy a hot drink at £3 a go. You’d pay £1.50, plus the 33p in membership working out at £1.75 for one coffee.
If you ordered another four on the same day, it would cost another £6 working out at a total of £7.75 for five drinks in one day.
Read more on loyalty schemes
To soften the blow, Pret has reduced the price of its no frills filter coffee to 99p, down from £1.80.
But those who enjoy a drink with the added extras could find that other coffee chains are now a better deal. We look at what is on offer...
Leon Roast Rewards
You can sign up to chain Leon’s Roast Rewards for £25 a month and, as with Pret's original offer, get five barista-made drinks a day.
This works out at roughly 83p a day for five drinks - definitely not a bad deal if you're buying even one coffee every day.
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Under the terms of the off membership, you can only buy one drink every hour. So you can't get a free drink for you and a pal at the same time.
As part of the scheme, you also get 20% off breakfast and the all day food menu.
There are branches of Leon across the country, you can find your nearest through the find Leon tool on the website.
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Starbucks
You can join Starbucks membership for free - a no brainer if you're regularly getting drinks there.
Customers get three stars for each partial £1 spent, then a free drink when they get 150 stars. It means spending around £50.
For a £2.95 small latte, it means buying 17 small lattes to get a free one.
Taking a leaf out of airline loyalty programs, Starbucks has a “gold level”.
This is reached once you have collected 450 stars - after spending £84.
It lets you claim perks like extra shots, dairy-free milks and whipped cream for free.
There is also a drink on the house for your birthday.
How it works:
- £1 spent = three stars (includes partial pounds spent), 150 stars = free drink
- Small latte cost: £2.95
- Number of drinks to hit target: 17
- Cost for a 'free' coffee: £50.15
- Reusable cup bonus: 25p off
Caffe Nero
Every drink gets you a reward stamp in your Caffe Nero app which is also free.
You get an extra one if you bring your own cup.
Every nine stamps is a free drink.
So, take your reusable cup and you get a free latte, cappuccino, flat white or whatever your chosen caffeine is after paying for just four and a half.
With a small latte costing £3.50, that is a free one after spending £31.50.
Go green with a reusable cup and it is half that, so just £15.75.
How it works:
- One drink purchased = one stamp, nine stamps = free drink
- Small latte cost: £3.50
- Number of drinks to hit target: Nine
- Cost for a 'free' coffee: £31.50
- Reusable cup bonus: Yes, one extra stamp
Costa
Costa also runs a free loyalty scheme but also changed the terms last August
Customers must now buy an extra two coffees to get a free one at Costa, meaning you'll get a freebie after buying ten, rather than eight.
As with Nero, you get an extra stamp for a reusable cup.
Stamps can be collected in any of the chain’s 2,800 coffee shops, as well as around 12,000 machines in petrol stations and convenience stores.
How it works:
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- One drink purchased = one bean, 10 beans = free drink
- Small latte cost: £3.50
- Number of drinks to hit target: ten
- Cost for a 'free' coffee: £35
- Reusable cup bonus: Yes, one extra bean
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