I write about Starbucks a lot. I do appreciate what they’ve done for coffee and somehow managed to remain not too evil in my list of evil corporations. They employee a lot of people and take care of their workers. Starbucks has been good in my eyes but this rocky road of a loyalty program known as the Gold Level Rewards Card has me scratching my head each time I take a peak into how they’re doing.
In this post, I explained that Starbucks’ new free wifi for all program was great for coffee drinkers everywhere. It was long overdue but it hurt the tremendous value that was “2 hours of free wifi every day” which was a perk of having a gold card (both paid at $25 a year in 2008/2009 and the new free card you get for drinking a lot of coffee).
In that post, I argued:
My point is that I’m just another bitching customer but I’m a loyal customer who felt that free wi-fi was a good thank you for dropping in twice a day and buying coffee. Now, everyone gets that privilege and has to do nothing for it. If Starbucks threw in an additional perk like a free extra shot of espresso or free upgrade to Clover Brewed coffee for the same price is a regular drip coffee, then I’d be super stoked but nope, they’re simply weakening the loyalty program for us.
Something that I found interesting yesterday is that a friend, @Krissy314 has entered the growing club of Gold level members at Starbucks. Sure, she had drink a load of coffee but now she’s being rewarded. The thing is, her welcome pamphlet looked identical to the one I received over a year ago.
In a very prominent line (2nd from the top), Starbucks let’s her know that a “Gold Level Rewards” member gets 2 hours of free WiFi a day. Great! That’s really good news but isn’t that less than everyone else? If a very loyal Dunkin’ Donuts customer walks into Starbucks with his laptop, he gets free Wi-Fi all day long while Krissy who drinks so much coffee it should be a crime, has to deal with a measly 2 hours a day.
In actuality, Starbucks just needs to update their promotion card but they like having more lines on that pamphlet instead of removing them but as I said in my “up-sell” post, Starbucks has weakened the loyalty program. Exclusive perks? Ha! Do you mean that email I get from Starbucks that says “Click here to buy our exclusive Starbucks Reserve Blend Coffee” and it’s a link to a site that everyone else can see as well or buy in the store that day? Maybe it’s the coupons that I’ve never been sent? I do get my birthday drink so that’s pretty cool.
Basically, two of the perks on this plan are non-existent. It’s time they upgrade the program’s promotional text with something a bit more accurate.
Ummmm….. a 2 week break? Thus far that’s not working for you….
You’ve already posted three more blogs… and you’re constantly on FB… not that I’m complaining ‘cause that would make me a hypocrite (as I am now one of your techno-followers in this cyber world – though I have to say I am no “technie” – I do enjoy a good story and if it’s great…. well then I’ll become your biggest cyber stalker fan….).
I find it hard to believe that for someone who lives his life out loud via the social media networks that a two week break wouldn’t almost completely destroy your motivation for living a relatively “normal” life. Isn’t this world your normalcy? Most of us strive for normalcy – regardless of what that normalcy is and are only disenchanted when our normal world (whether real or cyber) is unbalanced, unnoticed or worse – nonexistent… makes one wonder if there is such a thing as “balance” or “normalcy” at all.
So this break is not a break…. I’d dare say it’s perhaps another mild warning to your followers that if you are not recognized or acknowledged you could quite possibly disappear (since you’ve only received 5 comments and 11 reactions since the beginning of October)…If that were to happen, what would become of your “normalcy” and those that follow? I ask only because I am new to this world – and I’m not sure if I like it yet – I still have time though to weigh my options – I’m not here to judge but rather to gain a different perspective of what our world has to offer…. perhaps I should start my own blog in your absence. Though right now, you don’t seem “absent” – more like delayed…. Which brings me back to you taking a “break”…. This is a relative term used for more often than not for relationships and work…. And though you stated a 2 week “break” – I believe you are going with the traditional definition in that you have instead merely interrupted your normalcy…
This may be one of the longest responses ever received on this blog. First of all, thanks for following. This isn’t my first break but it is my first one with a purpose as in I’m not doing it because I’m overwhelmed. This break is by choice and it means I have a chance to do something cool with my break. In my post about 2 weeks off I said:
The great thing about breaks is that my blog and Flickr stream will grow more active. I still have something to say and blog posts are far more easier to curate and control than what goes to Twitter.
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I appreciate the argument to my break but, honestly, that’s why I take steps back. It’s important to experience life without grabbing your phone to post an update and it takes a few days before I stop having the urge and I end up much happier.
Everyone should go without TV, alcohol, the web and sometimes food for a few weeks. IT’s what inspires my yearly fasting that I’ll be doing once i’m back home. You have to push yourself and experience awkwardness and pain to truly feel alive. The break is merely a way to shock my system.
The truth is, my drop in comments is a result of leaving San Francisco. It’s worth a longer post later but it’s a bubble there and once you leave, your geek cred and traffic drops quite a bit. my replies, comments and new friend requests dropped. It’s just a part of leaving the bubble. Most of my friends and family email me their comments to my posts. I rarely get comments here.
Then again, that doesn’t really bother me. This blog, my photos and my capturing of moments is a selfish thing. I selfishly do it and recount my adventures weeks & years later. The reply I got from someone I’ve never met congratulating me on a mundane task like showering is a moment in time that quickly passes. The feeling is an instant and then it’s gone but the photo I took while enjoying a coffee in Amsterdam can be recounted for years to come and it’ll always make me smile.
Elevating the heart and mind is my pursuit. I’m only archiving in public because the ones I love can follow and enjoy the adventure as I am but years from now, I can continue to enjoy the adventure and that’s why I do it.
Thanks for commenting!
Sooo a few observations here on your retort.
This blog is accessible 24/7 regardless of where you are in the world. With this said, I don’t understand how “…once you leave, your geek cred and traffic drops…”. I would think that your followers would follow you no matter your geographic location…. perhaps I’m still naive to this world of 24 hour access and it’s something I must “test” on my own time….
Next, you say that this is “a selfish thing.” Selfish defined by Webster: concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one’s own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others……
In some of the posts that I’ve read thus far you offer advise, direction and a travel guide to some great locations – both in written and photographic form. So to say that you are selfish is saying that you have no regard for those around you, that follow you or simply exist in the social media. Kind of a broad and generic statement for someone who has accomplished all that you have in this world…
As for “elevating your heart and mind is my pursuit” — as Van Gogh addressed it: “I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.”
Again just a few observations from a newbie to this social media scene… Don’t mind me — this is how I learn! :-)
I realized early on that I must live in SF once to grow in this field and that’s what I did but it’s not somewhere I wanted to be forever. There are many people who think very similar to the Hollywood metaphor that if you’re an actor and NOT in LA, you’re not an actor. It’s very similar to that in tech. So many companies in tech that don’t get press coverage often have luck turn around once they relocate to the valley. It’s an expensive move but for some reason, it works.
I don’t think that I myself am selfish but I feel that this blog and my photography is. I do less reading than I do writing. I put out a lot more than I absorb so it makes me come across as a do gooder know it all to so many people that follow.
I’ve stopped worrying about that and accept the fact that if no one reads or comments, I’ll still do it because I enjoy it. I think it’s a selfish thing to blog here so that’s why i said that.