Analyzing the Grab-FairPrice SCORE partnership

SCORE is a subscription program that is the result of Grab’s latest partnership with NTUC FairPrice.

SCORE offers subscribers 20% off rides after taking 4 rides in a month. This is capped at $4 per ride and for a maximum of 30 redemptions a month. Riders will also get 50% off Grab rides (capped at $6 and up to 5 redemptions) on every 3rd Monday of the month.

SCORE also offers benefits at NTUC FairPrice such as 5% rebates (for incremental spending above $100, capped at $5 per transaction), a free Plus! membership, one free FairPrice Online delivery a month with no minimum spend and 1,000 LinkPoints for every sign up and subsequent renewals.

Enrolling in the program costs $29.99 for the first year and $49.99 from the second, though if you sign up by 18 May, you’ll get to do so for their early bird special price of $18.

Is it worth it?

Assuming you take Grab a fair bit, the promotional annual $18 fee will essentially pay itself off in a month.

Say you take 2 rides a week, equivalent to approximately 8 rides a month. The first 4 are qualifying rides, so you’ll have 4 rides that are eligible for the ‘basic’ 20% discount capped at $4 per ride. If, out of these 4, one takes advantage of the monthly 50% discount capped at $6, these are the savings you’ll be looking at a maximum of:

• 3 rides x $4 = $12
• 1 ride x $6 = $6
• Grab savings a month = $18

The good news is, these 4 qualifying rides can be used with separate Grab promo codes, so they don’t need to be full-fare rides to qualify for the 20% discounts each month. However, subsequent rides that have 20% off cannot be used with other Grab promo codes (what promo codes?) so there’s that to consider too.

The FairPrice benefits are also attractive for those who get their groceries there, but note that the 5% rebate is only for incremental spending above $100. Simply put, this means the 5% rebates only kick in once your spend goes above $100. The rebates are capped at $5, so the optimum spend is $200 in a single receipt.

You also get complimentary FairPrice Online delivery once a month, with no minimum spend. For comparison, home deliveries are free for orders over $59. Otherwise, the delivery fee is a flat $7. If you maximize this, this is worth about $84 a year.

The SCORE subscription also comes with a free Plus! membership worth $10 and access to FairPrice’s Warehouse Club, which lets you buy items in bulk at significantly lower prices – basically every kiasu Singaporean’s dream. The latter requires a membership that costs $20 a year for the public.

With the Plus! membership, you can earn 2 LinkPoints per dollar spent at FairPrice. This is on top of the 1,000 you will receive from subscribing. LinkPoints can be converted to Asia Miles in blocks of 440 LP to 110 miles. It isn’t the best conversion rate on the market, but those who get their essentials from FairPrice will find it’s a good way of earning more miles on top of any existing 10x rewards from your grocery shopping.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, this is the maximum value you stand to get from a subscription with SCORE:

• Grab savings: $216 a year
• One free FairPrice Online delivery a month: $84 a year
• Plus! membership: $10 a year
• FairPrice Warehouse Club membership: up to $20 a year
• 1,000 LinkPoints: $6.67 a year

Overall, if you frequently take Grab and make regular visits to FairPrice, you’re looking at roughly $337 a year in savings. Even if you take into account SCORE’s steep second-year subscription fee of $49.99, you’ll still be getting pretty good value from this.