Earlier this year, I wrote an article which was “I predict: Starbucks Stars Earned by Dollars Spent.” I recommend the “I predict” article partly because I outlined the history of the My Starbucks Rewards program within that article. If you want to look at the evolution of the program from 2008 to present, “I predict: Starbucks Stars Earned by Dollars Spent” is helpful to read.

Just yesterday morning, I wrote a response to a Fortune Magazine article on the question, “Does the Starbucks Rewards program shortchange customers?

I’m going to entertain one more round of MyStarbucksRewards discussion: Coincidentally, right after I published yesterday’s StarbucksMelody article, a number of Starbucks customers noticed a change to their rewards dashboard. Reader Sam generously shared an image, showing that it takes 24 stars to earn a reward:

Screenshot_2015-09-24-19-25-01

Historically, if Starbucks is going to make big changes to the rewards, they make an announcement some time in September or October and then the changes take place later in the year or the first of the following year. September 2012, Starbucks announced that Rewards would go digital and dropped the star requirement from 15 to 12 to earn a reward. In October 2009, Starbucks announced that the first version of the Rewards program where stars are earned to get rewards.

Melody’s guess:

So if I had to guess, I’d say it was a glitch on the part of Starbucks to have those screens appear early on anyone’s Starbucks mobile phone app.

And I’m going to make a guess: Earn a star for every $3 to $5 dollars, and 24 stars to earn a reward. My other guesses include that there will still be bonus stars for at-home coffee. Given how rapidly the Evenings stores are spreading, and that it might (in the future) take up to $120 to earn a reward, I would hope that Starbucks would consider including all the Evenings food items as eligible for a reward.

Your guess is as good as mine. Thank you reader Sam for the image from your phone! The Starbucks Rewards program certainly is ever-changing! That black card in the image below (the black card sitting over the paper post card) was one of the first “Black Cards” that earned customers ten-percent off their purchases at Starbucks, in 2008).

My warning here is that this is just my wild guess! Your guess is as good as mine!

2 - 1 - Ever changing My Starbucks Rewards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit on February 23, 2016: The official new Starbucks Rewards have been announced.