I was dismayed to learn this week from my favorite baristas at the Colorado and Arizona Starbucks in Denver that the Gold Card Pilot Program that I got to participate in ended October 31.  Guess I did not read Starbucks Gold News #3.  So the pretty white card with my name on it reverts to be just a regular Starbucks card now.

Their new membership product is also called a Gold Card and costs $25 a year.  Benefits include a 10% discount on all food and beverages at the time of purchase which is great and comes with three coupons for 10% off other Starbucks purchases.

However, I now see no mention of the piece I was drawn to initially with the pilot program – the percentage back from my cappuccino addiction to a nonprofit.  So I guess they discontinued that feature.  Granted my whopping contribution through the end of September was only $2.58 but it was the principle of getting to choose whether to take the 10% off myself or contribute it that I appreciated.  Bummer.  I see they have now decided to become part of Product(RED) – maybe they decided that was the better way to go?

I bought one of the new Gold cards anyway.  It is still my destination of choice for my morning dog walk and I love the spinach feta breakfast wrap.  Onwards…

Tags: Starbucks Gold Card

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 9:09 am and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.