By Zulkiple Ibrahim

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysians are familiar with the word "voucher,」 as recent events have made the meaning of this word significant.

From last month, under the assistance programme known as 1Malaysia People's Aid programme, or BR1M, the government has been distributing cash vouchers of RM500 each to Malaysians whose household income is less than RM3,000 a month.

This assistance programme was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Njib Tun Abdul Razak during the tabling of the Budget 2012 in the Dewan Rakyat last year.

Earlier, the government also distributed RM200 book vouchers to every Malaysian university student in the country to help undergraduates to buy their academic books.

The dictionary meaning of cash voucher is a piece of paper which can be exchanged for cash ,while a book voucher is a piece of paper that can be exchanged for books that have the value of the amount stated on the voucher.

Shopping vouchers

Over the past few years, there appears to be a marketing war between the chains of hypermarkets in the country. Each of the hypermarkets claim to be offering the cheapest price for a particular product.

Some offer points for the amount of items purchased, and a certain number of points qualify for cash vouchers.

Customers are also given discount coupons, with which they can buy certain items at discounts stated on the coupon.

(A coupon is a ticket, or the detachable part of an advertisement entitling the holder to a discount or free gift).

Not to be outdone, the department stores also offer cash vouchers, apart from the Card Day sales where hefty and double discounts are offered.

The voucher scheme in this case works like this. For every RM100 worth of purchases, the customer gets a cash voucher in the value of RM1. The only restriction is that the vouchers cannot be cashed at banks or exchanged for coupons issued by other department stores and supermarkets.

However, customers need to have the department store's card in order to qualify for the points and cash vouchers. A customer needs to apply for the card by paying a fee, and the card comes with a charge that has to be renewed each year.

Failure to renew the card means the customers will not be rewarded with points, hence there will be no cash vouchers.

The plus

Consumer and social activist Fatimah Mansur said the points rewards scheme is good, as customers can swap the cumulative points for vouchers that they can redeem on a later date when buying goods.

"When a customer buys an item priced at RM15 and redeems his cash voucher for RM5, then the price of the item drops by a hefty one-third, and that is cheap.

"Also with the discount coupons, a shopper can buy several specified items with discounts ranging upward from less than RM1," she said.

A customer needs to have the company's shopping card in order to obtain the benefits.

"Each card comes with an annual fee, which is about RM10 or more. Imagine how much the company can get from 1,000 customers. And usually a department store has many branches nationwide.

"But it is also a good concept where shoppers can get something back from what they have spent on goods purchased," she said.

The minus

"But the points reward scheme is actually a ploy to make the shoppers buy more. That is the more you spend on goods, the more points you will get.

"In a way this encourages excessive spending, as you may be compelled to buy items which you do not really need. It is also a strategy to make the shoppers return to the same hypermarket or department store.

"For example, instead of buying a bottle of detergent you may end up buying two bottles in order to get more points," she said, adding that the discount coupons are item-specific and cannot be used to buy other products at discounted price.

Fatimah said most of the offers that appeared in advertisements were attractive, but it is best for customers to read the fine print to avoid disappointment.

She said there were always terms and conditions that accompany the discount offer.

The offers that appear in advertisements are attractive until you read the terms and conditions which are usually in the small print.

"One example: the coupon says there is a discount for the purchase of a toothbrush, but it has to be in a pack of three," she said.

Fatimah advised shoppers to be aware of the date (period of validity) as well as other terms and conditions, such as the type of flavours, sizes of merchandise and specific store locations as printed on the coupons.

Customer experience

Lee said he had some discount coupons from a hypermarket chain that offered discounts of up to RM1 for a number of household items.

"But during a shopping trip, I managed to save only less than RM1, as most of the coupons could not be used, either because their validity dates had expired or because I was forced to buy more than one of the same items in order to qualify (for the discount).

"I also received cash vouchers after shopping at a department store during a festive season. However, the vouchers can only be used for two days after the festival date.

"I went to the same department store a few days after the festival, but when I produced the gift vouchers at the cash counter, the cashier pointed out that the validity date had expired.

"I had myself to blame for not reading the fine print," said Lee, adding that printed on the vouchers were the dates on which they were valid.

Using vouchers is a novel way to shop, but consumers need to be wary of the fine print stating terms and conditions, as well as the expiry date of the vouchers.