Starting in April, customers will earn customers reward points based on the amount of money they spend at the company, the coffee chain announced Monday.
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People will now have to earn 125 stars for a free item, with each dollar spent being worth two stars – meaning they have to spend $62.50 to get their free item.
Changes are coming to Starbucks’ rewards program that might make you want to stockpile stars before April 1. This is because Gold members will now need 125 stars instead of just 12 to redeem their free menu item.
As you’d imagine, plenty of customers took to social media channels to broadcast their outrage.
In other words: spend more money and you will earn a reward even faster under the new system.
The vast majority of Starbucks customers would earn rewards at the same pace they do today and the total percentage of revenue that Starbucks would provide as rewards would remain constant.
In a FAQ on the Starbucks website, the company said they’re making these changes because they are “always listening to our customers and looking for ways to make your Starbucks experience better”.
If every morning you order a Grande Coffee ($2.10) and a Bacon & Gouda Breakfast Sandwich ($3.75), that’s $5.85 a day-which gets you to a freebie every dozen or so visits.
A problem with the current rewards system is that it can make wait times longer, Ryan said, because some people try to get additional stars by asking to ring up multiple items in an order separately.
I was shocked to learn from company officials that of the 75 million customers who visit Starbucks each month, only 11 million are rewards members. But for customers getting a quick drink to go? That’s loosely equivalent to visiting Starbucks 30 times, if you don’t get any bonus points along the way.
“Any customer making a transaction at the welcome or green level will be automatically awarded gold status for a full year and anyone making a transaction at gold status will also get their gold status extended for a year”, Ryan said. Current loyalty rewards members spend about three times more than non-members.
The coffee chain will also have monthly double star days where Gold members will receive 4 stars for every $1 they spend at Starbucks, instead of the standard single star for every $2 spent.
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In the eyes of the number crunchers at Starbucks, you are what you spend, and they have already doubtlessly accounted for the possibility some of those less lucrative regulars will take flight elsewhere.
