Making Sense of the new Subscription Programme by Grab and FairPrice - SCORE

Stacking the Uber benefits from the LiveUp membership as well as Standard Chartered's 20% cashback promotion has been the way to go for us Singaporeans but with the Grab-Uber merger (even though it might not go through that quickly since it has apparently infringed on the Competition Act) on the horizon, we may need to reevaluate our strategies. SCORE is a new subscription-based membership which offers members exclusive privileges (read: discounts) on Grab as well as FairPrice. While I am personally not particularly interested in the LinkPoints or FairPrice benefits that come with this membership, I am curious about the ones that you can use on Grab.

Click HERE to find out about SCORE!

Photo Credit: SCORE

At the time of writing, the SCORE subscription programme is available for SGD 29.99 per year for the first year and then SGD 49.99 for subsequent years - this is priced similarly to the LiveUp membership which is currently SGD 28.80 for the first year and SGD 49.90 for subsequent years. With that being said, it is extremely easy to justify the LiveUp membership since it is inclusive of 6-months worth of Netflix subscription (which I already pay for) - this is worth at least SGD 65.88 on the cheapest plan. Now the question remains, is SCORE something that is actually worth paying for?

Photo Credit: Grab

Exclusive Benefits on Grab

Let's start with the benefits that grabbed my attention (pun intended) - those that you get to enjoy on Grab. After taking four rides in a calendar month, you will get to enjoy 20% off remaining rides for the rest of the month (capped at SGD 4 per ride and up to 30 redemptions per month). Capping the discount at SGD 4 means that any ride above the price of SGD 20 will not be eligible for any form of discount. Therefore, if your rides are typically under SGD 20, you are pretty much covered. While I personally take around 15-20 rides per month (and therefore the cap on 30 redemptions do not apply to me), it is worth evaluating whether this is a limitation for you. 

Photo Credit: SCORE

The maximum discount that you can get out of this benefit is SGD 120 (which is SGD 4 x 30 rides) - this gives you an effective discount rate of 17.6%. Obviously, if you intend to use it that much, the SCORE membership is definitely for you. However, you do have to keep in mind that by using this 20% off promo code, you will not be able to use any other promo codes that Grab may offer from time to time. The first four rides that you will have to take in order to trigger the 20% bonus can be taken with or without promo codes (even though GrabHitch, GrabCouch, GrabShuttle and GrabCycle are not applicable). 

Rides per Month	Avg. Price per Ride	Discount	Effective Discount (%)
4	SGD 20.00	SGD 0.00	0.0%
5	SGD 20.00	SGD 4.00	4.0%
10	SGD 20.00	SGD 24.00	12.0%
20	SGD 20.00	SGD 64.00	16.0%
30	SGD 20.00	SGD 104.00	17.3%
40	SGD 20.00	SGD 120.00	15.0%

You will also get to enjoy a 50% discount (capped at SGD 6 and up to 5 redemptions) on every third Monday of the month. This is probably the most significant discount and the promotional mechanics are pretty odd (e.g. why the third Monday of the month?!) but I guess if you like to get around on Grab every Monday, it might be worth your while - the last time they ran a promo like that, the surge inflated the price by so much that the discount seemed insignificant.  

Photo Credit: SCORE

Exclusive Benefits on FairPrice

5% rebate for incremental spends above SGD 100 in a single receipt (capped at S$5 per transaction) - now that's quite a sentence to read but it basically means you get a 5% rebate (in the form of LinkPoints) on everything you spend above SGD 100. Since the 'rebate' is capped at $5, anything you spend above SGD 200 in a single transaction will not get you any additional LinkPoints. Of course, there is always the option of breaking a single SGD 400 transaction into SGD 200 x 2. 

Spend	Rebate	Effective Rebate
SGD 100.00	SGD 0.00	0.0%
SGD 120.00	SGD 1.00	0.8%
SGD 150.00	SGD 2.50	1.7%
SGD 180.00	SGD 4.00	2.2%
SGD 200.00	SGD 5.00	2.5%
SGD 250.00	SGD 5.00	2.0%

Apart from the free Plus! membership (worth SGD 10) and 1,000 complimentary LinkPoints that you get with the membership, you will also get once a month complimentary delivery with FairPrice with no minimum spend. Typically, you are able to offset an eligible purchase by SGD 1 with every 150 LinkPoints. Therefore, 1,000 LinkPoints are worth approximately SGD 6.67. Apparently, you can also convert 440 LinkPoints to 110 Asia Miles at a 4:1 Ratio - you are essentially forgoing SGD 26.67 in rebate for every 1,000 Asia Miles that you convert your LinkPoints into and this is not great since there are cheaper ways to purchase miles in Singapore. 

Final Verdict

If you do not have a Plus! membership and you wish to get one, paying only SGD 18 for the first year (promotional price applicable until 18 May 2018) is a no brainer. If you take at least five Grab rides a month, paying for the membership can also be marginally beneficial for you. However, if you are a heavy user of the Grab platform (or even an Uber convert), then getting it at the promotional rate of SGD 18 is something you should jump on to before 18 May 2018. I will personally subscribe to it at the end of April after I get some clarity on the whole Grab-Uber merger.