Cafe's unique new way of cutting costs has people torn

"If that was my coffee place, I would be finding the next one to move on to…" said one Aussie. But, others think it's a great idea.

By now, everyone is certainly sick of seeing the prices of everything go up and up and up.

One Melbourne cafe has come up with a unique idea to combat this.

However, whilst some think it’s smart, others see it as the beginning of the business’ inevitable downfall.

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Image: Reddit.

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“We are committed to keeping our coffee prices unchanged”

A Melbourne Reddit user has taken to the platform after seeing a local cafe’s announcement of a new scheme to try and keep coffee prices low.

“Love this idea from a south Melbourne cafe to keep the costs down,” they said in the post.

They included a photo of the announcement in the post, saying that rather than upping prices, they’re going to be cutting their loyalty scheme.

“Dear valued customers,” the note began.

“Due to rising costs, we will end the loyalty card program after current cards are used.

“However, we are committed to keeping our coffee prices unchanged.

“Thank you for your understanding!”

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“This plan tells them they aren’t valued”

The majority of commenters on the post disagreed with the poster, and said they thought this was an awful idea, citing a lack of care from the cafe for their loyal and regular customers.

“Dear valued customers, although we value your loyalty, we will no longer be showing our appreciation of it. Strangest approach to business I've come across in a while,” one commenter said.

“Why take from loyal customers to keep prices down for your occasional customer?” another agreed.

“If that was my coffee place, I would be finding the next one to move on to…. What part of ‘loyalty’ don’t they understand? And how much does one cup of coffee actually cost them compared to the $4-$6 they charge!!! I’d prefer to give a free cup for every 10 purchased than losing your business altogether. Bad move I would say,” said a third.

“If times are tough you want to reward your regulars. Tell them that they matter. Keep them coming back. This plan tells them that they aren't valued,” a fourth said.

Some even suggested that the change was representative of a larger issue, which would see prices go up soon regardless.

“This is just a ploy. The ending loyalty program doesn’t save any money. There will be a coffee price increase momentarily,” one commenter suggested.

“Lovely sentiment, but watch them bump their prices in a few months,” another agreed.

“They’ll raise the prices in a few weeks or months anyway lol,” said a third.

“It’s completely fair”

However, others said that the idea was totally reasonable.

“I mean, they’re honouring the old cards. I think it’s completely fair,” one commenter said.

Some said it wasn’t a huge loss for them personally, given how infrequently they commit to loyalty cards anyway - making it worthwhile for the cafe to drop them if it saves them some money.

“I always lose loyalty cards and forget to stamp them. I never take advantage of them properly,” said one commenter.

“I was definitely a fan of my ‘go to’ cafe having a reward system, but if I was grabbing coffee from other places that wasn’t my regular I didn’t care because I would end up with heaps of random cards. Even if I did go again I probably wouldn’t remember to use them,” another agreed.

A few commenters even provided additional reasons why dropping the loyalty scheme might make a bigger difference for the cafe than just a few free coffees.

“Maybe they were paying for a loyalty platform and that’s where the cost cut needed to come,” one commenter said.

“Could it be that they're cutting the cost that's associated with printing and manufacturing, and delivery of the cards (if they're a physical card)?” another person said.

“Or they could have one of those third party loyalty programs that text you and shit, they must cost something too,” a third suggested.

Originally published as Cafe's unique new way of cutting costs has people torn