Submitted 1 day ago by scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech to mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world
I was annoyed enough to write all of this up. I used to go regularly, and the rewards program was genuinely a good deal, and made it worth going to Starbucks. Now, even if I set aside all of the horrible things they’re doing, I wanted to show just what an absolute shit program this is, and why there is absolutely no use in trying to “gain starbucks status”.
I can’t imagine spending $100 at Starbucks.
i can’t imagine drinking a starbucks burnt ass tasting coffee
The majority of people at Starbucks didn’t drink plain coffee. Starbucks is a milkshake company.
I most people go there now to order sugary drinks. I have to be extra clear I don’t want any sugar or syrups. They put sugar in their iced coffee by default now.
Recently I ordered an iced black tea tea. I said no sugar and the guy then asks “do you want lemonade with that?” 😐
Sure sure, but what about 2,500?
What the fuck are bonus stars. Why do they expire sometimes. And I can get fractions of them? Double star days??? Holy hell I this is the most overly convoluted bonus program I’ve ever seen, my local coffee place gives you a stamp on your stamp card and when you’ve collected 10 you get a free coffee.
Counterpoint: this is airline miles for coffee
Its all marketing bullshit to make people think they’re earning something, or their gaming the system. In reality it’s all carefully planned to extract the most value out of their most loyal customers.
Whenever you get convoluted bonus systems, you know you’re being screwed over
I’ve noticed the whole system has crashed over the years. I’ve been a ‘loyal’/repeated customer since 2006, (even working there for a year or two after college), at or over 20 years now, and can’t believe how much more spending is required to get a free drink. Hell, they used to have buy-1, get-1 receipts a few times a year, for a full week at a time.
I think this’ll end up being the end of it, for me. I already moved to making TAZO chais in the office, instead of purchasing their chai lattes.
I feel you, a lot of people will shit on you saying how could you, but I get it. I worked in an area where the only “decent” coffee was Starbucks for years, and sometimes you just want something a bit nicer than drip. In rural areas especially Starbucks is sometimes the only option. Then you are in an office, you’re going a couple of times a week, back in the day you’d probably get a free drink every few weeks or so, it honestly was pretty nice.
Now, it’s full corporate, that soul is gone, and it’s shameless nickle and diming. I think that’s why I made this. It’s the ultimate non-rewards program I’ve seen. None of it feels like it is rewarding you for being loyal. It feels more like a sad dog begging for whatever scraps are left after dinner was finished. You have to give so much to get so so little in return, and for such a large company you would think they’d be thankful to the people who frequent them. Instead they view their most loyal customers as a source to squeeze, and it’s disgusting to me. For me, they are officially downgraded to “travel” status, meaning I’ll only be going there in airports and places I can’t find local coffee.
Last time I got Starbucks I foolishly used the card and was rewarded with 6 months of spam that my $0.02c of rewards was going to expire.
The solution was to never go back there.
Starbucks is American, not getting a dime of my money.
Starbucks doesn’t get my money because it’s shit.
What, you don’t enjoy the taste of burnt?
Most local coffee shops around me have a punch card buy x coffees, get one free deal
Hmm, doesn’t sound profitable enough. Better to enshittify that program and really stick-it to the customers. Also, lets bust some unions.
Yeah, this is some shit. I miss the days when you could pay like $50 for a year and got a card that discounted 10% off everything. I abused that thing.
They forced an update that won’t run on my phone.
So I’m almost out anyway.
I like their chai lattes. I can’t get the same taste anywhere else, and if I try to make it it’s a “we have mcdonalds at home” result.
So about twice a year, now, I get a fucking c$6 latte as a treat. I miss 2019 with the many locations - one 80m away in my walkable block - and a really nice barista who made the effort to smile and chat directly. Now I have none of those things and this is like dia de los muertos.
Completely feel you, their mochas, while not “good” in a good coffee sense, have a particular flavor that I do really enjoy that no one else gets right. That being said, they’re horrible and I try not to go whenever I can, and go to local coffee shops. Ironically I now treat them like McDonalds. I only eat it when I travel. A good chunk of places do not have anything except a starbucks, and most airports only have starbucks. So, that’s when I get it. They are relegated down to McDonald’s status.
Starbucks? Ew.
I don’t even try to minmax these things. If a cashier is insistent and promises an immediate discount I’m fine with giving fake info.
!enshittification@lemmy.world
comador@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Even as an American, I’ve stopped drinking this garbage years ago.
Virtually every Mom and Pop shop tastes better at this point so do yourself a favor and support a local small business instead.
Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
I started brewing mine again. It’s gonna take me more time to go to a drive through or gas station, while costing me money than it actually takes me to make a cup in the morning.
Plus it’s guaranteed to be made how I like it.
comador@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I love my Lavazza Gold blend. I grind and brew it as often as I can. However, I have days where I hit the fuckit button at 5am and have to buy coffee somewhere.
scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 20 hours ago
Check out !espresso@infosec.pub if you want to really go deep into brewing your own
B0rax@feddit.org 1 day ago
Well that’s a whole nother rabbit hole…
foggy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Tastes better and is cheaper.
Like unless your coffee drink is a children’s dessert beverage then I really have 0 idea why anyone goes.
aGlassDarkly@piefed.zip 1 day ago
I gave up completely and just bought an espresso machine. Sure it’s gigantic and it and the grinder take up a fuck ton of counter space, but turns out making a latte the way I like it wasn’t that hard to learn.
comador@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Jealous. I wish I could do that, but I neither have the space nor the money for a good espresso machine.
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 day ago
I haven’t been to a Starbucks since 2012
spacelord@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Kramer reveals the truth about Mom and Pop
comador@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Thankfully there’s more than one Mom and Pop shop. So our sneakers (and Sienfelds) will eventually show up somewhere…