{"id":1071,"date":"2010-10-26T03:12:53","date_gmt":"2010-10-26T08:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=1071"},"modified":"2010-10-26T03:12:53","modified_gmt":"2010-10-26T08:12:53","slug":"hey-starbucks-i-really-get-2-hours-of-free-wi-fi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/10\/26\/hey-starbucks-i-really-get-2-hours-of-free-wi-fi\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 Hey Starbucks, I Really Get 2 Hours of Free Wi-Fi?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I write about Starbucks a lot.<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

In this post<\/a>, 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).<\/p>\n

In that post, I argued:<\/p>\n

My point is that I\u2019m just another bitching customer but I\u2019m 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\u00a0privilege\u00a0and has to do nothing for it. If Starbucks threw in an additional perk like a free extra shot of espresso or free upgrade to\u00a0Clover Brewed coffee<\/a> for the same price is a regular drip coffee, then I\u2019d be super stoked but nope, they\u2019re simply weakening the loyalty program for us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Something that I found interesting yesterday is that a friend, @Krissy314 <\/a>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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0measly\u00a02 hours a day.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0Exclusive\u00a0perks? 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I write about Starbucks a lot. I do appreciate what they’ve done for coffee and somehow managed to…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-culinary","category-rants","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-hh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":897,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/06\/14\/understanding-starbucks-up-sell\/","url_meta":{"origin":1071,"position":0},"title":"\u2605 Understanding Starbucks’ “Up sell”","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"June 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm hoping someone representing Starbucks comments here as I'd like to use longhand to write this down beyond 140 characters which is what I've been using all morning. Starbucks had Gold Card in 2008 as a $20-$25 (can't remember exactly) yearly fee which enabled 10% off all Starbucks Purchases (not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culinary"","block_context":{"text":"Culinary","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/culinary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4071\/4206145570_c6681f745c_o.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3815,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/08\/30\/my-starbucks-reserve-gold-level-whats-the-point\/","url_meta":{"origin":1071,"position":1},"title":"\u2605 My Starbucks Reserve – Gold Level. What’s the point?","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"August 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm through with trying when it comes to Starbucks' Rewards Program. You can read all about the program\u00a0here. I've been a very vocal customer when it comes to their gold card and subsequent gutting of the program. Review of the initial $20 Starbucks Gold Starbucks removes the $20 barrier to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"My Thoughts","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/my-thoughts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG 2374","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/IMG_237411.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":731,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2009\/12\/22\/the-starbucks-gold-level-rewards-card-a-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":1071,"position":2},"title":"\u2605 The Starbucks Gold Level Rewards Card [A Review]","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"While stopping by my most often visited Starbucks store last week in San Francisco, the barista recognized me as \"The gold card guy\" and \"the guy who is in the Christmas Blend fan club\" and asked if I'll have the usual (Grande Christmas Blend). She then checked to see if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culinary"","block_context":{"text":"Culinary","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/culinary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Starbucks Gold Level Rewards","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2746\/4205368653_862924236e.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3839,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/09\/18\/the-new-starbucks-rewards-faster-than-ever\/","url_meta":{"origin":1071,"position":3},"title":"\u2605 The new Starbucks Rewards (Faster than ever)","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"September 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been almost three weeks since I posted this rant about how I believed Starbucks Rewards was becoming less appealing each year since its release in 2008. Today, I received some welcome news from Starbucks. You can view the new Starbucks Rewards program here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.starbucks.com\/rewardsfaster. I've copied this and pasted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"My Thoughts","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/my-thoughts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My Starbucks Rewards\u2122 183304","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/My-Starbucks-Rewards%E2%84%A2-18330411.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3757,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/06\/04\/the-starbucks-concept-store-in-amsterdam-is-amazing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1071,"position":4},"title":"\u2605 The Starbucks Concept Store in Amsterdam is Amazing","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"June 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this year, a blog that I follow about coffee posted some press images of the new Starbucks Store in Amsterdam. It's a concept store to show the very best of Starbucks. 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This was after spending 3 weeks of my Spring in San Francisco drinking great coffee and another 2 weeks in Europe also drinking great coffee\u2026coffee that wasn\u2019t brewed by Starbucks. 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