The company has partnered with Spotify, The New York Times and Lyft, offering Starbucks’ rewards program members benefits with those companies and offering customers of those companies opportunities to earn Starbucks stars. It also reassures gold members that under the new program they will earn rewards just as fast or faster than they do today.
Advertisement
Starbucks has announced that its changing the way it does rewards, and the net result to many customers is that they’ll have to spend more before getting a “free” coffee as thanks for their business. Execs have said they believed the system would be beneficial to customers overall and that it was consumers’ “number 1 most requested change to the rewards program”. So you’ll be spending $62.50 to get there.
But for many of Starbucks’ 11 million-plus U.S. Rewards members, the changes will be as unwelcome as they are unexpected.
For instance, someone who regularly pays $2 for a regular drip coffee would now earn a free item after spending around $24 over 12 visits.
Starbucks said that current Green and Gold members will retain their current status. But based on the article by the Consumerist, should the tweeted photo was proven legit, it is looking like customers are about to enjoy their frequent visit to the store more with this new loyalty program.
According to the company’s “Ideas in Action” blog, when Gold members earn 125 Stars, they’ll earn a reward that they can redeem for just about anything on the menu.
Gold customers earn a Star for every transaction, which averages about $5, he said. The coffee giant says it expects the customer payouts will stay about the same under the new program. Monthly “double star days” will also reportedly help customers collect rewards at a quicker rate. Such instances account for one per cent of all transactions, he said.
Advertisement
Attention Starbucks customers, the change you have been asking for is coming. “I like other small coffee shops, and I like to support them, but you can’t get a blonde roast like this anywhere else”.
