Six coffee shops in Washington, D.C. are countering Starbucks’ loyalty cards with their own disloyalty cards. When someone buys something at any one of the six shops, their card will be stamped. Once consumers have accumulated six stamps, they can get a free coffee at the shop of their choice. I think it’s a cute idea, and the six shops seem to be having fun with it.
What about you? Do you drink much coffee? Do you go to coffee shops? Do you have any feelings about Starbucks one way or the other?
January 20, 2014
I think that it is a cute idea too. I hope that more independent coffee shops follow suit! I don’t go out much but when I do and if I want a coffee break, I prefer going to Cafe Coffee Day for their ambiance and also to pick up some of their great blends which I use to make my own coffee.
I’m not a coffee drinker, but I have gone with friends to the three cafes/coffee houses in our little town. Starbucks was not my favorite one. The place I like the best has a better choice of food than Starbucks with pots of different kinds of coffee on the side. Customers help themselves.
I like the idea.
We don’t stop in coffee shops unless we’re traveling and our Verizon phones don’t have a good signal for wifi. Then we might stop at a Starbucks or some other place that has free wifi.
I generally drink one 14 oz. mug of coffee when I get up and then about half that again later if I’m going to the gym. When I was working I would drink more. Today, I’m going to a retirees breakfast and I’ll have several restaurant size cups of coffee.
I don’t particularly care for Starbucks coffee. I think the brand is over-hyped, in my view.
Again, I don’t drink coffee, so I don’t know about the quality at Starbucks. It may be over-hyped, but a lot of people clearly like it. Free wifi is a great selling point.
totally agree with mike. starbucks is vastly over rated.
here it has become the establishment of the yuppies. or whatever their equivalent is called today.
they stand in line to order coffees that have 9 different instructive descriptions in them. they don’t smile. they take their coffee very seriously apparently. LOLOL.
the marine likes starbucks. he stoically says… one simple BLACK COFFEE.
he is rather out of place in his worn jeans and wine colored plaid flannel shirt.
but he is lean and as young looking as they are. he likes it strong and black. no frills.
and the sizes!!! ???
there is NO SMALL. i think the smallest is called grande.
so silly.
though… i must say. i did try their hazelnut vanilla latte once and was delighted!
but it was like a rich dessert. it was cold. and you know how i love ice cream.
when i ordered it i had no idea what i would be getting! LOL. fun.
i drink very little coffee. my favorite at home is the international brand of instant coffees… i like the one called café francais. simple. quick. delicious.
my friend celia calls it “your cup of chemicals!” LOL. and i suppose it is.
i have one cup a day as a treat in the afternoon. i have one cup of black coffee in the morning. do you and andy drink coffee? you didn’t say!
No, neither of us drink coffee. I gave it up years ago and Andy has never imbibed. I used instant coffee when I was tapering off. It made it so easy to adjust the strength. My favorite was Folgers freeze-dried — that was over 40 years ago but I still remember it.
I’ve never drunk coffee. How can anybody like a taste that is plain bitter? Starbucks is a waste of money.
I think black coffee does taste bad until you get used to it. I still remember taking small teaspoons at a time when I was trying to learn to drink it. That was a long, long time ago!
I don’t quite understand the “cards” – because here in NZ, loyalty cards are come from just about any kind of drink place, along with others including my printer cartridge place…
Have 5 kebabs and get the next one free, buy 9 of something else and your next refill is free…I have lots of cards. Some like muffin break have changed to a tiny week key chain extra (like a charm link). Even clothing stores have the loyalty card system but usually in a swipe card or tell them your phone number…
Although, I don’t think there many completely independents have joined together as such…
Up until recently I did drink coffee at cafes but for some reason these new (meds) potions I am taking make the coffee taste dreadful, actually I think it’s the milk rather than the coffee that tastes awful
Occasionally I will have Starbucks but I don’t particularly believe there is actually much “coffee” in any of them! Seems to be flavour and cream topping…
If you have a GoldCard when there are many more discounts – you get this card when you turn 65! Nearly there…
We don’t have nearly as many loyalty cards as you do — our main one is at the supermarket. You need it for some of the specials, and they used to give you money back in the form of store coupons at the end of every three-month period, depending on how many points you had accumulated. Now they give you fuel points — you can get 10 cents a gallon off for every 100 points you have. (Limit of $1 a gallon off for one fill.) But it goes month by month, so it’s a bit of a nuisance to keep track. It was more fun to get the coupons worth money, but we’re not complaining. It’s the only grocery store in town, so it’s not as if we would regularly buy anywhere else.
Love the idea.
Since buying our own manual coffee maker we’ve become much more discerning (ok snobby) about the coffee we get when out. Although if I was wealthier I’d probably spend lots more time in coffee shops – with consequences for my waistline I guess.
I don’t buy coffee, but I imagine there’s a wider choice now than there used to be. In the old days you couldn’t buy the beans and grind them in the store, at least in the stores we went to. It seems to me I’ve seen that now, but I haven’t paid that much attention.
I find the coffee in UK branches of Starbucks pretty weak so I never go there. Oddly though, the coffee in Starbucks abroad is usually much better. There are several local cafés I like and they also have their own loyalty cards, so that’s good. I love strong black coffee but I also like properly made lattés.
I love the idea of the disloyalty cards!
That’s interesting about Starbucks coffee being weak there. I had expected better quality control.