Feb. 24--First, I apologize to all the people who have been in line behind me at Starbucks in recent years.
I made you wait, I know, while I paid for each item individually, because that was the best way to overcome the inherent injustice in the administration of the ubiquitous coffee chain's loyalty program.
Under that plan, my sausage, egg and cheese sandwich and grande mocha -- if you are a dietitian reading this, please avert your eyes -- were worth as many rewards stars (one) as the next customer's small black coffee. Unless, that is, I made the person in the green apron in front of me ring up each item on its own, because each purchase earned a star.
But things are changing at Starbucks. When the company's controversial new frequent customers rewards plan takes effect in April, you will, I promise you, no longer have Steve Johnson to curse under your breath, at least not because of multiple payments.
You may still be somewhat put off by overhearing my ongoing nationwide barista survey in which I attempt to determine the best name for those green plastic sticks that keep the coffee from squirting out the hole and onto your dress pants as you try not to get run over crossing Michigan Avenue on the way back to the office. (Best answer so far: "stoppers," although I'm sure some clever barista somewhere has put his Ivy League English degree to good use and come up with the absolute perfect name while lying awake nights in his parents' basement. I intend to find that barista.)
But back to the issue at hand, the new loyalty plan, announced Tuesday with a cryptic e-mail to frequent customers. (We had to click through to a website to discover the full details.)
The plan seems like it may be able to reduce lines in two ways. The first is people like me, who won't be insisting on what the company calls "split purchases" because the new plan lets customers get Starbucks-rewarded on a strict stars-for-dollars-spent basis.
"The #1 request we heard from members," Starbucks said. "More Stars awarded based on what you buy, no matter how often you visit."
The second is that there may just be fewer people in line. The early negative reaction suggests the new loyalty program will turn out to be a loyalty test for the company's most frequent customers, people who've taken the time to sign up for a Starbucks card and made the 30 annual visits that earn them "gold member" status, which then qualifies them to participate in the rewards program.
Many of these people, apparently, don't like the idea that the hurdle for a free drink reward will shift from 12 stars, aka 12 visits or 12 purchases, to 125 stars. Under the new 2-stars-per-dollar-spent deal, that means you will have to spend $62.50 to get your prize.
Compare that to the current threshold: Today's budget bean-juice shoppers can spend about $25 (12 small coffees) to earn their free beverage or food item. And considering that my go-to rewards drink was a venti (Italian for "twenty," sort of; Starbucks for "extra large") whole-milk two-pump cafe mocha with an extra espresso shot and sometimes vanilla syrup, the free drink could be a very good deal. For $25 in spending, you got a beverage that not only was inherently comical to order, but one that would set you back close to $7 on the open market.
On the other hand, that $7 drink might just as easily have cost you $120, if you were earning your stars the slow way, by buying family snacks on a road trip, say, or being the office dude who volunteers to get the Starbucks order because you're the only one with the right combination of coordination and organization to handle seven different drinks.
All of this reflects, in large measure, the shift in the Starbucks focus. When I frequented one of the first Chicago Starbucks, on Diversey west of Broadway, it used to actually be a coffee shop, and the loyalty program was a punch card: One punch for each pound of coffee you bought, and the coffee was scooped out of bins. Twelve punches, I believe it was, got you a free pound.
Now you can barely get whole-bean coffee at many city Starbucks. The grinder is buried under extra Frappuccino blender parts waiting to handle the afternoon rush of high-schoolers. And heaven forbid you should try to order a half-pound of beans, instead of one of the standard, pre-packaged pounds. I've had a barista try to do this measurement by eye for me, because there is no longer even a scale in the store.
The new Starbucks, really, is a high-end 7-11, serving snack food and drinks on the run. The Frappuccino would be the Slurpee equivalent, the scone is the greasy donut, and the bacon-egg-and-gouda sandwich, let's say, equates to the hot dogs slowly rolling on hot metal rods. (There is no lottery-ticket parallel, unless, perhaps, you count the cards entitling you to a free song on iTunes.)
The loyalty plan, I have to say, was working. Yes, it lacked logic, which could offend those of us with an inflamed sense of fair play. But making it work sort of fairly wasn't the hardest thing in the world, as I was willing to demonstrate (again, sorry).
Knowing that I was only a few stars from a free drink would often mean the difference between me getting my afternoon pick-me-up from Starbucks versus Walgreens or Peet's or any of the myriad other choices. I could watch the 10, 11 or 12 gold stars bounce around as they filled up the Starbucks cup on the Starbucks app I use to pay for purchases.
Now, though, the simplicity is gone. I can't imagine ever thinking, "I'm only 37 stars away from hitting 125!" I can't imagine how 125 stars are going to fit into a cup.
So my guess is that the implementation of the new plan will be a mess, customers will rebel and the company will go back to some modified version of the 12-stars-per-reward plan. And then they can get going on what's really important: coming up with an official name for the green stopper sticks.
sajohnson@tribune.com
