BITE card

[Clip]

They should just drop their prices suitably rather than a discount.

 

[TEW]

Bad
FCB at Brighton station, no discount, plus your £2.95 bacon sarnie, not going back there again.

I like the FCB at Guildford. The coffee is nice and they do a 20% student discount. Staff are always friendly and chatty too.

 

[jon0844]

They should just drop their prices suitably rather than a discount.

Hmm. Would be nice, but most passengers are a very captive audience and will pay well over the odds without complaining. Thus, they'd be rather stupid to lower their prices.

Most of these places do a very good trade and possibly don't need more custom as they already have queues at all but the quietest times. And Network Rail just charge a fair whack for the pitches.

Maybe an off peak discount instead?!

 

[David Goddard]

A very useful card, we use ours frequently, be it in Pumpkin, Upper Crust, Millie's Cookies or more.
We have also found that we can use ours at Pumpkin at our local hospital and Millie's in at least two shopping Centres so its not just at the station where we have claimed a discount.
BIG shame about the discount going down but some discount is better than no discount, and for the convenience one can expect to spend a little more to start with than elsewhere. We will certainly not abandon the scheme based on this alone.

 

[Class172]

Whilst I don't regularly use it I have found it very useful in the past on the occasions that I needed it - came back from London a couple of months back, realising en-route to B'ham that I didn't have any lunch - my travel was completely free so I wasn't bothered about spending some cash.

I'm sure I subscribed to the bite emails but I haven't had anything either - reducing the discount to 10% certainly does reduce the appeal of the whole thing.

 

[Hophead]

I opted in when I got my card in April 2012.

I didn't get any marketing emails from them until December 2013, then I received one a week until 5th March, and nothing since then. All the marketing emails I've had have been for Camden Food Co.

I haven't had this latest e-mail, but did get one in the last couple of months stating that Camden Food Co discount was dropping to 10%. It's possible, I suppose, that they have a chaotic customer list and information is seeping out in a variety of guises.

 

[yorksrob]

If it's just Camden food I should be ok. Sets a bad precedent though.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Had this as well, but interestingly, none of the links within it worked!

 

[455driver]

I mainly use mine for buying coffee. The price of coffee on stations with a bite card discount is pretty reasonable. Especially if you use Pumpkin Cafe and have a loyalty card so every 6th cup is free.

Every 5th!
Buy 4 get another free.

I am just going to fill my cards up for now and use the freebies after then discount is reduced, no point getting a free one now and paying afterwards.

 

[user15681]

I often buy food at the terminals, so even 10% off with a BITE card is better than nothing for me, although you can get some good deals elsewhere (particularly McDonalds vouchers in the Metro on a Monday morning!).

Every 5th!
Buy 4 get another free.

I am just going to fill my cards up for now and use the freebies after then discount is reduced, no point getting a free one now and paying afterwards.

It's you I see going through the bins and peeling the unused stickers off the coffee cups!

 

[DaveHarries]

I have a BITE card: I deliver & collect vehicles for a hire firm and that involves train travel from Bristol to various parts of the south west of England. The card gets regular use as a result as I end up going through a lot of the large mainline rail stations.

Dave

 

[BestWestern]

I mainly use mine for buying coffee. The price of coffee on stations with a bite card discount is pretty reasonable. Especially if you use Pumpkin Cafe and have a loyalty card so every 6th cup is free.

Hmm. Just a shame it tastes like sh*te! :-/

 

[All Line Rover]

Just had an email from BITE saying the discount is dropping to 10% from 9 June.

Sainsbury's it is, then! 20% off was just about enough to make Upper Crust prices bearable. Considering the M&S price hikes SSP are about to lose all my custom.

 

[tsr]

Hmm. Just a shame it tastes like sh*te! :-/

I wouldn't be quite that mean, but you do still have a good point! It's odd how SSP outlets vary so much with regards to taste and value of coffee. Whilst I look more than a bit weird wandering up to Millie's Cookies in a massive orange hi-vis jacket (though I'm sure they've seen weirder stuff! ), I will gladly do so, because their hot drinks are generally nicer than from any other SSP-related chain in a large station (IMHO). This is still a bit of a last resort, because I'd rather use an independent shop or at least a smaller chain. Speaking of which, I'm always pleased to see how many of those independents you can find in or around London Overground stations. I'm not sure if that's just because most of them are busier than in the past and now attract traders, or if it's just the urban areas that they're in, or there's a TOC-specific station retail policy, but it's great.

 

[34D]

The thing that annoys me about SSP is that 'offers' such as coffee & muffin for £x are excluded from the bite discount

 

[Aldaniti]

A very useful card, we use ours frequently, be it in Pumpkin, Upper Crust, Millie's Cookies or more.

We have also found that we can use ours at Pumpkin at our local hospital and Millie's in at least two shopping Centres so its not just at the station where we have claimed a discount.

BIG shame about the discount going down but some discount is better than no discount, and for the convenience one can expect to spend a little more to start with than elsewhere. We will certainly not abandon the scheme based on this alone.

So, when I go shopping on the high street, I should expect to pay a little more for my food and drink 'for the convenience'? These companies must be laughing all the way to the bank with such uber-loyal customers!

 

[jon0844]

I seem to recall McDonald's charging normal prices at service stations - partly because the company only as three tiers I believe (and not a great variation between any of them) so the end result is that you don't find many at service stations, or indeed any stations, these days.

Burger King will quite happily allow for meals to be sold for a stupid price, so it's not hard to then offer discounts for certain people (which will probably a tiny percentage of overall customers).

People seem to accept paying well over the odds, which in turn allows the likes of Welcome Break or National Rail to charge a fortune in rent that guarantees prices will always remain high. Naturally that then means you lose any chance of a smaller independent being able to set up.

The point being, in these locations the operators of such outlets don't regard there being such thing as a loyal customer. They are customers who come and go, and there will be more mugs arriving on or for the next train/bus/coach/plane.

 

[Tetchytyke]

McDonald's do charge the same price (pretty much) everywhere, even at their concessions at service stations or theme parks. So when I'm travelling and I just need to have something deep fried and rolled in salt I go to McDonald's.

SSP have obviously decided that so few people use the Bite Card that they can gradually get rid of it without anyone noticing or caring. Most people I see using SSP kiosks are paying full whack, so I suppose they don't really care. I'm surprised they've not been able to make money out of the Bite Card mailing lists, it seems like they've missed a trick (I've not had emails for about six months, and I know I didn't opt-out: I gave them my junk email).

 

[carriageline]

Question to rail staff and associated peeps;

Do you still get a percentage off by showing your priv at the London restraunts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hairyhandedfool]

The thing that annoys me about SSP is that 'offers' such as coffee & muffin for £x are excluded from the bite discount

Depends where you go, some are quite adamant that you can't have both, others seem to be quite lenient.

I use my bite card every time I have a trip somewhere, just for a cup of tea mind you, £1.48 for a large cup (£1.56 if you are at Leicester) isn't that bad really, but I must admit that my SubCard gets more use, it'll probably get even more use in future.

 

[johntea]

Ironically, I find the best coffee comes from McDonalds. It's also the cheapest generally if at a rail station!

 

[Be3G]

I used to use my cardboard Bite card regularly back in the mid-2000s to pick up a lunch from Upper Crust at Waterloo station, as with the 20% off the baguettes made for a filling and tasty lunch that wasn't any more expensive than I'd pay for something similar outside of a railway property. (As an aside, I remember back then they allowed them to sit on display unpurchased for less time than they do now – so not only have prices been going up, but quality's been going down too.)

Initially that was what I thought the point of the BITE card was: to attract people who ‘knew better’ (e.g. regular commuters) to use station outlets despite the rip-off prices. My suspicions were raised though when the plastic swipeable cards were introduced (and the cardboard ones invalidated) as that made it pretty clear the scheme was becoming a data-gathering exercise tracking people's individual purchases.

And now the discount's being reduced? I honestly can't see me using my card again.

So we've gone from a reasonable discount, to a reasonable discount with tracking caveat, to a poor discount with tracking caveat. Not much value to the end-user now.

(As another aside, lots of companies seem to like advertising 10% off as some brilliant saving – are that many people really fooled? 10% doesn't amount to much unless it's a big purchase. 20% though? Yes please. Oh…)

 

[Class377]

Are people really worried about data tracking with the card though? I don't really care that they know I might go to Burger King every few months if I'm on the train!

 

[yorksrob]

Are people really worried about data tracking with the card though? I don't really care that they know I might go to Burger King every few months if I'm on the train!

They'll be able to track the cards descent into obscurity and obselescence.

 

[najaB]

Who amongst us more-educated railway users uses them?

I use mine regularly.

 

[hidden]

Used mine today at Pumpkin in Wigan NW and got a medium latte for £2.04 so not too bad I guess!

 

[telstarbox]

Is it possible that it's become a victim of its own success - so many people getting 20% discounts that it's damaging trade?

 

[Hellfire]

So they reduce the discount at the same time that Upper Crust has upped drink prices. £2.10 for a regular tea at Preston this morning an increase of 5%. That's a lot of money for a paper cup, a tea bag, hot water and a splash of milk. Ingredient cost around 5p.

 

[blackfrost]

I was using mine quite a lot whilst making trips all over the country when I first started working for the railway industry back in 2012, especially at Victoria and London Euston which I used to go to quite frequently. But then one day whilst at Euston trying to get some cookies from Millies, it didn't work, I'm guessing it expired...well if anything this thread has reminded me to look into it now! Thanks guys!

 

[davetheguard]

Just had an email from BITE saying the discount is dropping to 10% from 9 June.

The reduction from 20% to 10% has understandably generated a lot of comment; but has anyone else actually received one of these e-mails?

I certainly haven't.......