Starbucks Revamps Reward Program, Here’s What You’ll Get Now…

50 Stars gets you a brewed hot coffee with Starbucks’ new Reward program.

Starting April 16, 2019, Starbucks will use a new Starbucks Reward program for its members.

The new Starbucks Rewards structure:

  • 25 Stars: Extra espresso shot, dairy substitute or additional flavor

  • 50 Stars: Brewed hot coffee, hot tea or select bakery Items

  • 150 Stars: Handcrafted drink, hot breakfast or yogurt parfaits

  • 200 Stars: Lunch sandwich, protein box or salad

  • 400 Stars: Select merchandise or packaged coffee

To participate, you need to have the Starbucks app on your phone or register at a Starbucks location. Once you’re signed up, you earn two stars for every dollar you spend.

Other perks include a free birthday reward, the ability to order ahead (aka mobile ordering), free in-store refills, access to member events and the ability to pay via the app. 

Personally, I use my Starbucks app every single time I go to Starbucks. I’m glad to see they are letting customers use rewards for other things, but I do hope they’ll eventually have a tier system for frequent Starbucks customers, like Sephora does.

At Sephora, there are three tiers (INSIDER, VIB, and ROUGE), which all have similar benefits like birthday gifts, access to the Reward Bazaar, but VIB and ROUGE come even more perks like monthly gifts and free makeovers. I’d love to see a similar program at Starbucks that rewards its regulars (besides free black coffee refills).

What do you think of Starbucks’ new reward program? I really miss their free milk alternatives when you pay with your Starbucks card. I know I’m going to forget all the different perks I could get with my Starbucks card and only end up using. 150 on my free drink (which is 25 more Stars than the earlier program). I also wish I could save preferences in my app like my milk preferences (warm, so I can drink it NOW), or always with soy/almond/whatever.

By Becca Risa Luna

Seattle-based fashion writer and personal essayist. Likes designer handbags, glaring openness, and subtle vulgarity.

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