Yesterday I talked to a Starbucks barista about the gold card and if it’s still available to people who didn’t jump on board when they were really pushing the promotion. I was asking for Laura, but decided that everybody needed to know this information.
The Starbucks reward system is free (aside from the fact that you have to buy drinks in order to earn free things). Invest in a Starbucks gift card, and register it at Starbucks.com. To earn stars (stars determine your level, which determines your rewards) you must spend money that is preloaded on your card. I recommend putting $5 on your Starbucks card before every transaction (if you only buy a drink). You’ll be creating a few dollars extra every time to keep yourself covered.
Use your registered Starbucks card to buy drinks. Once you earn 5 stars (buy 5 drinks) you’ll earn green level, unlocking new rewards. Once you have earned 30 stars, total (buy 30 drinks) you’ll enter into the Gold Level. Once you’ve hit gold, you will receive in the mail your own personalized Gold Card. The picture I have posted is deceptive, since it is the OLD Starbucks Gold Card. The new one is all gold, and HAS YOUR NAME ON IT. Turn this into your primary Starbucks card, and they’ll send you a free drink coupon after every 15 stars you earn past 30.
Because I was a Gold Card member of the previous system ($25 a year, 10% off of purchases), I was immediately given Gold status, and have earned five free drinks. Hey, I drink a lot of Starbucks.
The really great thing about this system is that you can buy a tall grande drip, which is like $1.50 and redeem your free drink for a venti soy dark cherry mocha, which is around $5. Not that I do that or anything. Also, it makes you more generous and you find yourself wanting to buy other peoples’ drinks more often. Which means your friends like you more. And you can give away your free drink coupons if you should so feel the need… or if you ever acquire an obscene amount of free Starbucks drinks.. not like I’ve experienced that or anything.
Hope it works out. If you drink a lot of Starbucks, this is definitely beneficial for you because it costs no money aside from what you’d already be spending.
ooo good to know!! thanks for the info, i was always wondering about this!
I’ll have to pass this along to my Starbucks-addicted friends. 😉
Random– (I’m a Barista at Starbucks) the rewards are ONE star PER ONE transaction– so not necessarily one for every drink. For example, if you bought two iced venti passion teas, and paid for them together, you’d get ONE star. If you rang them up on two separate transactions, you’d get two stars! 😛 Just wanted to clear it up– we get a lot of people in who think it’s one star per drink! :]
OH MAN. THANK YOU for that. I had no idea.