The New, and Not Improved, Starbucks Rewards

My Starbucks Rewards operates on a fairly simple premise: go to the store and buy things 12 times, and earn a freebie (coffee, food, pastries, etc.).  The programme has changed a bit through the years – you used to be able to get free syrups in your drinks if you were a Gold member, but only got a freebie every 15 visits – but it’s always been about frequency of visits, not how much you spend.

Now that is changing.  The new Starbucks Rewards, according to an email sent out today, works as follows:

You’ll earn 2 Stars for every $1 you spend on coffee, food, drinks, mugs–and more. As a Gold member, once you earn 125 Stars, you’ll be able to redeem them for anything on the menu.*

Doing some quick math, you earn a free reward for every $62.50 spent at Starbucks.  Over 12 visits, that would average out to $5.21 per visit – which is far more than the average “handcrafted espresso beverage,” and, actually, more than almost any item on the menu excepting food items.

What does this mean for you?  If you typically go to Starbucks and order multiple items, you will earn freebies a bit faster.  For everyone else, it will take about 18 tall cappuccinos or mochas to earn a reward.

While this is being billed as a bonus for those who buy coffees for the whole office and now get extra stars for it, most customers will spend a lot more money to get the same rewards.

Animal Encounters – New Hampshire

In a new twist on a GOTV operation, a six hundred pound pig in New Hampshire wandered into the polling stations.  No word yet on which candidate recruited the animal for the trip, or whether his lack of photo ID precluded him from voting.

Justice Kennedy was reached for comment and stated, “Pigs are highly intelligent animals.  Our living, breathing Constitution certainly protects the pig franchise under the penumbras of the XIX and XIII Amendments.  If our forefathers were not choirosphobes, pigs would have the franchise.”

Wilbur v. State of New Hampshire will be heard in OT 2017.