Discount Cards

[fairdealworld]

I have just started to offer a student (and apprentice) discount in my shop. The means of ID comes up as an issue.

We are accepting as ID the NUS extra card which can be purchased by students at university and other places of higher education. We are accepting as ID the NUS Apprentice extra card which can be purchased by those undertaking apprenticeships (my own apprentice has one). N.B. We can't be members of the official scheme because at present they accept only national organisations, a pilot is being run in one big City of accepting local businesses but that is nowhere near us.

In addition I'd like to offer discount to students at the local Sixth Form College (who won't be NUS members) plus to students at a local further education college (where some may be NUS members but probably the majority are not) many of whom walk past the shop each day.

All of these students will have ID of one sort or another (the Sixth Form college students seem to have those cards on neck cords which usually also operate as door openers) but I'm feeling it is going to be very difficult for staff - especially part-timers - to recognise all these different forms of ID.

It would seem to make more sense to offer our own discount card, then we'd only need to be shown and verify outside official ID once or once per year? I suppose then the students would have to carry another card but getting hold of one would bring them into the shop initially which would be helpful. I drove past a shop selling musical instruments in another small town yesterday and noticed a window advert offering students their own discount card but unfortunately I wasn't in a position to stop at the time and find out more.

Any ideas as to how we could produce our own discount cards i.e. something which could not just be photocopied by anyone wishing to make a fake card? We currently sell our own gift tokens which we verify with a staff signature at the point of sale which has to be in biro to create a trace in the paper. This works okay as we only sell a very few such tokens and our staff group is small so we all recognise each others signatures but a discount card would have to be more durable.

Any ideas? Anyone do this sort of thing just for their own shop?

 

[tony84]

I think you are over thinking it a bit?
Assuming the business is your website, I dont see what the issue is? I would just offer it on the basis they show you a form of college/uni ID.

I hardly think kids are going to go off and buy fake ID to get a discount at your shop. If you sold alcohol or cigs it might be slightly different.

You might have the odd sale that goes through where the person is not a real/current student but a sale is a sale. By the time you have gone to the extent of getting cards made up you will be no worse off.

Have people register with you if you really are that concerned - name, course, how many years, college/uni, email address etc - if nothing else its a marketing list.

 

[fairdealworld]

Thanks tony84 but no my business isn't my website, it is a bricks and mortar shop which many students pass and we'd like to lure in, the website is purely informational. I am in fact working on an online shop but I wouldn't offer a student discount on that unless we could link to a national scheme or to the sort of local scheme which the NUS has on trial at the moment but not in our area.

No I don't think they are going to go off and buy fake ID either but some might naturally be inclined to produce fake ID on their computers or smartphones or share their discount card with their nearest and dearest if we are not at least a bit careful.

If it was just my apprentice and me I'd agree with you and just accept whatever form of ID the student could offer. We are a fair trade shop with multiple functions as well as sales direct to the public in the shop and like many such we use the services of part time staff and volunteers. Most of the volunteers are highly over-educated and from professional backgrounds (this isn't criticism I am also highly over-educated and had a lengthy previous career in a profession) but I've learned the hard way that over-educated professionals tend to be remarkably good at their own specialised area of expertise but struggle quite remarkably in contrast with some very simple issues. My non academic apprentice will take on board the whole concept in a trice, my highly over educated helpers will be referring every decision about ID to me (or my apprentice) when we are there and phoning me if I'm not and making a song and dance about the whole thing which may well put potential customers off.

 

[tony84]

Realistically though, how much do you think that will happen? It will happen but sometimes its cheaper to just ignore it rather than trying to put something in place to overturn it.

 

[fairdealworld]

You have a point and it is definitely something to sleep on.

I prefer to keep things simple. I suppose I've been a bit put off by recent difficulties over forged banknotes (not all of which are detectable by pens or the electric devices). Take a few of these in one day or even in a week and it is a big issue for a small business like mine. I seem to be able to detect what I regard as the obvious signs that someone is deliberately trying to pass a forged bank note plus be good at noticing when a bank note is subtly not right. I've found it hard to pass on such instincts to my colleagues, no matter how much training we do they seem to fall back on procedures they've seen in other shops which often give inaccurate results.

However as you say if we made a discounted sale on a forged discount card we'd still have made a sale in contrast to accepting a forged note which is a total loss.

 

[tony84]

Do the employees have their own tills?
Can you say if they accept 2 or more in a week or month they will get a warning?

 

[fairdealworld]

No they don't have their own tills and frankly I don't have that sort of relationship with my employees. It is up to me as an employer to find a reasonable way to do things and which can be done while staff deal with a constant flow of questions and comments from customers at the same time. As for volunteers address them in that sort of way and they unvolunteer!

 

[JaneRG]

In my non-work life I run ticket sales for concerts in a town with a large student population. We offer a discount for students and under-25s but we never check ID and looking at the number of sales that go through at the student rate, I don't think there is any serious abuse.
Like you, we have volunteers checking and selling tickets and they are likely to get in a bit of a faff if things start getting complicated - I totally recognise your description of over-educated volunteers!

If it's not high value and it doesn't involve age restricted products, why not give it a go on a trust basis: that would also fit nicely with your Fair Trade ethos anyway. It's quicker and simpler for your staff and if you feel there's a lot of abuse, you can review it further down the line. And as you say, a sale is a sale.

You could also ask your bright apprentice to check randomly, just so people see that they might get asked, and leave your volunteers to take it on trust.

 

[fairdealworld]

Thanks tony84 and JaneRG you are right and the KISS principle would work far better.

We're going to alter our publicity to just say student or apprentice ID rather than asking for any specific card and I'll tell the volunteers to just relax and accept anything which might suggest the customer is still at school or a student or an apprentice and not worry about it. My apprentice can do the occasional quality control check and we'll just see how it all works out.

This has been very useful, thank you.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

You could ask for some form of ID (bus pass, bank card etc.) and ask them which school/college they are from, not to do any checks just as a deterrent.

But if you are still making a profit even with the student discount then is someone trying it on really that much of a problem?

 

[solent66]

Presumably the purpose of the student discount is to bring extra business into your shop. If somebody fakes a discount card so they can buy from you instead of your competitors it must, surely be a good thing?

(Of course if all your regular customers did the fake thing you'd be losing money but a) this is very unlikely to happen to any significant extent and b) your customers are probably already shopping with your competitors too and a fake ID will just mean they'll shop with you more frequently and with your competitors less.)

#PragmatismNotIdealism