The Waterloo Engineering Society has unveiled a new student deals program where Engineering Society members will receive discounts and other specials from locations in Waterloo. To receive these discounts, students must visit the Engineering Society Office in CPH-1327 with their WatCard, where a staff member will verify that they are fee-paying members of the Engineering Society and provide them with a sticker that proves their membership. Students who haven’t paid fees will not be eligible, and if a student visits the office to return their fees, the sticker will be removed from their card if they previously received one.
The idea was first discussed by then newly-elected Vice-President Operations Angela Stewart and Vice-President Finance David Birnbaum in the summer of 2011, but spent some time in stasis before being introduced again as one of Birnbaum’s election platform points for his presidency of the Society in the last fall term. In winter, a call went out for volunteers to work on special initiatives for the Engineering Society, one of which was for the discount deals project. Since then, engineering students Aryn Cain and Tiffany Mah have been working with businesses to set the project in motion.
The primary focus so far has been targeting businesses in the University Shops Plaza and Campus Court, however, in the upcoming terms they hope to reach out to more businesses in the areas around the university. The University Commons plaza at University and King and places in Uptown Waterloo are likely to be upcoming places for future partnerships.
This deal sounds great for engineering students, but businesses also get an advantage from participating in the program. The direct benefit received is the form of advertisement through the Engineering Society website, periodic advertisement through other media, and discounted rates in The Iron Warrior. The indirect benefit, which is perhaps greater, is that when faced with a choice of places to take their business, Engineering Society members will likely opt for the one at which they receive a direct discount. This provides a good set of potential customers to the businesses participating, a factor that’s increasingly important in a fierce business environment like the two plazas next to campus.
The Engineering Society is hoping this will prove a successful pilot for more continuous services for the Society to offer, as a supplement to the event-based services like resumé critiques that are currently well-known by the student body. Engineering Society “A” President David Birnbaum believes continuous services allow for easier explanation of the benefits of the Society, providing greater awareness to students of the initiatives they are currently undertaking. “The real way to affect students is to communicate things that the Engineering Society offers,” Birnbaum suggested. Using metrics from the initial round of businesses this term, they hope to be able to advertise the program better to future businesses by demonstrating how successful it has been at previous ones.
Four locations in the University Shops Plaza are participating in the launch of the program:
• Kickoff: Free basket of waffle fries with purchase of two pitchers from Sunday to Wednesday
• Molly Bloom’s Irish Pub: 15% off all food items
• Sweet Dreams Teashop: 10% off all items
• Vegetarian & Fast Food Restaurant: 10% off all food items (cash only)
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