Jeff Keeping It Real!

Received my new Starbucks Gold card (gold) a week and half prior to my old one expiring.  The new one started on the 6th of January.  Here I am finally 15 stars into my new Starbucks Gold card and can compare the two.  You get a star for every visit you use your gold card, with money on it, to make a purchase.  You read that right you have to have money on the card and use it to get a star towards your rewards.  Here are the benefits of the new gold card by Starbucks:

• Free birthday drink
• 2 continuous hours of free Wi-Fi daily
• Free refills on brewed coffee, iced coffee and tea
• Free flavored syrups
• Free tall (12 fl oz) beverage with every pound of coffee purchased
• Exclusive offers & coupons
• FREE DRINK EVERY 15 STARS

My old Gold card (black) benefits were as follows:

• 10% off most purchases in participating U.S. Starbucks stores
• A free beverage on your birthday
• Exclusive offers & coupons
• 2 continuous hours of free Wi-Fi daily

I received the black gold card for free for all the purchases I made so no $25 fee.  If I did pay the $25 for the year that equals to $1.05 for the 15 visits.  I saved on average $0.68 a visit during these first 15 visits.  That same 15 visits saving on average $0.68 means the free drink would have cost me $10.20.  Wow, so far the new gold card does not save me anything and is costing me money.

Let’s break this down a little further.  If I stay to drink my Iced Coffee with sugar-free caramel and light breve and then take advantage of the free refill then the loss shrinks.  I order iced coffee and Frappuccino so there were no additional syrup charges.  I used the Wi-Fi maybe three hours last year.  That benefit did not help me and perhaps this year I will try to use it more so that I can see the benefit of the new gold card.

At least three of the benefits are the same but that 10% discount compared to needing 15 stars is a huge difference.  A lot of times the discount is what gave the Starbucks partners there tip. 

Early indications are the new Starbucks Gold card is NOT so Golden

What is your take on the new Starbucks Gold card?