Tesco Clubcard vouchers can currently be exchanged for rewards worth three times their value. This summer, it'll be reduced to two times their value.
Members of the Clubcard loyalty scheme are about to see the possible returns from their points trimmed by a third.
Tesco’s Clubcard scheme is one of the most popular in the UK, and allows shoppers to accrue points when spending in store or when using a Tesco-linked financial product.
However, the supermarket giant has now revealed that from June it will be less generous for some shoppers, depending on how they plan to use their loyalty points.
Making your Clubcard points go further
Tesco is tweaking the deals that Clubcard members can benefit from when cashing in their Clubcard points.
When you accrue points, Tesco will send you vouchers based on their headline value. Each point is worth around 1p, so once you have 250 points you’ll get a voucher for £2.50 to be spent in store.
However, you can get much more bang for your buck by using those points with partner retailers that are also signed up to the Clubcard scheme, in some cases getting up to three times the headline value.
For example, right now you could get three times the value with the RAC, Disney+, Pizza Express and English Heritage. In other words, that £2.50 voucher would actually be worth £7.50 when spent with these names.
What’s changing with the Clubcard scheme?
Unfortunately, this will no longer be the case from the middle of June.
Tesco has confirmed that from 14th June 2023, the maximum return you’ll get when exchanging your points for a voucher with another retailer will be twice their headline value at most.
The three times value will still be available until then, while Tesco is also extending the time period you’ll have to cash in the codes for partner retailers.
Usually, you only have six months in order to use those codes to purchase the higher value rewards with a partner retailer, but that is being extended to 12 months.
According to Tesco, the change is being made so that it can “continue to provide a wide range of rewards that meet the needs of all our Tesco Clubcard members, while keeping prices low for everyone”.
How to beat the Clubcard changes
The first deadline to be aware of is of course 14 June.
If you are planning to cash in your Clubcard points with the likes of RAC or Goldsmiths and want to get the maximum bang for your buck, then it is important to do so before that date.
The fact that you then have 12 months in order to convert those points into the actual rewards means you have plenty of breathing space in order to do so.
Speaking from experience, for example, we have our breakdown cover with RAC and have previously used our Clubcard points to purchase it.
While it’s not time to renew that cover yet, I’ll be converting my points before June so that we can use them when the time comes.
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Is Clubcard still worth it?
There’s no denying the fact that this move from Tesco is a real blow for members of the Clubcard scheme.
Seeing the potential returns that you can get from your points trimmed by a third, albeit only with select partners, is going to sting.
However, the truth is that there are plenty of Clubcard members who won’t notice a difference at all.
While using your points within Tesco is the ‘worst’ use of those points, in pure cash terms, it may be the most useful for you.
After all, we have seen the cost of our food shopping rocket at an incredible rate over the last year.
According to the latest data from Kantar, food price inflation has now moved above 17% for the first time ever, with one in four of us admitting to struggling with the mounting costs.
As a result, using those Clubcard vouchers to take the edge off the weekly shop may prove a bigger boost to your everyday finances than cashing them in for tickets for a trip to Legoland, or the zoo.
The fact that the Clubcard scheme is free means it will always be worth considering so long as you spend at least semi-regularly at Tesco.
However, this change will certainly make it less attractive for those who want to get the biggest possible return from their loyalty points.
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