It is pretty sad to see the grab reward items slowly cutting away the perks and double dipping. Understandably, all good things must come to an end and all business have to be concern about their bottom line.

From 14 Oct 2022, everything will change. In short, there’s nothing much to look forward to except:

Using the Amex Cashback Card, UOB Absolut Card and Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card to top up your grab wallet and using the funds to pay for items that does not usually give you any rewards in the first instance. Better than nothing I suppose but even if you don’t do it, I don’t think you will miss out much on the small “rebate”.

What are the changes?

• From 14 October 2022, you will only get up to 1.2 per cent back in GrabRewards points for every $1 spent on:

Online GrabPay Wallet transactions at Grab’s merchant partners and Grab services or Paylater transactions by Grab.

• You will no longer get the rate of 1.2 per cent back per dollar spent. Instead, each in-store GrabPay Wallet transaction at Grab’s merchant partners will grant you a chance to win up to 25,000 GrabRewards points. So much for a lottery chance.

• Then to put the icing on the cake, you will get 0.3% back in GrabRewards points for every $1 spent on GrabPay Card Food & Beverages (F&B) transactions with the following MCC:

• 5811 – Caterers
• 5451- Dairy Product Stores
• 5814 – Fast Food Restaurants
• 5812 – Eating Places and Restaurants
• 5462 – Bakeries
• 5813 – Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages), Bars, Taverns, Cocktail lounges, Nightclubs and Discotheques
• 5441 – Candy, Nut and Confectionery Stores.

Conclusion

It is not unexpected but I must say I have been spoilt by what could be done during the initial phases where Grab was trying out. Now that they met the targeted crowd, it is time to tighten their belts. Someone has got to tell them that if they expect some form of stickiness after a long time of being entrenched into the ecosystem, they are probably not getting it.

Perhaps their data tells a different story but I’m not tell them how to run a business.