Is the My Starbucks REWARDS Loyalty Scheme any good?

Starbucks have a loyalty scheme called ‘My Starbucks Rewards’. Is it any good? How do you sign up? What are the  rewards and benefits? And how much do you really have to spend to get your free coffee at Starbucks?

This is the second in our “Wake up and smell the (free) coffee” series, where we look at the loyalty schemes of the big 3 coffee chains Costa Coffee, Starbucks and Caffe Nero.  

How do you sign up to the My Starbucks Rewards Loyalty Scheme?

The Starbucks loyalty scheme, My Starbucks REWARDS. is available both with a physical card and on an app, or you can sign up online.

• A minimum value of £5 must be loaded onto your Starbucks Card in order to register your card online.

• You can get a loyalty card in-store which your Barista can activate for you and you can use this to create an online account, or just download the app.

• If you sign up online you are not sent a card, you just use the number they allocate you (big faff) or register that number on the app. 

• There are 2 loyalty club levels which can earn you free coffees.

Starbucks look like they have made it as difficult as possible to earn free coffees using their loyalty schemes. Have a look at the Costa Coffee Club and Caffe Nero to see how easy it should be.

Update September 2020

Starbucks have had a big re-think on their My Starbucks Rewards loyalty scheme (did they read our review below?)

From 23/09/20 you will now receive 3 stars for every £1 spent in store. However if you spend £1.99, you will receive 5.97 stars (1.99×3). And any stars you already have will be multiplied by 10! This is a much improved offer and more in line with the other big two. More details to follow as soon as we get them.

Update July 2020

At time of writing, Starbucks have no free welcome back offers unlike Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee. They obviously can’t wait to welcome everybody back. Nuff said.

How does My Starbucks Rewards work?

Rather than earning points, the Starbucks reward schemes uses stars.

You earn 1 star for every transaction made through your Starbucks card or app. This means that if you buy two or more items, you still only get one star. Basically if you want to earn a star for each item then you would have to pay for each one separately. Nice way to make it difficult to earn stars!

But wait Starbucks have made it even more difficult than that.

You need to register a payment card for your purchases or top up your app. And you have to use that method to pay or you don’t even collect the 1 measly star for your transaction. This is a huge downside – you have to register a payment card for your purchases or top up your app with anything from £10 up to £150. You can sign up for Auto Top-Up and set your own limit. So you can only do this using, yes you guessed it, a payment card which you have to register to the app.

Really Starbucks? So if I have £1 left on my loyalty card,  the next time I go to Starbucks I will need to top up my card/app before I can purchase anything in order to gain a Star! I wonder how much money is “left” on other peoples cards and never redeemed?

So if the Customer wants to pay cash. No stars.

Customers have questioned this and the official line from Starbucks is “The programme is designed to reward our many customers who use and pay with a registered Starbucks Card”. Sounds like a politicians answer to me.

What happens when there’s 4 of you popping in for lunch and only you have a loyalty card or the app? Are YOU really going to pay for it all, and separately, just to get the stars? That would really go down well with those behind you in the queue.

Can you collect My Starbucks Rewards stars at Airports?

We love to travel (well not at the moment but we will again!) and one of the things that always says ‘Welcome Home’ to us is walking out into the arrivals lounge and heading straight to a coffee shop. After a long flight that’s the perfect #SmallJoy. Our first choice is Costa but if Starbucks is your favourite then there’s usually one at the Airport. You can collect My Starbucks Rewards stars at the Airport, just the same as anywhere else in the UK.

Can you collect My Starbucks Rewards stars abroad?

There are online rumours that you can use and top up your Starbucks account anywhere in the world. We’ve tried to do this in Vegas, New York and Cyprus but it doesn’t work. Do let us know if you have found anywhere outside the UK that works.

This is the Starbucks I used every day when we were staying at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. I had to walk the length of the Casino to get there and rested on the way back at a slot machine with my $10 allowance! Thanks Mrs D.

How much do I need to spend to get a free coffee from Starbucks?

Well you get no free stars when you first register on the app or top up your card. There are 2 loyalty levels.

• Green Level Once you use your app/card you become a Green Level member. For every 15 Stars you earn, you will receive a free drink reward.

So basically (individually) buy, say, 15 Tall (small) Cappuccinos at £2.25 which totals £33.75 and you get one free. Definitely better value than Costa but not as good as Caffe Nero. However the Rewards expire after 38 days. How can they place such a short time limit on you to claim your free cup! How many people don’t claim theirs in time and lose out? They definitely don’t inspire loyalty.

• Gold Level After 50, yes fifty, transactions at £2.25 (which is £112.50)  in 12 consecutive months you will be upgraded to Gold Level. At this level you get “free extras” which include selected syrups, extra shots of espresso, whipped cream and free non-dairy alternatives. To stay in Gold Level, just collect another 50 Stars in the next 12 consecutive months. If you don’t you get demoted back down to Green Level!

Coffee cup sizes (and their confusing names)

They do 3 main sizes of cups

• Tall (we know this as small) which is 12fl.oz

• Grande (medium) is 16fl.oz

• Venti (large) is 20fl.oz. Venti means 20 in Italian.

All very confusing so I always ask for a small, medium or large! The names suggest they want you to feel you’re having your coffee in Italy even though Starbucks was founded in Seattle, USA.

What other benefits are there to joining the My Starbucks REWARDS loyalty scheme?

• You can order ahead through Mobile Order & Pay on the app and go straight to the pick up counter (as long as you’ve registered your prepayment card to the app!) Your cup will be there with your name on it.

• Double stars offer. You may also get an email from My Starbucks REWARDS inviting you to use the MO&P (Mobile order and pay) for the first time and earn yourselves double stars!

• Free bonus star. From time to time Starbucks may offer a free bonus Star as an incentive to selected members. During a promotional period, when you purchase a featured product at participating stores, you will receive an extra Star for purchasing the specified product.
• Free drink on your birthday Apparently this is a thing but they must’ve forgotten mine this year.

Are there any benefits for Customers without Rewards? 

• Free refills. If you don’t mind filter coffee, head over to Starbucks, pay for the coffee (this could be hot, Iced Coffee or Cold Brew), or Tea (hot or Iced) and the refills are free! Yes free for as long as you’re in the shop, so in theory you could grab your laptop or a book to read and chillax for as long as you like with free filter coffee or tea top-ups. A Tall (small) filter coffee costs £1.55 and a Venti (large) is £1.95. That’s pretty good.

• 25p discount. If you buy the Starbucks re-usable cup for £1 in-store, you’ll get 25p off every time you use it. Or bring your own re-usable cup as long as it has a lid on it and is clean and still get 25p off.
• We have these reusable cups. Much nicer and well worth the £14.99.

Starbucks needs to have a re-think. They do offer less for more.

Unlike Costa Coffee and Caffe Nero, Starbucks offer very little in extra’s. For every purchase you made at Costa in December 2019, you were entered into a draw for some fab freebies. With Caffe Nero they had an advent calendar which you opened every day leading up to Xmas. They had different offers like free snacks, 25% off pastries, or a free coffee on Xmas eve, etc. With Starbucks you got zippo. Tis’ the season of goodwill. Not. What will they do in 2020? Follow us and you will see.

Starbucks collectable cups

The main thing we love about Starbucks is their collectable cups. Yes we know it is just another income stream for them but for us it’s a great (and cheap way of bringing back a memory from our travels. Everywhere from New York, Vegas, Barcelona, London, and even Center Parcs have their own limited edition collectables.

We have around 10 cups from our travels. Once you start collecting you can’t stop! For some reason we haven’t got one from our many visits to Cyprus. Need to put that right when we go in August.

So that’s the Starbucks investigation. Not much to write about and you definitely get less for more. As my school report read, can do better.

Have a look at how and where can you get free coffee at other places and check out our look at Costa Coffee loyalty scheme and the Caffe Nero loyalty scheme.

Everyone’s got their favourite coffee. Which one’s yours?

What do you need to know about Loyalty cards?

Loyalty cards are designed by stores for their benefit first and foremost. Learn how to play the loyalty card game to make sure you get as much benefit as you can in an article posted here soon.

Have a read of all our store Loyalty Card reviews and let us know which you use and which benefits you enjoy most.

• Sainsburys Nectar card review
• Co-op loyalty card review
• Tesco Clubcard review
• Ikea Friends and Family Card review
• Costa Coffee loyalty card
• Cafe Nero loyalty card
• Starbucks rewards
• M&S Sparks loyalty card review
• Boots Advantage card review
• Also check out this fab post from CashbackCollette with the 60+ Best Loyalty Schemes in the UK

What else can you get for free?

Have a look around our site, there are plenty of free and £1 deals you can enjoy, including:

• The Audible free trial – is it worth trying?
• The Quidco free money hack
• Fly to Cyprus (or any Europe) for £1
• How to Invest £1 and earn over £100

Spend Smarter, Travel Smarter and Visit Smarter.

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The post Is the My Starbucks REWARDS Loyalty Scheme any good? appeared first on Mind over Money Matters.