Remember the 2008 Pixar film Wall-E? The premise of the animation is a future world where human beings became lazy and gross due to an over-dependence on robots and automation.

With services like Foodpanda, Deliveroo, and GrabFood becoming practically unavoidable, Singaporeans are fast closing in on such a state.

Food delivery promo codes in Singapore (April 2020) — updated for circuit breaker! 

If you’re going to use these food delivery apps, at least take the opportunity to save a few bucks with a promo code. Be sure to share this article with your fellow lazy friends and coworkers!

Deliveroo promo codes Singapore 

Here are the current promo codes for Deliveroo Singapore, as of April 2020. There used to be way more, but Deliveroo has apparently gotten enough traction to cut down on the promo codes and yet still get orders.

Currently, only HSBC and UOB have promo codes for new and existing users, and you can only get maximum $6 off your order (minimum spend applies).

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Deliveroo has a bit of a reputation as an atas food delivery service, but I think they’re not that bad. If you don’t want to spend too much, you can use the filters to suss out hawker fare, fast food, bubble tea, and the more affordable restaurants. 

Also, if you order food delivery often enough, you can consider signing up for Deliveroo Plus at $14.90/month. It gives you unlimited free deliveries, which could come in handy, especially during this circuit breaker period.

Delivery fees are usually between $3 to $5. That means you only meed to 3 to 5 orders to make it worthwhile. 

Do note, however, that you may need to consolidate a few orders to hit the Deliveroo minimum order of $12, or else you’ll be charged the difference as a “small order fee”.

Foodpanda promo codes Singapore 

Foodpanda is presently the most competitive food delivery player in Singapore, at least when it comes to promo codes. There is a compiled list of the ongoing promotions and credit card partnerships on the Foodpanda site. 

The only thing about the Foodpanda promo codes is that they all have a pretty high minimum spending requirement of $25 or above (for existing users), so it’s more worthwhile to order in a group.

If you’re not a particularly loyal customer, it’s definitely worth it to do a bit of price comparison for the more popular restaurants that are on two or more delivery platforms.

If you want to save on your meal, Foodpanda also has a free delivery filter. Note that free delivery is usually only available if you hit a minimum order e.g. $12 or $15.

Alternatively, Foodpanda supposedly released their Panda Pro subscription plans last month. However, although it’s available on their site, when I tried to sign up, it said it was not available yet.

I’m not sure if it’s because the launch was delayed (ahem, due to circuit breaker, perhaps?) or that it is available in limited quantities and ran out.

Whichever the case, if you’re interested you can always check back and wait for it to become available to you. It’s actually very affordable — the plans start at $3.99 for 5 free deliveries per month.

GrabFood promo codes Singapore

Compared to Foodpanda and Deliveroo, GrabFood’s credit card tie-ups are quite disappointing. Currently, only Citibank and UOB cardholders have perks.

The first 2 promo codes were found online. I couldn’t verify them on the official GrabFood promotions page, I felt they were worth a mention — no harm trying, right?

However, do note that because these were taken from “unofficial” sources, I couldn’t find the expiry dates and any other terms and conditions. In short, I can’t guarantee they’ll work, but you can try your luck if you want to.

Additionally, GrabFood frequently has in-app promotions and campaigns (usually seasonal, like for Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, yada yada).

The promotion mechanics are also quite varied. I’ve seen direct discounts, bundled set meals and free delivery promos. 

Here are some examples:

Most of these discounts require quite a high minimum spend and/or are bundles for 2 or more people. That makes it a little inconvenient, but if you can fulfil the criteria, the discounts are not bad.

Plus, GrabFood’s off-peak delivery fees start from as low as $2+, which is one of the lowest in town. 

Conclusion: Which food delivery service is the cheapest?

Lots of restaurants are on all 3 food delivery platforms, so at this point, it’s no longer a matter of choice. 

To compare the prices, I did an experiment ordering bubble tea on all 3 platforms. For this, my poison of choice was the Woobbee Milk Tea (medium).

The last time I tried this (in Feb 2020), it was the cheapest on GrabFood, because there was no minimum order, and it happened to be off-peak so I scored a low delivery fee ($2.10).

However, it seems that due to the current circuit breaker situation, it’s always peak hour. Also, certain restaurants started implementing a small order fee…

And boy did that add up. Long story short — when I replicated this experiment (in Apr 2020), GrabFood became the most expensive option.

For Foodpanda, there was no change in prices (from Feb to Apr). I had to top up $1.70 to reach the $5 minimum order and pay delivery fees of $3.49 (flat rate).

The total bill came up to $8.49, which is I thought was ridiculous to pay for a cup of boba tea… but is now the cheapest option.

Deliveroo didn’t change their prices either. Although the delivery fee of $3 was the cheapest, there was a small order fee of $5 that jacked the prices up.

Of course, this example is biased in that I tried to order $3 bubble tea. If you meet the minimum order for them all, you’ll find that the menu prices are all comparable and all you’re really comparing are delivery fees.

Bonus: Which credit card should you charge your order to?

If you frequently order in food, it’s worthwhile to check out which credit cards can give you some rebates or miles for your meal.

You’d think that food deliveries would automatically be included under the “dining” category… but currently, only the OCBC365 card explicitly states so.

With it, you can get 6 per cent rebate on all dining expenses, including your GrabFood, Deliveroo and Foodpanda orders.

The other popular dining cards like Citi Cashback and UOB YOLO don’t mention food deliveries, but if you want you can risk it and hope the banks recognise it as “dining”.

But not all hope is lost. The thing about ordering food online is that it can fall under the “online spending” category too. If you’re into cashback, you can consider the DBS Live Fresh Card (5 per cent online spend).

If you prefer miles, there’s the Citi Rewards Card that gives you 10X rewards ($1 = 4 miles) for online shopping.

It’s wise to note that T&Cs are always subject to change, so do read up and/or call the bank before you sign up.

This article was first published in MoneySmart.