So Many Seniors Crowded in Community Centres to Print CDC Vouchers, Some Had to Come Back Later

By now, you’ve probably heard about how all Singaporean families can now redeem $300 worth of Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers.

For the unaware, $150 can be spent in participating supermarkets, while the $150 can be spent on merchandise purchased from participating hawkers and heartland merchants.

And as of 10.30 pm on Tuesday (3 January), over 450,000 families have already received the newly-issued CDC vouchers.

On the other hand, while most of us might already be used to redeeming our vouchers with a few swipes on our phones, some of our elders might still be more accustomed to using paper hardcopy vouchers.

In fact, many seniors took to lining up at the Community Centres (CCs) near their homes over the past few days to receive hardcopy versions of their vouchers.

When reporters from Lianhe Zaobao visited various CCs in the Yishun and Canberra areas yesterday (4 January) morning, snaking lines of people queuing to get the hardcopy CDC vouchers were seen at the CCs.

Most of the people lining up to do so were senior citizens.

The snaking queues also meant that those who wanted to receive hardcopy versions of their vouchers had to wait in line for extended periods of time.

But as they say, there’s nothing Singaporeans like more than free stuff and queuing, which might make the queuing process feel a little less torturous.

In particular, individuals had to line up for an average of 30 minutes to an hour at the CCs in order to get their vouchers.

But the queue was much longer for those who tried to get their printed vouchers at Canberra CC, for the CC’s network server was down for around an hour at 10 am yesterday (4 January).

And here’s what these seniors have to say about obtaining their vouchers.

Some Went Back Home and Returned Afterwards When the Queue Was Shorter

When speaking to Zaobao, a man named Li Mingping (Hanyu pinyin) shared that he brought three residents to Canberra CC at 9.55 am on 4 January to get the hardcopy version of their CDC vouchers.

However, he was advised by the staff at the CC to return at a later time.

Mr Li, a representative from the Residents Committee, added that he saw around 40 or 50 people lining up to receive their vouchers. Most of them were senior citizens.

He also shared that the staff members at the CC put up a notice regarding this issue. A contact number to get in touch with the CC was also provided in the notice.

According to Mr Li, the queue was much shorter when he returned to the CC at 12 pm that day. He was able to redeem the vouchers within 40 minutes of reaching the CC.

Some Seniors Keen On Learning How to Redeem Vouchers With Their Smartphones

On the other hand, some seniors seem interested in learning how to get their CDC vouchers on their smartphones.

Song Ximei (Hanyu pinyin), a housewife who queued up at Nee Soon East CC, ended up learning how to redeem her CDC vouchers digitally on her smartphone after an Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) ambassador at the CC taught her how to do so.

She explained that although she has a Singpass account, she is not used to surfing the Internet with her phone.

Regarding the nature of the vouchers, Ms Song said that the hardcopy CDC vouchers issued previously were more convenient to use and share with her family members.

However, she added that she is willing to try and learn how to use the digital vouchers issued this time round.

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Technical Difficulties at NTUC FairPrice As Well

Unfortunately, it seems like CCs aren’t the only places that have been experiencing technical difficulties regarding CDC vouchers.

At the NTUC FairPrice outlet at Northpoint City, Zaobao reporters also saw similar notices that were put up at the cash registers of the outlets.

The notices informed customers that the store is currently experiencing technical difficulties, meaning that customers cannot pay for their items with CDC vouchers for the time being.

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Featured Image: Imgur + Lianhe Zaobao