Even though I’m not a coffee drinker, I’m still a Starbucks fan. The iced chai latte is my daily sin. (In my mind, I associate latte with coffee and not just “with milk.” So I often end up shortening the drink order to just “iced chai.”) I could probably save a small fortune by skipping this habit and drinking more tea at home. I find I don’t go just for the drink, though. I happen to enjoy the interaction with the baristas. As a regular, and a regular who actually leaves more than pennies, they often remember my name and usual drink. An added side benefit is that they’ll also take the time to actually talk to me. That alone makes it worth the added expense.
Recently, Starbucks switched its rewards program to a digital version, offering rewards faster. They also made some other changes: eliminating free soy and syrup options, making your reward usable on either food or drink, getting rid of the free tall beverage with whole bean purchase, and reducing the number of “stars” (purchases) needed to earn a reward from fifteen to twelve. Since the only modification I make to my drink is to switch from 2% milk to skim milk, the negatives don’t really affect me. I guess some folks are up in arms about the removal of free soy and syrups. While I feel bad about the removal of free soy, I can understand Starbucks putting the kibosh on free syrup. Some people go crazy with the number of syrup pumps in their drink. I routinely see one individual at my local Starbucks get twelve — yes, I said twelve — pumps of syrup in their drink. That’s got to tank the bottle(s) pretty quickly and at no added monetary incentive for Starbucks.
I have to admit: I miss the soft, plike reward postcards a little. The digital rewards are still a little buggy. I don’t often get the notification email and the in-app notifications are often out of sync with the in-store POS. When you use your card, or scan with the app, you have to let the barista know you have a reward you want to use. Why not simply have the POS prompt the barista to ask, “hey, you have a free drink/food reward, would you like to use it?” When the system first came out, I had rapidly accumulated several of the digital rewards. It felt odd and cumbersome trying to reduce their number in the system’s infancy, though I can’t complain about the free drinks!
Like all change, I hope the digital rewards will sort themselves out in due time. For my vegan friends, hopefully Starbucks will reverse itself and again offer free soy for gold card members. For all you extreme syrup nuts, consider a Coffee Mate? Like any free incentive, abuse often encourages limitations.