The Shady Reason Subway's Sub Club Reward System Was Phased Out

In 2002, Subway did the unthinkable: It surpassed the golden arches of McDonald's as the largest fast food chain in the U.S. by restaurant number. Then, in 2011, it became the largest chain in the entire world (though McDonald's has since reclaimed that title, and Subway has been pushed to third place by Starbucks). Still, not bad for a sometimes controversial brand. Subway has dealt with many public scandals, including the rolling back of a beloved rewards program, the Sub Club.

The Sub Club started all the way back in 1985 and allowed customers to purchase eight subs and get the ninth free. However, it had the rug pulled out from under it in 2005 for one simple reason: Customers were committing fraud. For each six-inch sub purchase, customers were given stamps to affix to the back of a Sub Club card. But not only were people selling the stamps, they were even going so far as to make counterfeits.

On June 2, 2005, Subway announced that it would be dismantling its Sub Club program because counterfeiting was starting to seriously interfere with profits. The end of the promotion was a result of two major technological advances that had developed in the two years before Subway's announcement: higher-quality printers that were capable of making believable Sub Club stamps and the expansion of online auction sites, like eBay, which made it possible for people to sell entire rolls of stamps to the highest bidder.

When presented with possibly fraudulent Sub Club stamps, employees, for the most part, did not confront the customer, so the franchise owners were giving away free subs. But while some restaurant owners were glad to see the end of the Sub Club program for this reason, Subway patrons were up in arms over it, taking to the still-fledgling Internet in the form of blog posts and lighting up message boards with chatter over the phase-out.

In the immediate aftermath of Subway shutting down its Sub Club promotion, the company announced that it would give franchisees the option to adopt a magnetized plastic card program instead, where customers could earn points with every purchase and use those points to get free items. It could also be charged up with money, like a gift card, so that Subway patrons wouldn't even have to worry about cash or credit cards regarding payments.

Subway then launched its loyalty program in February 2018, with everything reward-related loaded up on the Subway app. It called its new program MyWay, with customers receiving $2 per 200 tokens earned (and each dollar spent gained them four tokens). MyWay lasted approximately five years, and in 2023, Subway rolled out its new MVP Rewards program, placing customers in tiers depending on how much they spent at Subway per year. These tiers, which include Pro, Captain, and All-Star, each come with their own set of rewards and benefits. According to Pymnts, Subway's chief operating and insights officer, Mike Kappitt, stated, "Consumer input helped inform our refreshed loyalty program to create a best-in-class experience."