Singaporeans face over 60k queue to claim CDC voucher

On Wednesday (3 January), the Singaporean Government rolled out S$500 (US$376) worth of Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers, providing Singaporean households access to these vouchers for use at participating supermarkets and local businesses.

Following the announcement, several netizens encountered difficulties claiming the voucher on the official site. Many reported heavy traffic causing queues ranging from a few thousand to over 60,000.

The new CDC vouchers, amounting to S$500 per household, signify a S$200 increase from the previous 2023 tranche, as earlier revealed by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in September last year.

Approximately 1.27 million Singaporean households are slated to receive the January 2024 CDC vouchers, incurring a government cost of S$635 million.

This year’s vouchers expand their usability to more supermarkets, including Cold Storage, joining the seven existing chains.

The number of participating merchants has more than doubled, growing from 11,000 in 2021 to over 23,000 presently, as highlighted by DPM Wong.

According to the CDC, as with earlier distributions, the CDC vouchers are accessible for digital claiming at go.gov.sg/cdcv.

Using their Singpass account, one member per household can log in to claim the CDC vouchers on behalf of their entire household.

Upon successful claiming, a voucher link will be dispatched to the applicant’s registered mobile phone number. This link can be shared among other household members for their use.

The validity period for these vouchers extends until December 31, 2024.

However, observations on social media suggest inconvenience in claiming the vouchers. Some users reported being placed in queues of up to 8000 while attempting to claim the voucher.

High demand overwhelms the CDC voucher site

For example, a netizen commented on a CNA Facebook post, mentioning being in a queue of 8000+ on RedeemSG, only to be auto-logged out upon reaching their turn.

After re-logging in, the queue escalated to 20k+.

To avoid peak traffic, the netizen planned to attempt claiming the voucher again the following day.

Other netizens shared similar experiences of long queue times:

Some netizens shared their experiences encountering issues during multiple attempts to claim the voucher, while others found success after trying their luck post-peak lunch hour, managing to acquire the voucher without having to wait in a queue.

“At least shorter than Taylor Swift concert ticket queue”

In the midst of these varied experiences, some netizens humorously compared the queue lengths to the fervor and struggle of securing a Taylor Swift concert ticket, suggesting that, at least, the queues for the vouchers weren’t as lengthy.

However, there were also individuals who were fortunate enough to claim the voucher without any issues within just a few minutes, expressing their luck in the process.

There are comments advice fellow Singaporeans not to rush to claim the voucher, as they still have whole year to claim the voucher