For those of you who don't know the benefits of the Starbucks Coffee Card-- I have news for you! I love coffee... absolutely adore/can't live without it. That kind of love. So when I decided to start controlling my spending at Starbucks (lets face it, it was getting a little out of hand), I decided to use their card. I could reload it with $20 at the beginning of the month, and the rule was that I would only be able to use the money on the card for the month. Let's just say, as soon as I found out about all the benefits of the Starbucks card, my money began lasting a lot longer! How To Use The Starbucks Card: Anyone can get one! There is no signing up needed... just go to the cash register, grab one of the many cards on display, and ask them to load the card with as much money as you would like to put on it! In order to get the benefits of the card, you need to pay for your coffee with the card. It's literally like paying with cash- there is no extra charge to use the card! You can keep track of the money on your card, by asking for your receipt after every order. On your receipt will be the amount left on your card! The Benefits: - Normally Starbucks would charge you for extra pumps of flavour, or substituting soy milk instead of regular milk. With your Starbucks card, as long as you use it to pay for the coffee, these charges now are refunded, and become free! - If you register the card online, you get a free drink on your birthday! They will send you a coupon in the mail, and you just go in with your ID and your card, and you can get whatever drink you want! - If you buy 30 drinks with your card, you receive a "gold card" in the mail. It's literally a golden card with your name on it. Once you get the "gold card", if you make 15 transactions, you get a free drink sent in the mail! Every 15 transactions equals one free drink from Starbucks! Not bad! MY FAVOURITE BENEFIT! Free refills! You heard me right, you get free refills on all coffee or tea! That means if you order a regular brewed hot coffee, or a coffee on ice, you can drink it and use your card to get a free refill. The same goes for hot tea, or tea on ice. That being said, you can't get free refills of the iced tea lemonade, so if you're in the mood to take advantage of the free refills, make sure you order your iced tea sans lemonade! You can even leave a Starbucks and enter a completely different one, and still get this benefit, as long as you have the original cup and your card with you! The Trick: Sometimes Starbucks employees wont know about all of these benefits (mainly just the free refills, because the computer automatically takes the cost of soy milk, etc, off of your card). Sometimes they might say "no, you can't do that", but you need to tell them that you can! You need to say, "on the Starbucks website it says that my card can do this". NOTE: Some Starbucks aren't owned by the Starbucks company! These Starbucks are not common, but they exist! Usually they are the smaller ones that you find inside hotels. These independently owned Starbucks' don't let you take advantage of the card. Boo! If thats the case, when they ask, they will just explain themselves. No big deal! Bottom line: Grab a Starbucks card and register it online! (Make sure to take the 2 seconds to register it, or some of the benefits (like the gold card) won't work). It's super easy, and the payback is unbelievable! Go Starbucks!!
Humph. Very interesting. I don't know if Starbucks does there up here in Canada or not, but I'll find out. I don't go to Starbucks anyway because it's just way too expensive. I like our Tim Hortons because it's cheap and delicious. I wonder if Tim Hortons will introduce a similar program in the future. If other companies start doing it then it's a given TH will too.
I have a starbucks gold card and it is great. A couple of things you forgot to mention... The free refills are only if you stay in the store to drink your coffee. In other words, you cannot leave and come back for a free refill. You can get a free tall beverage with the purchase of 1 lb bag of their whole bean coffee. You'll occasionally get coupons for free trials. When I say occasionally, I mean really occasionally. I've been a gold card member for almost 2 years now and I've received only one free trial coupon for their oatmeal. It was totally free though. They also say you'll receive special, personalized offers, but I have never gotten any. A couple of tips for the free drink coupons you get every 15 drinks: This is for ANY drink you want. You can get a quadruple shot, venti sized drink, with soy and 8 extra syrups and any other add on you feel like, at no charge. I tend to only ever drink tall or grande drinks and my husband always gets venti's so we always use the free coupon on his drink instead of mine, even though the card is in my name. Also, you get a star for every purchase you make, whether for drink or pastry or anything else. So, have them ring you up separately for everything and you'll get many stars. Now, I don't do this when its busy, because that just seems rude, but when there are very few people there I do it and they have had no problem doing that for me. I also go to the same starbucks and they know me, they are the ones who told me to get the card because they knew I would be gold in no time. They suggested I ring things up separately. When I go to other starbucks, if I feel bad about doing it, I just ask to ring it all up separately and ask for receipts so it looks like I am needing to get reimbursed from different people, LOL. I have to disagree with your post title though. This is not the "real way to save on coffee". It's only a way to save if you absolutely have to have starbucks coffee. If you really want to save on coffee, brew at home and pour into a travel mug.
My husband and I used to take advantage of Starbucks' deals when we were dating. We still do this on occasion. We would order a venti coffee and ask for a tall cup and split it. Then we'd ask for refills if we stayed long enough, and usually the barista would oblige. Also, the "real" way to save on tea at starbucks: if you order a tea bag, they'll charge you thirty three cents. If you order a cup of hot water, they'll give it to you for free. If you order tea, they'll charge you two dollars.
I think the real way to save on coffee is to make it yourself. That way you can make it your way without the high cost of a cup of coffee that you like. I think starbucks is very expensive and I would only use it on special occassions. Like for instant, birthdays and holidays.
