The New Starbucks Rewards Program: Who WINS and who LOSES?
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- čas přidán 23. 02. 2016
- Starbucks recently made a big change to its rewards program, from a visit-based system to a spending-based system. This video compares the the old program to the new program, and shows you who WINS and who LOSES.
Or just make your own coffee. Save the rest and buy a house.
👍👍👍
And that people is why you should make your own coffee,dont be lazy
Damn... just damn. Your math is so straightforward and succinct. Great job.
I'm a barista at Starbucks, and I definitely understand the anger over the new rewards system, but the major thing to remember is that Starbucks changed the rewards because people have been asking for it for years. People who pay for $5 drinks were tired of earning the same reward as someone who buys a $2 drink. This new system is definitely fairer despite the black coffee drinker's unhappiness with it. The only place Starbucks went wrong with it is the total amount of stars, in my opinion. The end goal amount of stars should be lower
+Brooklynn Vandehey The new system is not fairer in the slightest. To even begin to benefit under the new program requires that $5.68 be spent PER ITEM on 11 ITEMS in a row. So your $5 per drink customers are still getting shafted. Moreover, the majority of people paying $5 or more in a transaction are buying 2 items. They are also getting the shaft. This program benefits no one but Starbucks, which is why customers (or ex-customers) are fuming. They were lied to. The local coffee shops can thank Starbucks for dong them a favor. Next Starbucks can lie to shareholders that the new rewards program hasn't resulted in loss of people signed up for the program because they can falsely inflate it with the people that are signing up just because they are promised gold status for buying one drink. But, that won't insure loyalty. One of the dumbest moves in customer service history.
+Smokey Rubinstein you apparently didn't read the entirety of my comment. I said that the goal amount of stars should be lower. And don't forget about star dashes, which members can participate in to get the items they love and receive double or triple the stars for them. These will be like weekly promotions, so it helps soften the blow. But like I said in the original comment, 125 is a lot and hopefully Starbucks responds with an adjustment. This whole new rewards system only occurred because the old, skewed rewards system was the number one complaint among customers for years.
+Brooklynn Vandehey I read the entirety of your comment, perhaps you just didn't understand mine. No worries.
The goal amount of stars point is irrelevant. We could just as easily argue that they could have left the goal star amount at 125 and awarded more stars per $1 spent. The various scenarios of what they "could have" done are far overshadowed by the fact that they flat out lied to loyal customers and dressed it up like they were doing them a favor.
You wrote: "And don't forget about star dashes, which members can participate in to get the items they love and receive double or triple the stars for them"
I put that in the category of "Double Star Days" that Starbucks appealed to over and over on its Facebook page to angry, loyal customers. Its just more nonsense. Promise of tomorrow is no promise at all. Double Star Days (really should be called Double Star *Day* since it occurs once per month) and star dashes cannot be considered part of the core program since they can be taken away at any time. What's more, appealing to things like that is a tacit acknowledgment of how bad the new program is.
You wrote: "the major thing to remember is that Starbucks changed the rewards because people have been asking for it for years" & "This whole new rewards system only occurred because the old, skewed rewards system was the number one complaint among customers for years."
Really? That was Starbucks' motivation? How would you propose we accurately measure Starbucks' true motivation? Is there a way to measure if Starbucks was truly motivated to come up with a more equitable program in response to overwhelming customer request? There sure is. Did they actually do what they said they were doing? Clearly not. The responding to overwhelming customer request argument is clearly nothing more than a pretext. They flat out lied, period. Starbucks should get an award for the lying/deception employed in their marketing and PR. They rolled out a program that shafts the very people who requested changes and dressed it up like they were doing them a favor. What happens to costs when you make it significantly harder for rewards members to earn rewards? Do costs go up or do they go down? If costs go down, what happens to earnings?
I would also mention the fact that you're not limited to just a drink. With the new system you can buy a sandwhich/salad instead which range from $5-$10 or a venti/trenta of whatever it is you like, customized without extra fees which can easily be $7. As well as you can earn points very quickly if you transfer any $$ balances on gift cards to your gold card, and buy tumblers/travelers and whatever else.
+cicada300 yes! All of those things add to your star count, whereas you would have only earned one star per transaction. I wasn't saying the new system was perfect, but it really is fairer.
Admittedly, I was one of those "cheapies" who took advantage of this program by buying a cheap drink like drip coffee and tea beverages more often to earn the stars. A lot of that had to do with their free refill program that was attached to all green/gold members. But in all fairness, I did give in many times because I was so hungry and stayed in their lobby for hours trying to get work done. And, so I would purchase some of those food items at full price. But, I would try to separate these transactions as much as possible to earn as many stars. I think till this day I'm like a gold member like 5 times over.
However, the last time I've actually used my card was May of 2015. The only exception when I went to Starbucks is when we had a power outage and could've reloaded my card to get the 96 oz traveler box of coffee, but didn't want to bother. I decided to zero out my balance and use up my free rewards for a few reasons:
1) For some time, I have scaled back my coffee consumption and have switched to drinking more tea. In the last year, Starbucks switched over most of their Tazo tea line to roll out their Teavanna tea. The Teavanna teas taste extremely artificial and would give me a stomach ache. And since I didn't drink coffee as much, there wasn't much of as an incentive to go to Starbucks.
2) In lieu of the generous coffee and tea refill program, I found that many of the baristas were not properly trained and knowledgeable about this program. There were times when I would purchase a premium drink like a holiday latte or smoothie, and then attempt to get a coffee or tea refill. There were many times I would have to explain that the coffee and tea refill program allows green/gold members to get coffee/tea of the same size of the drink that you purchased, no matter what kind of beverage you had originally purchased. I'd have to literally pull out my phone and show them the terms and conditions on the Starbucks website to show the Starbucks baristas this. And after proving this to them, they would often say to me, "We'll make an exception this time...." What are you talking about "we'll make an exception this time"??? I just showed what it says in black and white what your own website says!!! I have made several complaints about this to their corporate office, and it didn't seem like the conditions would improve.
3) Between me and my sister, we began collecting all the limited edition cards from all around the country and abroad. There have been times on separate occasion for my sister and I to run into these very draconian baristas that would hoard these certain cards and force you to load them. Normally they have these cards up front and there was no purchase/load requirement. It seems like some of these stores would make these rules up on their own, when they were never instructed or authorized to do so by the corporate office.
Overall, Starbucks basically lost my business after all these bad experiences with them. The fact that this program was suppose to be an incentive program became more of a bad taste in my mouth over time. Add that with all of the rude baristas with poor customer service, the very corporate feel of consuming my drink/food in their lobbies, and now this revamp on their program gives me more reason to stay away from Starbucks. Living in the Seattle area, we are pretty spoiled with some great indie coffee houses. I'd rather much support those than feeding this monster of corporation.
this is a nice and clear explanation of the rewards system for starbucks. i have not looked yet, but do you explain any other rewards system?
Not yet, but if you have any specific rewards programs you would like me to take a look at, let me know.
hmmm... i recently did the chiptopia from chipotle. i only did the mild level (4 in a month to get a free one - average mild all 3 months to get another free one - i used the free one the next month, so the last 2 months were 3 to get another free one - after all 3 months, i got another free one), but i was wondering about the value of the mild level vs the medium vs the hot level.
i'll think on if there is another rewards program that would be interesting.
Airline Mile rewards! The United Star Alliance Program?
I get the most points for making coffee at home
I have an upcoming video planned on making coffee at home. I actually roast my own beans so I can order green beans in bulk. That reduces the cost by around 50% - and tastes the best.
Really? never heard of anyone roasting their own coffee, would really like to know how to do it especially if it reduces cost even more.
wow can't believe people spend that much at a coffee shop! we all pitched in and bought coffee maker at work, now we brew our own coffee and rewarded every time :)
Since when is spending $8 on a coffee daily expensive???? You must be pretty broke if you cant spend $8 here and there every once in awhile.......
OfficialMichellemarie 26 spending 8 dollars daily for coffee is expensive. Its about 3k a year.
Love these videos Preet, good stuff!
It'd be nice to see more fundamental questions tackled. How to decide what to invest in (risk vs reward), managing you money and bank accounts, what education is worth (short term vs long term) etc. I hope you'll be able to grow MoneySchool into an awesome platform :).
I just discovered your channel, and I like what I'm seeing. Super entertaining, informative videos. Keep up the good work.
If you buy merchandise - example: tumblers&mugs ($20), k-cups($10), whole bean coffee($15). You'll benefit a lot from these changes. Most of my regulars are excited for these changes as they were spending $100 to get 1 reward - think $8-10 per transaction w/o splitting
You are basically the CGP Grey of financial advisors. +1 Sub to you.
You don't take into account the fact that Starbucks overcharges for most everything in the first place. So no matter what way you look at it you're getting shafted.
well said
At least there is always the free birthday drink :P
Can you do a video on the common ( or even uncommon) rewards programs and which ones are actually worth utilizing ? I find that most programs are no different from the rigged carnival games of spending your wad to get a $1 toy in return.
Interesting video Preet - thanks for figuring this out - need money advice
YES YES I'm so happy you did this video!
I feel like the new rewards system is a rip off because I don't spend that much per visit but I go really often
can you do money spent calculations for purchasing old cars versus new cars, price per month, etc?
To me it does not matter the minimum requirement spent on my visits just so I can have an award every 12 visits. If I'm a regular customer, I'll eventually hit that mark and accumulate enough points to have it anyway. What matters to me is how much I will be spending just to get that reward. I find the minimum/per visit to be unnecessary. However, the objective of the video is to also to show how faster/slower the claim of rewards is for the card holders and youve managed to provide an answer to how much spend customers on minimum in order to gain a reward every 12 visits. Kudos to you. Im definitely hooked to your videos. :)
I use to split my transactions with the old program but I wouldn't be spending $2 each time. I'd go for the frapps ot lattes which are easily $4 at least. On a separate transaction, my boyfriend would order a grande or venti coffee which comes to $2-3.
Now with the new program, I'd basically only buy if there were large bonus stars or star multipliers.
I kind of like the new rewards. Do not forget that you also get promotions for stars. I get about 25 points for reloading card for $10.
Your analysis is lacking. It has to account for the reality of splitting transactions. The second customer in your example loses under the new program as well. If I remember correctly, the number is something like an avg. of $5.68 must be spent on 11 items in a row to begin to benefit.
Yes a lot of people like myself spend over $5.68 per visit . I have always thought it was unfair that if I spent $20 on an order I would only get 1 star but a person that only buys a coffee for
$3 gets a star also. I don't go to Starbucks everyday but when I do go I am always spending a good amount of Money .
+Darien Norman You either didn't read or understand what I wrote. I said $5.68 *PER ITEM* not per visit. Huge difference.
Yeah, I think I misunderstood you. sorry.
+Darien Norman No worries friend.
Love the video. I understand why people might be mad but can you blame Starbucks for choosing to reward more the customers that spend more? If you buy a venti latte every day, how come your reward rate is lower than those who only buy a regular coffee?
Great Video! You should do more like these
Very informative!
+Erik Mangolt-McGonigal Thanks Erik!
your very helpful brother thanks
What if I pay say $3.51 on 2 visits, am I getting $6 or $7 worth of stars? If the answer is $6 then the results you got are not very telling.
I prefer the vibe of Starbucks and the cool drinks they come out with. I mean I have a job to spend money on things I like, so might as well
I love these videos
i always get my coffee at the Greenwich newsagent shop for 50 p a cup , yeah it not be branded and be in a cardbiard cup , but it sure beats starbucks
I just make my own starbucks vanilla coffee every day from walmart. $6 a month. Or if I wanna splurge I buy McDonald’s coffee anysize is $1 and the coffee is miles beater because it’s the old “Seattle’s Best Coffee” which IS the best coffee and it’s owned by starbucks anyways so technically you’re getting starbucks for $1. The espresso is INSANELY good. But like I said Seattle’s best coffee espresso IS the best coffee.
How to track my recipe on my computer while going to star Bucks Rewards .
Your argument is faulty. If all Starbucks wanted to do was reward "big spenders" fairly they could simply have implemented a "point per dollar" system with 24 dollars being the minimum purchase amount for a reward to be earned (that's about the minimum you have to spend right now in order to receive a reward) . Also, In your little analysis you don't point out that customers have the option of breaking up their purchases into multiple transactions, hence currently a muffin and coffee can earn you 2 points. I won't even ask what your relationship with Starbucks is. Soon just about everyone will have to spend more to earn the same rewards. This is corporate greed pure and simple.
Question about redeeming Stars. Are they good towards any food item, and any sized drink? Or are they're limitations? Thanks!
no limitations except the merchandise. but their product is usually overpriced anyway. you'll end up spending about 70 dollars to get a free poisonous drink or dry salty panini bun that'll cost starbucks 50 cents to make
whats that outro song?
My brain hurts
Great video!
+Photography By Ardean Thanks!
GREAT CHANNEL. If you spend $4,70 a visit, than in 300 days you gonna spend $1410 just on coffee, however if you spend $8 every time you visit Starbucks, than in 300 days you gonna be already $2400 short. And that's $24 000 left in Starbucks in 10 years. If you invested this money instead on compound interest of 10% a year than how much money you will have in your pocket 10 years later?.....?
I didn't mind this since on average I spend 100 a month on Starbucks. so I will get 125 pretty easy.
holy..
you must live off caffeine, cow milk and sugar = poison
+Shervin Seil Sepour One coffee is a natural bronchodilator. Two people have drinking it for as long as it has been on earth. It is apart of many cultures. Three I drink decaf and tea. No milk. I am lactose intolerant and i have raw cane sugar. which breaks up in the body better then frutose and artifical sugars. I go there for the good coffee and nice environment. I live in the united state where it is hard to find good decaf coffee. BTW if you are eat "diet food" such as low fat yogurt and protein bars. That is worse then the average coffee drinker having a little bit of milk and 3 spoons of sugar. Why because they have artificial sugars, dyes and preservatives. Those don't metabolize well in the body either turn into fat or destroy the good bacteria you are trying to support my having something with probiotics. So don't just assume that every person who drinks coffee on the regular is hopped up and unhealthy. It makes you look stupid. Have a good day.
I miss the old starbucks. After every 12 transactions you get a free drink or food item. Even if each transaction was $2 coffee
There is a mistake in the logic here. The mistake is that you won't be worse off if you spend less than $5.21 per visit. In fact, there is no worse or better off. The amount of the money is still the same in order to get an item for free. Instead of accumulating reward points at the times of $5.21, getting to 125 stars by spending $2 at a time would ONLY extend the time period before you get the free item. In the end, the money that is coming out of your pocket is still the SAME.
However, Starbucks previously was on the losing end of the deal because from the buyer's perspective, the total of the purchase didn't even matter. What mattered was only the number of visits to the shop. A smart person would have gotten to the reward by spending less money! Starbucks have fixed the program for their advantage.
wait.. WHY would you choose the same coffee you usually get as the free reward? why not the most expensive drink/food item? isn't that what a reward means?
hitting me up with another one of my 'usual' but for free isn't really a reward imo. If you were getting a free coffee, I'm pretty sure you would take the priciest item you could get away with that you wouldnt ever usually pay for, no?
Keep making videos bro !
I usually spend $6 so this is a big help
I dont understand 2:10
This is what happens when you think you can outsmart the Italians. Not only did you pay big time to have one in Rome --you will never be done paying the Italians.
Screw Starbucks. Go local! Better coffee better atmosphere most of the time. I hate the vapid corporate environment at Starblechs.
So my solution to save money is to make my own coffee at home?
calm down maria. i drink coffee myself i have a whole cup this morning and i couldn't live without coffee and cocoa.
I don't buy Starbucks to get a reward. It was an added bonus that I didn't even care for until maybe after 2 years of already buying it regardless. It's a tacked on bonus and nothing more to me. I understand that the program is now worse, however I don't understand the rage itself.
+Tex Mex There's really only a handful of vocal people who are upset, and that was specifically because they were taking advantage of the structure of the program. The new version is better for Starbucks' more profitable customers. So by enraging those they were losing money on, and rewarding those that they want to keep coming back, it makes a whole lot of sense from their perspective.
Maria Resendez Signed up for it to not have to bust out a credit card or cash when paying for starbucks, the stars were an added BONUS. It's easy to understand WHY they're upset, however its very irrational and unreasonable. Very fascinating indeed! Someone needs to use this as some sort of societal study.
+Tex Mex Does that mean you don't use the rewards that you accrue? Not sure a societal study is warranted though. You understand why they are upset but its irrational and unreasonable? What exactly do you understand and how is it unreasonable/irrational?
just make a regular cup of fucking coffee and buy a 6 pack of muffins at a store and save way more than spending at star schmucks. nonetheless very informative video, I save either way because I don't drink coffee or shop at star schmucks but my friends will enjoy this video
But if you spend just $2 per visit (in the previous system) instead of $6 you can add a saving of $4 per visit. :-)
And if you avoid Starbucks altogether and make coffee at home... well, I think you get my meaning.
"Saving" by spending is a loser's game. Saving by not spending works a whole lot better! Ha ha (see How to find money to save)
I just got to gold today
Great … I pay $62 and a free coffee 🤔
I called and asked why I wasn't getting a full star, instead if I have 1.90 but still buy a latte and pay the rest with cash, I don't get the difference in stars.. Another way to cheat your customers from getting those rewards.. To long to explain here. Use your card member with small balance then pay in cash, you'll only get star reward for what's on the card, no cash reward added to your reward star..
Or they could mark their prices down 7.5% and skip the rewards program. I know that won't work because people are stupid and fall for gimmicks. I know because I fall for gimmicks too.
Curt D so ur stupid? 😉
Basic math done in a video. INOVATION :D
Starbucks is rape in a cup.
The first coffee card I remember was the Second cup coffee card. I think it was buy 5 cups and the 6th was free.
Just make your own when ever you can. Or go cheap McDonalds which also has a card and even 7-11 who are giving them a run for their money.
I miss where I used to live. Sometimes I used to walk over to 7-11 and get my junkachino and instant late from the self serve machines and iced coffee in the summer.
Im so pissed they took my points
Genius!
The fake drawing kinda pisses me off. I know it is only me but the digital text, images and hand feel strange.
Really? It "pisses you off"? Like, are you in a bad mood for the rest of the week? Or do you mean you just don't care for it?
Yes, how dare you use videoscribe software! Can you please hire a professional artist for every video!
***** I don't mean to offend and of course I only harbor a small level of dislike to that method. If it helps get the point across don't worry about it.
The method itself feels a bit strange to me as it is made to look real but after a few seconds you realize it is not. I also do a bit of video editing and I love to nit pick and me upset about things so my feeling are just my own.
Also you make great videos and if you feel that is the best way to get your point across keep it. If you are yourself up for something different there are of course other methods, some take a lot longer like kinetic typography and there are others that vary in time depending on your approach like hand drawn work.
Anyway, great videos, it is just a small thing I enjoy to nit pick about.
No worries! Yeah, I use the Videoscribe software to save time. I'm not fast enough with kinetic typography, and actually doing a whiteboard by hand would take longer as well, and I like the ability to easily edit and time the voice over so efficiently. Maybe one day I'll graduate to different methods. Cheers!
***** I was kidding, videoscribe is fine, gets the point across.
U are 8ndian though...
your very helpful brother thanks