The Starbucks rabbit hole article
So been kind of hating work currently and been actively using my break time and almost any excuse to take a walk and one of the cheapest coffee places in my area is Starbucks. And I’m getting their coffee since it’s cost effective and my job isn’t giving free coffee anymore. I already meal prep but coffee prepping is even more time consuming.
Yes you did it Starbucks, you made every other place that sells coffee match your prices and do it worst. And I have no other place around me except for Shake Shack. With some internet research one can probably deduce where my location is. And yes the corner shops and Bodegas around me charge me extra for using a card.
Also using the Starbucks app combined with a reloading gift card and rewards credit card you get cheaper drinks and/or freebies.
I’m personally using the Venmo credit card since it’s giving me 3% cash back. If you have one that gives more then by all means go for that one.
Now let’s get into the “hack” in theses free drinks. The rewards are broken up into 5 tiers (mostly 4).
Each star is worth 1 dollar and with a gift card you get double stars. You combine that on offer days which they offer you extra stars by purchasing certain items or just making a purchase.
But I’ve been experimenting and it is a hack at the redemptions themselves. Also FYI never use the 25 stars one it’s literally not worth it. When you redeem the 50 star one you are able to add stuff and it’s free without extra stars. And same with the 150 star one for the fancy drinks.
The most cost effective way to use the stars is using the 50 star tier one since it gives you the best bang without going to the next tier which is triple the amount. But I think since the 150 star tier gives you a lot more options I think they played it safe by making it that high.
Also the redemption can be any size. The largest size (trenta) are only for certain drinks and not every store will have it.
The last tier is not worth it. For one thing it seems like every store doesn’t stock any merchandise at all. The coffee beans are only about 10 bucks in supermarkets and they go on sale quite often. The 400 stars are much more valuable in the lower tiers.
The offers seem to be targeted based on how active you are. For me it took about a week to get my first bonus star offer from my first order.
I messed up on one offer since it was pretty vague. It was the spend at least 15 dollars one. It’s not clear but you have to do this in a single order. I thought I could spread it out since they give you a time limit of three days.
Also it seems like you have to use money on certain items to get the bonus. Redeeming one of the items and paying for the other doesn’t get around this. Like the buy a drink and bakery offer. They both have to be paid with money.
BTW I am not sponsored by Starbucks this is just a random person on the internet finding ways to make my break time more enjoyable. Am I over thinking this to save a few bucks on an addiction? Maybe.