Starbucks announced a major devaluation of their ‘stars’ rewards currency:
Beginning February 13, 2023, the following changes to Star redemption will take effect:
- 100 Stars may be redeemed for one (1) of the following items: hot brewed coffee or hot steeped tea, iced brewed coffee or iced brewed tea, OR a bakery item (such as a cake pop or cookie), OR a packaged snack (such as popcorn or potato chips) OR one (1) Cold Siren Logo Plastic To-Go Cup (24 oz only) or one (1) Siren Logo Plastic Hot Cup (16 oz only).
- 200 Stars may be redeemed for one (1) of the following items: any handcrafted beverage (such as a latte or Frappuccino® blended beverage) OR any hot breakfast item (such as a breakfast sandwich or oatmeal).
- 300 Stars may be redeemed for one (1) packaged salad or lunch sandwich OR one (1) packaged protein box, OR one (1) packaged coffee item (such as whole bean coffee). Packaged coffee availability may vary by store location.
Basically the changes are as follows:
- Earning rates will stay the same at 2 stars per $1 spent
- Most items that previously cost 50 stars will now cost 100 stars
- Most items that previously cost 150 stars will now cost 200 stars
- Most items that previously cost 200 stars will now cost 300 stars
- 25 & 400 star levels remain unchanged
There are some items that are changing tiers (e.g iced coffee is moving from the 150/200 star tier to the 50/100 star tier). But the majority of items are increasing in star price. This makes Starbucks stars worth almost half of what they were previously worth. Bummer. Use up what you can before the February 13th devaluation.
Thanks to all those who sent in this tip
The best value was the whole bean coffee you can only get in-store anyway. This is 25% value increase for me.
Coffe Misto that used to be 50 stars is now 200 stars – 300% inflation!
I think that is 400%.
Banana bread 50 to 100- 100% inflation
100%*(200-50)/50=300% google how to compute inflation if you don’t believe me
using sergie I got the banana bread right, which is what I was spending my stars on. must have been sleeping on the other. 😒
Of course they start out devaluation week with a double star promo, at least for me. I have a couple of hundred stranded stars that I will use for iced coffee during the summer, but that’s about it.
Stinks a lil for my once a month Starbucks with my mother but we’ll be alright!
It works better for me since I prefer to spend stars on their whole bean coffee. It’s 400 stars now, going down to 300.
So they are doubling the price of a coffee, and reducing the price of a bag of beans, ok.
Most of these suck, but I like the iced coffee becoming 50 stars cheaper since I order that with money almost as often as a misto (my best value at 50 stars currently)
If you truly love Starbucks coffee then buy a bag at Costco (even better when they’re on sale).
Had many discounted gift cards for them. Glad I’m on my last one. Will not be buying anymore.
In my city, the number of vacant storefronts with “This Starbucks location has closed” signs is probably greater than the number of remaining Starbucks. Most of my friends and colleagues now go to Panera or McDonalds for cheaper coffee or to other chains or independent coffee shops for better coffee. I don’t understand how devaluing its reward program while continuing to charge high prices for mediocre coffee is going to increase Starbucks’s market share, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens.
i don’t think they are trying to increase market share by this move, but merely trying to increase profitability.
Starbucks’s big problem is that they are high-price but generally considered fairly mediocre. Devaluing the loyalty program doesn’t help with either of those problems, and only undermines the incentives of loyal, frequent customers to keep coming back. I hope it works out for them, but it’s starting to feel like Starbucks is in something of a death spiral.
Agree with most of what you wrote except I don’t care at all if it works out for them.