Milford, Conn. – The Subway restaurant chain is ending its decades-old free-sandwich promotion, company officials said Thursday, amid concerns that counterfeiters were creating and selling copies of the restaurant’s proof-of-purchase stamps and cards.
Under the Sub Club promotion, which had run in some form since the 1980s, customers received a stamp for every 6-inch sandwich they bought. A full card of eight stamps could be redeemed for a free sandwich.
But thousands of stamps are for sale at online auction sites, and company officials said franchise owners increasingly were discovering counterfeit stamps.
“It’s possible some of the stamps got by, and we didn’t even know,” company spokesman Kevin Kane said. “It’s possible we don’t even know the extent of it.”
Each restaurant can set its own time frame, but the promotion will be phased out companywide by Oct. 1, Kane said. He said the company had been considering whether the promotion was outdated for some time.
