UC To Distribute Discount Cards

Hoping to expand the number of discounts available to students at Square businesses, the Undergraduate Council (UC) will be issuing new student discount cards to all undergraduates this January.

Many shops in the Square already offer reduced prices to students who show their Harvard IDs at the checkout. The UC’s new card is designed to publicize these existing offers while adding new discounts at popular Square destinations, according UC Vice President Matthew L. Sundquist ’09.

“The discount card will be filling a need that has been here for a long time,” said UC Representative Maia Usui ’11, who currently spearheads the project.

In order to redeem the discounts—which range from free hot fudge on ice cream orders at Herrell’s to $5 value meals on select days at Qdoba—students must present the new Crimson-colored cards when making their purchases.

The estimated cost to produce the 6,700 cards—which will be delivered to undergraduate mailboxes next year—and informational brochures is around $2,000, Usui said. The UC enlisted Harvard Media Ventures to design the card.

Sundquist and other UC members began planning the project this summer. Some logistics still need to be ironed out, as a number of Square businesses contacted by The Crimson said they were unaware of the new discount card, despite being included in the UC’s list of participating stores.

Managers at City Sports, Dickson Brothers Co., FedEx Kinko’s, and J. Press specifically said they were unaware of being in any negotiations with the UC. These businesses already offer discounts to students with Harvard IDs.

According to Sundquist, UC members involved in the project sent letters to Square business over the summer asking if they had discounts available to Harvard students. They followed up with stores that did not have discounts to see if one could be arranged, and asked those with pre-existing offers if the UC could publicize them to the student body.

Sundquist added that since the summer, some businesses may have changed their discounts.

The UC plans to add to the current list of discounts, available on the Council’s Web site, and is in talks with other businesses, according to Usui.

Jonathan M. Padilla ’11 said he likes the idea of the discount card and the options it will open up.

“Annenberg food is bad as it is, and I’m in favor of a card that would encourage me to eat elsewhere,” Padilla said.