So my last column was about my confusion over the 50-cent teh deal at the NTUC Foodfare coffeeshop.
In response to the article published in The New Paper on May 13, a reader named Lilian Seah e-mailed me:
Good morning,
Thanks for the article in The New Paper this morning.
The discount is not applicable in NTUC hawker in Kampung Admiralty. I was really surprised as this location is specially opened by Mr Lee Hsien Loong. Kampung Admiralty, an integrated housing estate for senior citizens, is considered a model for future public housing.
The mixed vegetables rice prices in most NTUC food court has special concessions for senior citizens, student and NTUC union members. But it's also not applicable in Kampung Admiralty. Example: Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital food court and NTUC coffeeshop in Blk 361 Sembawang crescent.
NTUC privilege is not align and it's really confusing to consumers.
Hope to hear from you soon.
So last week, NTUC Enterprise wrote a letter to TNP responding to my column and the reader's e-mail:
Dear Editor,
We refer to the article by SM Ong – Confusion over 50-cent Teh deal at Foodfare dated 13 May 2019, and to the letter from your reader Ms Lilian Seah
We thank them for sharing their experiences.
The following ten hot beverages Kopi, Kopi-O, Kopi-O Kosong, Kopi-C, Kopi-C Kosong, Teh, Teh-O, Teh-O Kosong, Teh-C, Teh-C Kosong are offered at $0.50 to NTUC Union members every day for the month of May at over 90 NTUC Foodfare and Kopitiam food courts and coffee shops islandwide.
To ensure that every NTUC Union member gets to enjoy this promotion, each member can buy 1 cup of kopi/teh upon presenting one NTUC union membership card. That is to say, the same member is entitled to buy two cups at $0.50 each by presenting two NTUC union membership cards in a single transaction – in the event he is making the purchase on behalf of another member. We wish to highlight that there is no limit to the number of cups each member can buy per day. To minimise waiting times for other customers, an NTUC union member holding a single NTUC union membership card is encouraged to re-join the queue if he wishes to purchase an additional cup at $0.50.
We apologise for the confusion Mr Ong has experienced. We shall continue to reinforce our communication with the operations team to ensure consistency in the implementation of the promotion.
We are glad that the promotion has been well received and there have been suggestions to extend this offer to the hawker centres. We shall take this into consideration for our future campaigns. Customers may refer to Foodfare’s website (www.foodfare.com.sg) or Kopitiam’s website (www.kopitiam.biz) for more information and the full listing of the participating outlets.
Meanwhile, NTUC union members continue to enjoy a host of member privileges at NTUC Foodfare food courts, coffee shops and new hawker centres.
At our Rice Garden stall, customers enjoy mixed rice meals at concessionary prices for senior citizens, students, NTUC union members and other concession card holders. Launched by NTUC Foodfare in 2009, Rice Garden is a social outreach programme to provide affordable meals to Singaporeans so as to help moderate their cost of living. To date, we have 47 Rice Garden stalls operating in coffee shops and hawker centres including Kampung Admiralty hawker centre (KAHC).
To bring greater value to the NTUC union members, we also extend the following benefits at NTUC Foodfare food courts and coffee shops,
In addition, every stall at our coffee shops offers a budget meal priced from $2 - $3, which can be enjoyed by the public.
- Every stall offers an NTUC value meal which members may purchase at a discount of up to 15%
- NTUC breakfast set sold at a member price of $1.80 ($2.20 for the public)
- NTUC U Live members (aged 55 years and above) enjoy a 10% senior citizen discount every Tuesday
We have noted the feedback from Ms Seah and would like to gather more details of her experience at KAHC for follow-up action. We would appreciate if she may contact our service quality team at 6756 0266 or via email at feedback@foodfare.com.sg.
It is NTUC Foodfare’s social mission to provide value, quality cooked food at affordable prices and we intend to provide better value to our customers through initiatives such as the 50-cent kopi/ teh promotion.
It doesn't answer my question about when there's no queue, but ok.
I'm actually too paiseh to queue up twice. So I'm sacrificing 40 cents every time I buy drinks (one teh-o, one teh) for my wife and me for the rest of the month.
If only I were more thick-skinned.
EARLIER: Storm in a 50-cent tea cup? Confusion over May deal at NTUC Foodfare
