First and foremost, what I’m about to write in this article is NOT yet verified with Starbucks. If it becomes verified at a later date, I will update this article and let you know.
One hot topic on MyStarbucksIdea.com and on social media is how MyStarbucksRewards works. Lots of people want increasing stars in relationship to larger spending. In other words, if I spend $60 to buy a Sowden coffee brewer, why should that get me the same one star as if I bought one single cookie or cake pop. Under the current system, you earn one star per transaction, regardless of what you bought in that transaction.
There’s an image flying around closed Facebook groups that many people are saying appears to be how the new rewards system would soon work. The source appears to be a tweet. (I have no idea who that Twitter profile is. Follow me on Twitter here.) Check it out:
The Facebook comments in response to that have been interesting. Here’s a few things I’ve heard, without giving sources:
Pam: A lot of major corporations “leak” out their own big changes for people to digest first, then when it actually happens everyone is already over the omg I hate change phase. Standard MBA stuff.
S.R.: As a partner, I love this idea! It levels the playing field and will help our transaction times by people not throwing a hissy fit to have their four drinks and six pastries rung up separately because they “deserve” more stars
Melody’s comment: I’ve always taken the attitude that I was a customer before there were rewards, so I’ll be a customer regardless of whether there are rewards at all. This will be way better for me though. I can think of plenty of times I’ve spent like $20 to $30 or more in one transaction. (That was me! :))
Bill: i always think that with changes to the program most people will find a way to adapt – my philosophy is this, i drink Starbucks because i love the coffee and the experience – the rewards program is just a nice enhancement. Its existence in one way shape or form wont change my drinking habits.
J.S.: Let’s do the math.. 300 stars to maintain gold level is $150 spent per year (providing you don’t take advantage of bonus star days and other promotions.) That works out to .41 cents a day, or roughly $3 per week to maintain gold. That seems fair enough
D.K.: Many are voicing they deserve more out of a FREE rewards program. I remember the days when there were no rewards and you frequented Starbucks for the higher quality product and knowing Starbucks actively supports the entire farming community. If this is a deal breaker for some, then obviously you frequented for less than loyal reasons.
Now it’s your turn.
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Maybe a year ago I received an email from Starbucks about a survey related to proposed changes to Starbucks Rewards. I am under impression that this may be the direction it is taking.
This proposal, if it comes to fruition, will undoubtedly push me to one of the great independent or small chain coffee houses in San Francisco for my twice-daily Earl Grey or Chai tea. Although good for people who make big purchases on a regular basis, it doesn’t benefit me in any way that would make me walk out of my way to get to a Starbucks. Getting those rewards for every 12 purchases incentivized me to spend my money at Starbucks. With this change and getting one measly reward for every 30 cups of tea….big deal. I’ll take myself and my money to Philz or Blue Bottle, which are closer to me anyhow, the tea tastes the same and I get the same people-watching experience I get at SB. So that’s how Starbucks treats their loyal customers? I think it’s a decision that may come back to haunt them.
Sounds reasonable to me. I’m one of those frequent but low-level spenders.
Though it is a shame that it will make my smaller dollar amount transactions count for less, I think the change over all is positive. I don’t think spending $60ish for a reward is that astronomical it is to some. Spend $60 to get a $6 salad – sounds like a great deal! As I said in the comment posted in the blog, this is a FREE rewards program so I am thrilled to receive anything.
We’ve seen this in reward programs everywhere else. For those of you in Canada, you all know how worthless Air Miles has become over the years (back in the 90’s, 1 Air Mile earned = 1 mile of flying distance reward. I miss those days… what used to earn me a free flight now earns me movie tickets!). I don’t go out of my way to shop at Air Miles stores anymore. I had enough Delta SkyMiles for a free trip 3 years ago, but they changed the redemption rules just as I was ready to book a flight to California so now I need to take 2 more trips to get a free one. I don’t go out of my way to fly Delta anymore (since the rule change I’ve flown jetBlue, Southwest, and British Airways). So it’s no surprise Starbucks would follow their lead, and I won’t be showing up anymore unless there’s a bonus star offer. I was never a Starbucks regular until MSF, and they will lose me as a regular with this move. DieleKyhn: Best way to get value on a free drink is to order 36 ristretto shots (which is how many will fit in a Venti), which would normally be around $30. If I paid $60 to earn a free item I wouldn’t waste it on a $6 salad or $5 frapp….
Good for some bad for others. If I get a tall caffe at $2 I get 4 stars but if I. Buy 12 coffees now I get a free one. So 12 at 4 stars won’t get me a thing
As someone that spends quite a bit @ Starbucks each year I often only receive one Star for my multiple purchases because the Baristas are busy (norm in my area) and they don’t want to ring each item separately, which I get. So yes, a solution for that would be nice.
Though 300 Stars (from 30) seems like an awful lot more Stars to me.
Each time I get 12 Stars on my gold card I love getting my “free” reward, it makes going to Starbucks FUN! Personally think it’s a smart marketing on Starbuck’s part to make me feel appreciated as a customer, it only encourages me to continue being a great (gold) customer instead of a good (green) one, or even worse… LOL.
So believe 300 Stars is raising the bar way too high… and think it will discourage many average reward members from participating.
But how about doing something better instead? Like 100 Stars or a $1000 total (or whatever) makes you a Platinum member with 3 freebies or a 30% coupon (like a partner discount) off total purchase (or whatever)?
Guess the bottom line is that this will always be argued – should Starbucks reward any purchase, # of items, or do they reward the $ amount spent?
Have to admit I like that they reward their average customer. Without them, where would Starbucks be?
First thing: Starbucks has a giant number crunching machine that allows them to tweak the program so it makes sense for Starbucks to continue it.
Second thing: We customers have individual number crunching machines that allow us to decide how and when it works for us.
Math department: Average ticket $5 * 30 transactions * 2 Stars/$1 = 300 stars. Makes sense. From the old version to the new: 12 hot coffees for a salad people are sad. 12 ‘Lunches and lattes’ people for a sandwich are happy.
But: There will be new rules for us to play with. And Double star days were mentioned. And who knows what kind of fancy bonus star adventures the big number crunching machine will kick out.
Essence: The Massive Multi-Player In-Store & Mobile Starbucks Game just got a new level. Have fun!
I also meant to comment on the 300 stars it may now take to reach gold level. Are you kidding me? While I think the current 30 stars per year to reach or retain gold level is too low, 300 (even at two stars for a dollar spent) is too high.
As Starbuxgal above says, I too appreciate that Starbucks rewards their average customer. If they remove that incentive for people who have ever-increasing calls on their money(but not ever-increasing pay cheques), they will lose me as a customer.
Is there not a way to reward customers for big(ger) ticket item purchases and still keep the same reward program in place?
Think carefully, Starbucks executives, you may be making a big mistake.
The biggest issue I have with this is not being able to take a gift card my friends or family give me for my birthday and move them all over to my “phone” card. They will no longer let you move $ from one card to another. For normal people like me who ask for these cards at Bdays and Xmas time this is a pain in the butt and will make me ask for different gift cards from friends & family. I can’t have 20 gift cards floating around in my purse trying to figure which one has $1.32 left and which one still has the $50 from my husband. However, if you dont use the ones with a dollar left look at all the Revenue SBs has gained by not having to produce product for those dollars.
@Edie B., I’m wondering why you are not able to move gift cards $$ to your phone app? I don’t think this is accurate. Just this last week, I did that very thing. I had a gift card from Christmas, and I simply gave it to the cashier, told them there was $10 on it, and I asked them to put it on my gold card, and they did. I’m not sure I’m following your comment.
In the grand scheme of things it’s going to be very hard to fix it so every one is happy. Also, we are creatures of happy, and as a rule we resist change. If it happens it looks like it will work for me. I sometimes spend more on a single transaction, and I’ll no longer be inclined to “beg” for separate transactions.
@Lisa Waller – There’s been loose gossip on social media sites that under this new system, the registers will no longer have a way to transfer money from one card to another. The only way to do it will be to register it online. I realize that’s not written in the images above, but that gossip is all over Facebook. I think that could be frustrating for lots of reasons!
@Melody, I had not seen that. Thanks for the clarification, and I agree wholeheartedly… it would be very frustrating. That makes no sense, really, why they would not be able to do that.
its just reloading an existing gift card by buying with an old one… seems hard to stop?
This seems like the program will be changing from being more rewarding to the drip coffee or tea crowd, to more rewarding to the $5 latte crowd (and anyone who regularly purchases more than one item). I’m assuming the latter group(s) collectively make Starbucks more money, so the switch makes sense.
Not sure if this is the first step in the new program, but this past week I had a bonus star offer (bonus star with the purchase of a flat white) that I had to ‘activate’ to receive. If they are going to start making everyone ‘activate’ or ‘join’ on every offer, I foresee a lot of problems with people expecting stars on certain purchases, but not getting them as they didn’t realize they had to ‘activate’ it. Starbucks seems to have enough problems accurately awarding bonus stars for offers or dashes. An extra step to get a simple bonus star offer is not going to make things better.
I don’t like these proposed changes. By rewarding the latte crowd above the brewed coffee crowd, Starbucks is all but admitting they are a milk and syrup shop, more than a coffee shop. I suppose I could hunt down a store with a Clover brewer, but in general, these changes will encourage me to buy beans and brew at home.
I get the facts that stars = points but the numbers seems to be excessive. and turn people off. Better to have something like 10 points = 1 star, or $5 of spending = 1 star. It also totally devalues the stars earned from programs such as the grocery store whole/ground coffee program. The bonus star for the $9 bag of coffee has a star value 90% less than today, since 125 stars = one free item and one free item has an estimated MSRP of $6.25 (a venti hand-crafted drink or one of their food items).
There are ways to do a hybrid program that would incentivize heavy purchasers, and not encourage people to split their purchases (holding up the line to get extra stars) while not punishing drip coffee drinkers. For example, have a “top-up” to a minimum of star a calendar day (10 points) to provide the equivalent of Gold for today’s drip drinkers (30 stars = gold).
As far as the not moving money over from one card to another, it was a well known loophole to manufacture stars that way without spending any money. If that loophole was closed, then there should be no need to ban transfers assuming that a physical card was presented. Starbucks has always reserved the right to freeze cards if stolen value was transferred onto a card, which is why the gift card trading sites have always had the disclaimer to not transfer funds from those cards onto active Starbucks registered cards.
@lyddy 300 stars to gold is too high? let’s do the math.
300 stars without any promotion is 150$. over the course of 12 months, that is $12.50 you would have to spend month to maintain gold. i can break it down further and tell you that is roughly $3 a week. if you are not spending $12 a month at starbucks, why should you be a gold member?
I have to agree with Lyddy above. I understand that Starbucks has to do what’s best for shareholders and the company, but I will likely turn from a 1-2x a day customer to someone who brings my coffee from home and visits any of the numerous (and frankly, better) local coffee shops. I am willing to sacrifice the quality for a superior rewards program, but I would rather use a punch card for a high quality brewed coffee than spend $62.50 for a reward to use on a high-cost drink. A regular punch card would be buy 10 get one free… At $2 a pop it would take about $20 for a decent drip, or about a 10 percent rebate. As a Starbucks Gold MSR member, it would take $62.50 to get a “free food or beverage item” which I usually redeem for $5 items, or about an 8 percent “discount” and it would take a longer to get a free anything — it would take 32 visits to get any kind of a reward while I could at least get a decent brewed coffee from a local shop after 10 visits.
Sorry Starbucks, but if this is the new direction I will be seeking out a new “third place” and buying way less high margin, low-labor drip coffee.
Here’s one that’s probably going to blow everyone’s mind… For me, it’s not about any of it except the Starbucks experience. It’s about the memories I have at Starbucks. It’s about the time I spent as a partner. It’s about the smells, and the sites, and the people. When I got my Gold card in 2007 I was truly more excited about the THE CARD than I was about the freebies. Now, mind you… I like the freebies. I use my rewards. We seem to have become a “gimme” society. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Well, Starbucks has done lots of “gimme” for me. I’ve gotten free drinks when I didn’t have a reward to offer back. I’ve gotten free food as a “just because”. I even got a free pound of coffee once… it was my first pound of Casi Cielo, and I’ve been a loyal fan and buyer of that coffee ever since.
Of course things change from time to time. I’d say as long as they don’t take away the rewards all together it’s still all good. And yes… I’m more than happy to spend $12.50 a month to remain Gold… because I like the card… and I love Starbucks.
Melody;
I did read this about “everyone has to start at Green”?? Is that accurate? Does that, if true, mean everyone at Gold for years now starts over at Green? that’d be crazzzy to me. ? thanks…..
(keeping up w you on FB btw)
@denise r – I would hope that just applies to new members and is stated that way to emphasize the fact there will no longer a ‘welcome level’, therefore anyone starting the program would be at ‘green level’. If they reverted all their gold members to green upon launch, that would be a very good way to tick off all their loyal customers and probably lose some sales.
@Jocelyn
You’re right–$12.50 monthly is not too much to maintain gold status. What bothers me is the optics of the rumoured changes– the 1,000 percent (!!!) increase to maintain such and the seeming disregard for customers like me who, for years, have popped in to Starbucks once or twice a day for a coffee or tea being cast aside in favor of the $6 latte crowd or those who can’t get enough home brewers or travel cups or whatever else Starbucks is hustling. I maintain that there should be a way of rewarding those who make purchases of, say, in excess of $20 or so, without thrusting aside –and ticking off — coffee and tea drinkers who were the mainstay of their business in their early years.
@Lisa Atkinson Waller
Depending on where you live, of course, the Starbucks experience is no longer unique. In San Francisco, Blue Bottle, Philz, Four Barrel and, maybe even especially, Cafe Trieste in North Beach, all offer similar and even superior experiences with beverages, food and armosphere.
And I take exception to your comment that anyone who opposes these changes is a part of .the ‘gimme’ society. I’ve given way more to Starbucks than they have or will ever give to me. So once every couple of weeks you get a free cookie or slice of banana bread or a sandwich. Trust me, the food is hugely marked up — who in their right mind would pay $6-plus for a HALF peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a few cut up veggies and a very small handful of almonds? If you get it as a freebie, okay, but sorry, not parting with my $6 for a ‘meal ‘ like that. And many of us do not drink the calorie-laden, syrup and milk concoctions that contribute greatly to America’s obesity epidemic.
I’m sure Starbucks will pay slant regard to my views or others like them and do what’s best for their bottom line. When that day comes, I will only have to choose which of the coffee houses nearest my home will become my new third place.
In thibking about this more, I will probably increase my average ticket price at Starbucks. I do like the occasional Frappuccino but I use my 1-2x a day drip habit to earn rewards to subsidize my Frappuccinos. I could see buying a Frappuccino once a week or so, but Starbucks isn’t the most comfortable coffee house around nor does Starbucks have the best coffee. So I estimate my Starbucks spend going from about $60 to $70 a month to something closer to $20. Essentially, what I am getting from the proposed changes is that Starbucks is becoming more of a milkshake/smoothie maker than coffee house. Starbucks should do what benefits the company the most but or seems that coffee and coffee drinkers would be deemphasized with these changes.
Thomas makes a good point. Most locations have become glorified Dairy Queen’s in the summer with long lineups of high school kids ordering frapps. That’s a huge profit margin product for the company. It’s only the Reserve stores that make an effort to look and act like serious coffee houses. If you’re into home brewing, why limit yourself to what the Roastery decides to ship out? Just go to this site to read about and ultimately mail-order coffee that’s better than and priced lower than the Roastery’s hyped products: http://www.coffeereview.com/highest-rated-coffees/
Nothing from Starbucks rates higher than 92 with these guys. Just order beans that rate 95+ and brew it yourself.
I would probably lose my gold status under this new program, because I have become an infrequent customer (i.e. once a week) and even then I get brewed coffee, so I’m not spending a lot. So arguably I don’t deserve to be getting free stuff anyway. However I’m glad to see that free refills are now at Green level, because that is one benefit I use routinely.
I’m pretty sure their “source” is me. That’s the pic I put online. I was part of a survey that was asking a few questions about this plan. Poorly written or not, that’s what the survey company put out, not Starbucks. Which survey company was it? I’m not sure. I do surveys for dozens of them. All I can say is this is exactly what I saw. A local barista told me on Tuesday that there were some “radical” changes coming to the program but nobody was told of the specifics yet. So, the pic IS real but NOT directly from Starbucks.
Changes are coming. They’re adapting to the system that frequent flyers have had to deal with for a few years now.
@GoldMember – That’s very helpful to know. It could mean that the final version of the new MSR program could be wildly different than what you’ve shared here. As you probably know, there’s a big “secret meeting” happening on 2-22. I think we’ll know for sure what’s going on the 22nd – and of course, it’s possible that it is something totally different on not MSR. Although since MSR affects like 10 million registered people – 10 million customers, it is going to be big if they make any changes at all. I’m ready for rewards based upon dollars spent!
Well, this doesn’t make me happy. I have a bunch of star codes saved up for bonus star promotions (well okay, I just forget to enter them on a regular basis and promo prompts motivate me). Are they about to become useless?
Also, my phone app says I’m gold into 2018 … am I going to be rolled back?
Maybe a grandfather period where we can see the difference between our current habits and the benefit (or detriment ) of the new plan.
Like others have said, I will swing by for my first cup of coffee … but I’m perfectly capable of filling a kcup (coffee isn’t as labor intensive as the good old days) and pushing a button. Hey maybe I’ll be on time to work more often … the starbucks I frequent is a nightmare.
Now that these changes seemed to be mostly confirmed I did the math for myself. It works out almost to a wash for me, but less in my favor. The math of maintaining gold doesn’t change much for me at all, because I am one the $5 average transaction people so that works out to 30 transactions – which was possibly 30 stars save for the dash promos and stickers on bags that would boost me there much quicker. My average transaction is between $4.81 – $5.35 (until they raise prices again).
If I did my math correctly than $5 * 2 would be 10 stars per transaction. 125 stars divided by 10 is 12.5 which I assume might round up to 13. With the old rewards program is obviously 12 – so you can see it stays close, but not quite especially on the days where I just run in to get a tall bold drip/ pour over. I am okay with the change, but hopefully they will continue to do things to gain additional stars to help!
I’m pretty upset, just spent a lot of money over the Holiday, more than usual, to reach Gold status and a free drink every 12 stars. Now it will be 150 stars for a free drink. That is more than 10x the old requirement. And while you can earn more stars for the amount of cash you spend its still adds up to more money ( almost 2x) the amount of the old rewards
This makes me like Starbucks less not more.
If I buy Starbucks ground coffee in grocery store I get a star, ok but this new revenue deal, how will they account the amount of money I spend? I doubt you would get 28 stars for spending $14 on a bag of Starbucks ground coffee, it will still be 1 star…………good buy Starbucks
Mr william..
On bags of coffee in grocery stores you will get 10 stars for small bag, 15 on medium bag, and 20 stars for large bag. Hope this helps. It is actually a better deal than the previous 1 star per bag.