This is the first installment in what I hope will be on occasional series on various consumer loyalty and rewards programs. I follow a number of blogs on these topics and while I certainly do not anticipate competing with the folks who cover these programs full time, I hope to offer my own narratives as part of the conversation on these valuable consumer tools.
My Starbucks Gold Card (which I never physically use) indicates that I have been a Gold member since 2010 (my senior year of college). For most of the time since, I basically only went to Starbucks when it was a convenient place for a meeting with a friend or colleague or when, during my teaching years, I was gifted a Starbucks gift card and stopped on my way to or from somewhere else. But in the last year or so I have added some strategic additional visits.
In April 2016, Starbucks modified their loyalty program earning structure: every $1 in spend (not including sales tax) earns 2 stars. Upon reaching 125 stars, one earns a reward, which one can redeem for any menu item. (The redemption structure is changing later this month to group menu items into tiers with each tier requiring redemption of a different number of stars to redeem an item from it.) Around the same time, Starbucks began more frequent special star-earning promotions, everything from the basic monthly double star day, to bonus stars on particular menu items at particular times, to bonus stars for making multiple purchases in a given timeframe. I probably get an email from Starbucks with a special star-earning promotion once a week. I used to ignore them. No longer.
My argument is that one should always aim to earn more than 2 stars per $1 to get maximum value from the program. I probably take advantage of one out of every three special promotions. For context, my usual purchases are hardly ever basic coffee, either, except when in warm months I get an iced coffee. I go more for the food items and occasional fancy drink, both when paying cash and when redeeming rewards.
For example, two weeks ago there was a "Star Dash" promotion: visit two days in a row within the promotional period and earn 25 bonus stars, visit three days in a row and earn 50 total bonus stars, or visit four days in a row and earn 125 total bonus stars. 125, of course, is (for now) enough for any menu item, including the $8 protein boxes that make for a decent meal (especially on a day when I have concert duty and not time for a more robust dinner). A visit could be to purchase anything, from a tall coffee to a simple bakery item to a KIND bar (that I typically toss in my bag and forget about until I am digging at the bottom of my bag for something else two weeks later and rediscover it...). I spent a grand total of $9.95 over the four visits I made in the allotted timeframe, and now I will be able to grab one of those chicken wrap boxes, retailing for $7.95, when I have concert duty next Friday. That's an 80% return. Plus I have the base stars earned on the spend toward my next reward.
The math on the redemption side will change a bit when the new reward tiers come online next week, but my earning strategy should still be effective. Will be interesting to see what new special promotions are offered.
