{"id":3839,"date":"2012-09-18T18:49:25","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T22:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=3839"},"modified":"2012-09-18T18:49:25","modified_gmt":"2012-09-18T22:49:25","slug":"the-new-starbucks-rewards-faster-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/09\/18\/the-new-starbucks-rewards-faster-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 The new Starbucks Rewards (Faster than ever)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been almost three weeks since I posted this rant<\/a> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’ve copied this and pasted it below:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"My<\/p>\n

For starters, rewards are now redeemable for food or drinks. It’s still more of a value to redeem your coupon for a Venti Mocha Frappuccino with Whip versus a $2.95 Breakfast Sandwich but it’s nice to have more options.<\/p>\n

You now earn a free item every 12 transactions instead of 15. This was a big deal to me because the barrier to gold was 30 stars yet you had to earn 15 to get a free reward. My thought was either make gold higher to achieve or make rewards easier. It’s like buying a $30,000 car and having to spend $15,000 for tires. One should cost more or the other should cost less.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 30 star requirement is unchanged to renew gold for the next year.<\/p>\n

Starbucks is finally allowing us to redeem our rewards via our card or mobile payment application. No longer do you have to get a postcard in the mail and remember to bring it with you when you when you visit Starbucks.<\/p>\n

Starbucks is removing the free Soy & Syrup deal. Did anyone actually ever use this? I only drink black coffee so I didn’t before. Maybe not enough customers knew about this? I know on one occasion I was charged for Soy and had to say I’m gold during ordering in order to get the discount. Maybe the POS system never worked with it at the time the card was scanned? I’m not sure.<\/p>\n

The tall drink with whole bean purchase was cool. A tall coffee is easy and costs pennies. Give me a tall drip coffee when I order beans. I think that’s pretty cool. Maybe people were getting lattes and that takes time and more money? I’m not honestly sure but it’s a shame this is going away. A customer is buying a pound of coffee to take home and you’re giving them coffee that’s brewed in-store and showing them what they’ll be missing by brewing at home.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

Two steps forward and one step back. There are nice changes but these two things going away just shows us that Starbucks can’t fully commit to giving a crap about the most loyal customers. I’ll keep visiting Starbucks but, as I’ve said before, Starbucks’ rewards program isn’t worth the effort. It won’t win any new customers and it won’t help retain any new customers. It’s just a way for our favorite coffee company to save credit card transaction fees with some simple incentives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starbucks Melody (not a Starbucks Employee) weighed in<\/a>. Her last section of the post as best and it aligns with what I’m saying here. Long term customers won’t care about these changes but it does simplify things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been almost three weeks since I posted this rant about how I believed Starbucks Rewards was…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-my-thoughts","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-ZV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":731,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2009\/12\/22\/the-starbucks-gold-level-rewards-card-a-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":3839,"position":0},"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":5548,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2016\/03\/01\/linked-starbucks-changing-terms-of-rewards-program-starting-in-april-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3839,"position":1},"title":"Linked: “Starbucks changing terms of rewards program starting in April”","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"March 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"KHON2: People will now have to earn 125 stars for a free item, with each dollar spent being worth two stars \u2013 meaning they have to spend $62.50 to get their free item. That means people who stick with options like plain coffee are losing out. For instance, someone who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Linked"","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3815,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/08\/30\/my-starbucks-reserve-gold-level-whats-the-point\/","url_meta":{"origin":3839,"position":2},"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":1071,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/10\/26\/hey-starbucks-i-really-get-2-hours-of-free-wi-fi\/","url_meta":{"origin":3839,"position":3},"title":"\u2605 Hey Starbucks, I Really Get 2 Hours of Free Wi-Fi?","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"October 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culinary"","block_context":{"text":"Culinary","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/culinary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/182679742-300x224.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4404,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/01\/05\/goodbye-starbucks-gold-status\/","url_meta":{"origin":3839,"position":4},"title":"Goodbye Starbucks Gold Status","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"January 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 In April, I bought an espresso maker and renewed my love for coffee. 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. I went to Starbucks a total\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Coffee"","block_context":{"text":"Coffee","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/coffee\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Goodbye Starbucks Gold Status","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7577\/16018268690_bbae9a2d4d_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7577\/16018268690_bbae9a2d4d_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7577\/16018268690_bbae9a2d4d_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":897,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/06\/14\/understanding-starbucks-up-sell\/","url_meta":{"origin":3839,"position":5},"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. 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