About 14 months ago, Starbucks launched a program called a Gold Card. Under the 2008-2009 version of the Gold Card, officially announced in October, and available for customers to purchase as of November 4, 2008, customers paid $25.00 annual fee to receive ten-percent off all their purchases for the year. Click here for the official Starbucks press release about the 2008 version of the Gold Card. Additionally, customers received various coupons in the mail, available only to Gold Card holders. This was a fabulous program for the highly loyal customer buying multiple items at a time, and frequenting Starbucks perhaps a dozen a more times in one month. For the infrequent customer who came in, bought a soy latte, once in a week, this offer made no sense. Unfortunately, only about 20% of the Starbucks customer base falls under the “super regular” category, though they spend in numbers far in excess of their 20 percent proportion of total customers.
Most people paid $25 for the Gold Card. Three very small groups of customers received free Gold Cards from Starbucks. (See USA Today article about Gold Card). First a few thousand customers were sent Gold Cards early – presumably the highest spending group of customers. Second, stores received three Gold Cards that the store manager could give away to a favorite customer. Third, a very very tiny group of customers who were highly loyal mystarbucksidea.com participants received their Gold Card free for their loyal participation at mystarbucksidea.com.
Overwhelmingly, hundreds of thousands of people paid $25 for their Gold Card. Starbucks has never told us how many people bought the card, but I’ve often guessed that the number was above half a million but below one million.
For many people, their Gold Card discount of ten percent off their purchases comes to an end on January 5, 2010. Starbucks is eliminating the old version of the Gold Card in favor of a new version called “My Starbucks Rewards”. Your Gold Card discount ends one year from purchased and activated, or January 5, 2010, whichever is the later date of the two. However, in all cases, the old version of the Gold Card with ten-percent discount ends on December 31, 2010.
The new version of the rewards program allows participants to collect “stars” per transaction, and upon reaching 15 “stars,” the participant is mailed a coupon for a free beverage.
The new version of the program consolidates the previous registered card rewards (free soy milk, free syrups, 2 hours of wi-fi, tall drink when buying one pound of beans) into one card. No longer does anyone have to carry two cards.
Of course the obvious problem with the new program is that the reward is a “per transaction” and has no relationship to dollars spent. Thus, there is now a disincentive to grab a second item at the register. In addition, the best case scenario is a delayed beverage coupon. Some will get lost in the mail no doubt, forgotten, destroyed… you name it. The new program is still a great program for the group of customers who don’t buy very much and just want their tall soy vanilla latte and to be in and out the door. However, the new program is a definite step down in benefits for the “super regular” group of customers.
For more conversation on the new My Starbucks Rewards, be sure to visit the Starbucks blogs. There have been 3 official blog posts about it:
- October 30, 2009 – Introducing My Starbucks Rewards
- November 6, 2009 – In Response to Your Comments on My Starbucks Rewards
- December 24, 2009 – My Starbucks Rewards – Your Ideas!
On a personal note, I’ve been a Starbucks customer long enough that a change of reward programs isn’t going to make me stop going to Starbucks. I don’t change my stripes so easily. I was around long before anyone dreamed up the idea of a ten-percent discount, and I will be around afterward. One single year of a ten-percent discount after being a customer for about 18 to 20 years (I don’t remember when I first found Starbucks but I moved to Seattle in 1989) represents just a “fluke” year in my history. The new program will perhaps help me control how much money I spend at Starbucks since there is now a reason not to grab a second item at the register. No more buying 8 pounds of coffee at once and using it for twitter contests: The new program will reward a large purchase still with “one star” unless the register barista rings each item separately, which is only going to cause headaches at the register. In an odd way, I’m looking forward to Starbucks giving me a reason to spend less. I spent more, sometimes to excess, with the ten-percent off discount. 2010 will be the year that StarbucksMelody doesn’t spend so much at Starbucks.
And now, the doors open to your comments on the new My Starbucks Rewards program…
P.S. I had a previous blog post on My Starbucks Reward when it was first announced. Click here for the previous blog topic.
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According to starbucks.com, my first free drink coupon was earned on Jan 12, and expires Apr 12 (careful of those expiration dates!). Wonder how long it’ll take for them to actually mail it to me and for me to receive it?
(Reply to Judy) –
According to My Starbucks Rewards, I should have 3 free drink coupons coming to me, but not one has actually arrived yet. The first was earned on 1-8-2010 (and expired 4-8). I’m a little surprised how long it is taking to get to me considering that I’m in Seattle. If I don’t see it soon, it’ll be a little disappointing.
So, I received my first special ‘gold’ offer under the new rewards program. Did anyone else receive a postcard in the mail for the new skinny latte promotion? It was for a free tall beverage.
I think we need to start a thread on who receives which offers and special coupons, so we know what we should be receiving at the gold level.
I find it hard to believe when it is seen how many Starbucks coupon are sent via mail that some will not get stolen. My husbands birthday was yesterday but he hasn’t seen his Birthday drink card yet. I told they are mailed weekly so maybe he’s in the next batch!
Hayley: Thanx for the info. about what you’ve recvd (free tall beverage). Considering I missed 95% of all the ‘special Gold rewards’ thru-out last yr., with my registered Gold card, I really would like to keep up with what’s sent….. btw, Sbux became well informed about what I did not receive thru-out the yr and had no explanation. I was finally sent 4 drink coupons…missed everything else except the b.day drink and VIA’s (back in 3/08) when they were coming out in the Chicago area. Appreciate your info….
(Reply to DeniseR & Hayley) – Much to my surprise, I’ve come home to find a Free Perfect Oatmeal coupon now too. It is the exact same style and design as the free drink coupon and has the My Starbucks Reward logo/language on it (Black cup with star atop it, and looks like a gold circle).
I had the thought of uploading an image of these two coupons and creating a “keeping track of coupons” thread. One thing that concerns me about that idea is that people would then use that image to create fake coupons and expect free stuff. I saw that happen with the Vivanno coupons last summer.
Starbucks sent out some lovely heavy weight cardstock Vivanno coupons to Gold Card holders and somewhere people had an image of this coupon online. I saw people walking into my local store using the coupon – clearly off of printer paper – and my local store honoring it at times.
It’s a shame but Starbucks can’t control coupons at all, which is not entirely their fault.
One more thing: The fine print section of these 2 coupons is slightly humorously written:
“And now by popular demand, the fine print: Offer valid through 3-7-2010… One perfect oatmeal per person with this coupon, which must be cheerfully handed over at time of visit…”
Can someone answer me if I load money on my gold card where is the actual cash if it isn’t in Starbucks’ bank account?
Melody: Thanx, too, for your info! Now, I will really keep track of what “rewards” I receive…or, more likely, those I don’t!
(to Steve) Why wouldn’t the money be in Starbucks’s bank account? You paid it to them, didn’t you? In accounting parlance, I suppose it would be in some sort of “Accounts Payable” account, and transferred into their “Revenue” account when you use the card, but that’s just playing games with numbers. The actual cash should be sitting in their bank account.
I knew that Judy and that’s why I don’t want to put money on my card. Why should I give Starbucks free use of my money for drinks I may order later? If Starbucks convinces just 100,000 people (and I’m sure it will be more ) to load just $50. on their cards Starbucks gets quite a sizable interest free loan. And a lot will use their reload feature giving Starbucks automatic interest free loans. Someone made the comment that Starbucks doesn’t have the money but I can’t find the comment (maybe it was removed) and I just wanted someone else to confirm my suspisions. Thanks Judy!
I found it Judy and don’t know how I missed it. On the 13th Rhinedone said “The Thing about loading money onto a Starbucks card is that Starbucks doesn’t see a penny of that until you use the card for a purchase.” I knew that wasn’t true but I wanted someone to confirm it. Thanks again Judy!
@ melody: I can understand about uploading the images perhaps you can put a void stick note somewhere on it, them people couldn’t reproduce it but you could still use it. I got a free oatmeal coupon a number of months back. I suppose they send different coupons out depending on what market you are in. mine was for the tall skinny latte’s but it just says a free drink, though I assume they mean one of those.
(To anyone) – Did anyone else get the oatmeal coupon in the mail?
@denise r – well now I wouldn’t be so sure….Melody’s coupon is for oatmeal and expires March 7th. I never received that one. But the latte one I received also expires March 7th and is black and gold postcard as well. The front of mine has gold coffee mug with some clouds and says “On the lighter side of delicious.”
My first assumption was that they send out different coupons to different markets. I’m in Tucson, AZ and we have the oatmeal but I’m not sure it’s popular here as on a cold, rainy Seattle morning (wow that sounds nice!!!!)
But also maybe Starbucks does collect a history on your transactions and is catering the coupons that way. So if Melody buys more baked goods than I, she would be sent that.
I did not get the oatmeal one I guess because I don’t order that so it would probably be a wasted coupon on me but, since I do order thier drinks, I did get the latte one. Since there are 3 choises, I sort of feel like those lips on that Dairy Queen TV commercial, which one shall I get?
(Reply to Hayley and others) – I bet for the oatmeal coupon the card rewards had some way of figuring out how much money (total) a person spends. Bet it’s based on high spending…
You’re right that we almost need a “What coupons have you received?” thread. I haven’t seen anyone say yet that they got a free drink coupon from the MSR. There must be some in the mail soon!
(Reply to Steve) – The oatmeal coupon probably had to do with HOW MUCH money in total you’re spending, not WHAT you’re spending it on. The fact that you order only lattes, likely makes no difference. I’m quite sure Starbucks can figure out who (w/registered cards) spends a lot of money in their stores.
That is probably true… I have earned enough stars for my first free beverage and am on my way to a 2nd but I am definitely not up to over 3 already like Melody.
I don’t purchase food on every visit.
My usual purchase fluctuates between a grande non-fat latte, or a grande bold coffee. I purchase baked goods about once a week. I also usually get a travel mug or at home mug once a month and some random goodies and sometimes I get caramel sauce drizzled on my latte for something sweet. I do have the occasional frap, or new lattes when they come out.
I usually visit once a day, sometimes I go twice but that not the usual. So, I agree with Melody, that the very frequent visitors would get different coupons…it’s too bad they didn’t send you both!
Oh and I do always use a registered card when I go.
I really do not think it is based on how much you spend and a I certinly do not spend a fraction of what Melody or Hayley spends but last year I got every coupon, even the ice cream, one except the iced thingie I believe and this year I don’t think I even had 1 latte but do enjoy their flavored beverages so I got the latte coupon and I’m sure if I had that oatmeal I would have gotten that one too so I think it is based more on what you order but as my Mom used to say “who knows blue nose”.
I really feel left out! The only coupon I’ve gotten is the one hidden under the gold gold (gold^2?) card.
They didn’t even remember my birthday!
(sniff….)
Today I, like Hayley (I’m in the Chicago area) recvd the drink coupon….based on the 3′skinny’ drinks. I looked closely at the small print and it is for a ‘tall beverage’ at Sbux…… there’s no indication it needs to be one of those 3, but it IS for a TALL drink….(unlike previous drink coupons, as the b.day, which are for ANY drink, any sz). There is some exp. date on it, but I don’t remember what…..
As for the oatmeal??? I purchase it sometimes, so….who knows. I DO think a thread keeping track of what ‘golden’ rewards go out would be a good idea.
I also received the free tall drink coupon yesterday. At first I thought it was only for the Skinny drinks, but I ordered my usual, no problem. I had tried one of the skinny drinks the other day and it was pretty bad.
I’ve had a lot of free drinks lately with two surveys, my coupon that came with my Rewards card, and now this coupon that came in the mail.
Denise… it says right under “each under 100 calories” in black print “start your day with one of these delicious tall drinks” so I assume it is only for 1 of those 3 but Sara said above she got a tall of another drink.
The expiration date is March 7th and under the drink logo in teeny tiny print that I needed a magnifing glass to read. I suspect Starbucks expects some people to forget about the expiration dates and think the free drick is forever. Don’t know how they expect the baristas to read the teeny tiny print though.
Thanx Steve…..I think that’s just part of their advertising for the 3 skinny drinks…. since it says “tall beverage”…. and also since Sara has already redeemed it with no trouble. Had it been for ONLY one of those drinks, I think it would’ve been much more explicit.
New Starbucks Gold Card Sucks!
I spent $2,350 last year on my (10%-Off) Gold Card and think the new “program” is a total scam! And, the fact that Starbucks continues to only show 7 days of activity under their “View Transactions” web button makes it virtually impossible to accurately track the collection of the stars required to receive these supposedly “free” drinks. Please forgive this conspiracy theory, but one can’t help but speculate that this was a very conscious decision designed to overly complicate these transactions and confuse their best customers.
Today I received a $1.00 off on oatmeal and the ‘new hot pannini. says it can be used all day, every day, until March 8th. I also received the coupon for a ‘free perfect oatmeal, looking just like the black ‘drink’ cards. So???? that’s that……
Denise…I got the same $1. off in the mail with a letter saying that it was for my MSI envolvement and that the the distribution was “limited” so I figured I was in a special group. I found out that they were distributed in the Sunday paper so guess the distribution wasn’t so “limited”. I did however not get that free coupon.
Well Steve, I did not get the $1 off coupon at all for “my MSI involvement”. I guess I’m not very involved in MSI.
I desperately need a thread that is just “talk about coupons” … Would you guys want that?
I just received the coupon today for the free perfect oatmeal. Same black and gold card stock as the tall latte one I received.
That coupon that I thought was sent to me because of MSI and Cecile said the distribution was “limited” was in the Sunday paper.
Looks like the coupon dam broke today! I got a coupon for a free oatmeal as well as one for a tall drink (sure hope that isn’t the “free drink” I supposedly earned from having stars in my eyes…. er, cup).
Just to report, I also received two coupons. One for a “free drink” and one for “Perfect”, I mean Quaker Oatmeal! Is Starbucks trying to appease the “Previous” Gold Card holders???
I also received a free oatmeal card today.
Melody: YES YES YES, a thread keeping track of the coupons IS needed. It’d be great if you do it.
So, so far in the new gold program I’ve recvd: my b.day drink copon, the coupon attached under the new gold Gold card, a free tall drink, with reference to the 3 skinny drinks, the free oatmeal, and now the $1.00off all day every day, on the oatmeal and panini….which exp. in March. (I think you will receive the $1.00 off thing…in time. It tok a pckg that Cecile sent to me in early Dec. 3 wks to get to me…)
I just accumulated my 15th star today, so I’ll let you know how long it takes for me to receive my free drink coupon in the mail.
I have over 15 stars, too. we’ll see.
Since the Duetto Starbucks card is not eligible to earn stars, I tried to split a transaction to use $1 from my black Gold card and the rest from Duetto Starbucks. The barista, who has been SM for that store for over ten years, told me they couldn’t do that!
Is this an anomaly? A communication problem? Do I really have to empty the Gold card and then load $1 on it at a time? Or get a whole slew of $1 cards and register them?
Incidentally, how do I insert a picture in my posts? Thanks!
Melody told me but I forgot but as soon as I find where she told me I’ll tell you unless she beats me to it. I do remember that it was so easy even a cave man could do it…I did! And she did it right after I did mine.
I assume it’s via some kind of tag in the text of the post (like or some such).
Aha! That tag did not print. Does that mean that all HTML tags are recognized? If so, this should be bold .
One last try, sorry for so many posts, this is the last one, I promise!
I found it Judy so here it is: you need to go to gravatar.com and set up a picture there. The link is on the side blog roll of this website. Hope it works for you.
Thanks, Steve!
You’re welcome Judy but I was expecting a better picture
(giggle) that’s the best I could do on the spur of the moment!
Got my first “real” free drink coupon today, “only” two weeks after the site said I earned it
I truly know this is more than likely a very tired subject…but for those who are oppossed, as I am, to pre-loading the rewards card with money, I have found a way around it …sort-of ….I’ve pre-loaded my card with $10.00 and each time, since the new rewards have started, I ask the barisita to deduct just .25cents from my reward card and pay the balance as I wish. If my math serves me well $10.00 should last for 40 visits … I know this might seem like a hassle … but it truly isn’t….. just my two cents!
Hi, I’m a Gold Card holder and how will I receive my free drink? i read frequently asked questions and the answer is “We will send you postcards that you can bring into stores to redeem for your free drinks.” However, I’ve already earned 15 starts and waited six weeks, but i still didn’t get any coupon from Starbucks. Also I’ve contacted you three times, and I didn’t get any respond. I’m really disappointed about this. Why Starbucks don’t answer my mail？I will not get this free coupon any more？？？ Please reply my, thanks
Hi @Hsien This blog is NOT a Starbucks blog, FYI, it’s a fan site. You should be using http://www.starbucks.com/ to ask your questions not this fan blog.
here is Starbucks contact information:
http://www.starbucks.com/customer-service/contact
Here is where you should have your gold card information:
https://www.starbucks.com/card/manage
You’ll need to create an account if you have not already
But to answer your question the drink cards should come to the address you have registered to your gold card. You can login to your account and see how many you have earned and check your address.
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