Subway subscription silliness
Careful. Here comes my train of thought on restaurant subscription programs. Don’t get stuck on the tracks!
An e-mail survey I received yesterday from Subway led me to learn they are toying with the idea of a subscription plan. Among the several options/possibilities presented, one was for a footlong sub every day (one per day) for a flat monthly cost. The survey queried several different monthly price points, certainly in an effort to gauge how much customers would be willing to pay.
The lowest price point surveyed was $100 per month. So, here is my brain doing the math.
My general perception is that footlong subs at Subway cost between $5 and $10. That means it would take between 10 and 20 subs to reach $100.
If I arbitrarily decide to just go somewhere in the middle and assume $100 gets me 15 subs, that means I would have to eat one literally every other day every month just to break even. Even if I splurged on the more expensive subs, I would have to eat one every three days to break even.
Honestly, I seriously doubt a significant number of people eat at Subway that often. Tell me if I am wrong, but I see this as nothing more than a money grab aimed at customers. I think Subway execs know good and well that customers won’t patronize them that often, yet are somehow convinced they’ll save money with a subscription. They will eat at Subway a lot at first, but probably settle down to no more than two or three times a week (if even that much) and end up throwing $100 per month at Subway even though they only eat maybe $50 or $75 worth of product. Or less!
And imagine if the subscription was $150 or $200!
Subway already has one of the least generous rewards programs in the market. Most restaurants have you spend somewhere between $100 and $150 and you earn a free full entrée. Subway, on the other hand, has you spend $50, which seems good, but that only earns $2 worth of credit. You have to spend $200 to earn $8 worth of credit which covers the cost of only *some* footlong subs on the menu.
Sorry, Subway, I’m not that gullible.
But hey, $5 Subway gift card for telling them how unappealing their subscription idea is! :-)
