Starbucks Reward card - WTF?

StewartR

StewartR

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My name is Stewart and I am a coffee addict.

There! I've said it and I feel better now.

Seriously though, I do drink a fair bit of coffee and of course I'm quite keen to be given free cups from time to time, so I find my wallet tends to accumulate coffee shop loyalty cards. Here's what I found one time when I had a clear-out.

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I tend to avoid Starbucks these days, mainly because of their attitude towards paying tax. But at the weekend I was at the Photo Live exhibition at Hammersmith, and the only coffee shop within convenient reach was Starbucks, so when needs must...

The nice young lady behind the counter asked me if I'd like a Rewards Card. Well I guess that Starbucks giving me a free coffee from time to time is better than not, so I took one. But here's what I don't understand. I can only earn points towards free coffees if I load up the Starbucks card with money, and pay with it. Like an Oyster card.

I really don't get it. I have one piece of plastic in my wallet which I can use to buy coffee at any coffee shop in the country, and which I can also use to buy pretty much anything else I want, and I don't actually have to pay for any of it until the end of the month. But these strange people want me to carry around another piece of plastic, which I can use to buy ONLY stuff from one chain of coffee shops, and I have to pay them for it IN ADVANCE on the off-chance that I might want to buy something?

WTF? What planet are they on???

So that's now two reasons for avoiding Starbucks.

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i didnt get it either, i wouldnt really say its a reason not to go there though :shrug:

and as for tax, how many of the other large companys that do the same do you avoid ;)
 
That's just insane, I really should start using my costa points as now carrying just over £54 from free points !!!

I think I'm a costaholic :)
 
thinking about it, i wonder if you have a certain amount of time to spend the balance.

in which case they probably run it like most retailers run gift cards where they rely on up-spending (i.e. the balance on the card isnt enough for what you want and you pay extra) or if the balance does expire they keep the funds when it runs out.
 
TheNissanMan said:
That's just insane, I really should start using my costa points as now carrying just over £54 from free points !!!

I think I'm a costaholic :)
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You're not alone brother!

If I came across a Starbucks and a Costa next door to eachother and Starbucks offered me a free coffee, I'd still buy one from Costa.
 
neil_g said:
see now im the other way around, i used to drink costa then i started drinking SB. and id never go back (well, only if i had to). costa tastes so weak for some reason?
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So have an extra shot in it.
 
both company's make rank coffee - why anyone would pay that much for a coffee is beyond me
 
I've never liked Star*ucks' coffee anyway and that prepayment idea doesn't sound that good for the customer either! I do like Costa's coffee though and we get through a fair number of their Tassimo pods (which are far better value than the shop bought cups!) Have to admit that it is (to a certain extent) down to the convenience of the machine but we've tried a lot of the available pods and find the Costa stuff the best of the bunch.
 
Heard a story about this.....

US photographer met some clients in a Starbucks. She offered to buy the coffees and while mum and dad looked at the pictures, their kid went over to the counter with the photographers' prepaid card.

Great idea right? Photographer looks good because they bought the coffees, kid out of the way for a bit, mum and dad looking at pictures and not distracted by all the nonsense of trying to order "coffee".

Kid came back with a Starbucks T-shirt, baseball cap and collectors mug...... :D
 
What I'm more concerned about is you've tried McDonald's coffee!! Is that stuff real? :p
 
neil_g said:
thinking about it, i wonder if you have a certain amount of time to spend the balance.

in which case they probably run it like most retailers run gift cards where they rely on up-spending (i.e. the balance on the card isnt enough for what you want and you pay extra) or if the balance does expire they keep the funds when it runs out.
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I don't think that's the case. I can't be 100% sure though, because nowhere on the Starbucks web site - even in the Rewards Card FAQ - does it mention the issue of a time limit. If there isn't a time limit, then I would have thought they would want to stress to their customers that there is no time limit, but we've already established that the marketing geniuses at Starbucks don't think like me.

I think the point of it is twofold.

1. You pay in advance so they get your money to play with. That could be very significant. If there are (say) 5,000,000 cards in circulation - which wouldn't surprise me at all given Starbucks market penetration in the USA - and the average one has $10 balance on it at any given time, then that's a FREE loan of $50,000,000 to Starbucks.

2. A certain percentage of cards are going to be lost, destroyed, owned by people who die or move away from towns with Starbucks, that sort of thing. So a certain percentage of that $50,000,000 loan will never have to be repaid.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Heard a story about this.....

US photographer met some clients in a Starbucks. She offered to buy the coffees and while mum and dad looked at the pictures, their kid went over to the counter with the photographers' prepaid card.

Great idea right? Photographer looks good because they bought the coffees, kid out of the way for a bit, mum and dad looking at pictures and not distracted by all the nonsense of trying to order "coffee".

Kid came back with a Starbucks T-shirt, baseball cap and collectors mug...... :D
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Great story. Did he make the sale? If so, it may have been worthwhile!
 
Flightphoto said:
What I'm more concerned about is you've tried McDonald's coffee!! Is that stuff real? :p
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neil_g said:
its not too bad, ground from beans these days. better than instant :lol:
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Agreed. It's really quite OK. (Of course taste is a subjective thing - neil_g and I evidently disagree over the taste of Starbucks vs Costa - but it is freshly ground and it is definitely real.)
 
neil_g said:
see now im the other way around, i used to drink costa then i started drinking SB. and id never go back (well, only if i had to). costa tastes so weak for some reason?
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Do you have a Caffe Nero near you? I find their coffee very strong - I usually have to specifically ask for a single shot, because their standard (double shot) is too strong for me.
 
I really don't understand why people get so hung on on companies like Starbucks and Amazon not paying their taxes. They are huge corporations that exist purely to make a profit. The less tax you pay then the more profit you can make. Why would they not make every effort to reduce their tax bill as much as possible? I'm sure we'd all do the same if you could find a way of reducing your income tax.

Starbucks and Amazon aren't alone. Every successful company will manage it's accounts in such a way that they reduce their tax liability. Starbucks and Amazon are just better at it than most so they get all the negative press for it. If you really have an issue with it you shouldn't avoid Starbucks, you should avoid paying your own taxes to same government that lets them get away with it.

Don't hate the player, hate the game!!

As for Starbucks getting people to pay upfront for their coffee to get a discount, I think i makes perfect business sense. The likes of Caffe Nero that give away a free coffee purely for collecting 8 stamps on a card are giving away something for nothing. Starbucks get your money in to their tills first and reward you for that with a coffee. That makes far more business sense. They get money upfront and give their customers the incentive to keep coming back because they've already paid. If I was running a coffee shop that's the way I'd be doing it.
 
StewartR said:
Agreed. It's really quite OK. (Of course taste is a subjective thing - neil_g and I evidently disagree over the taste of Starbucks vs Costa - but it is freshly ground and it is definitely real.)
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at 99p for a double espresso, it does the trick when on a mid-long range journey, but it doesn't really taste good.
At least they are pushing it out for a reasonable price, unlike Costa or Starbucks, which I just won't visit on principle. But I guess there is a market for hot milk with a dash of coffee and a multitude of caramel/toffee/chocolate additives in the UK
 
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