What do you do when somebody you love starts misbehaving? Do you let them continue on their current path? Do you ignore their actions and let them sort it out on their own? No. That wouldn't be the loving thing to do. Should you disown them? No. That would be equally as bad. You must instead, show them the right path. You must help them see how their behavior is disruptive not only to those around them, but to themselves. You must discipline them, but you must do it solely out of love and not out of vengeance.
As you've probably guessed, this is the case with Starbucks. If you follow me on twitter, or know anything about me at all, you probably know that I take my Starbucks quite seriously. I am a high-level Gold Card member, and have openly pushed for Starbucks to release a platinum level to obtain. Lately, however, they have been insulting their highest volume gold card members. They have been insulting them with ridiculous 'custom' offers. In reality, they'll offer even better deals to their low-volume customers. Their recent promotion is for you to try to earn 25 or 40 stars in the next 14 days. How do you get a star? You simply make a purchase. So they want you to purchase 2-3 items per day for the next two weeks. Well, that's pretty insane even for most high-volume Starbucks consumers. So what is the reward for making 25 or 40 purchases in two weeks? It's 10 or 20 bonus stars. What's the value of a star? Well, 12 stars will get you 1 free drink. So they're essentially give you a $5 or $10 reward for spending possibly hundreds of dollars. They've done these star dashes in the past, but they were always much more reasonable and a better value
But wait, it gets worse. I find out on twitter that not everybody gets the same offers. Do high-volume Gold Card members get better offers for being loyal customers? No. In fact, it's the opposite. One person got the offer where they only needed 8 stars and they would get a $5 gift card. That's a far better value, and can easily translate in to getting 30%+ off, effectively.
And so I must make the tough choice of what to do with Starbucks. Do I boycott the chain for good? No, that wouldn't be right. Do I call for others to stop visiting Starbucks? No, again. Do I call up Starbucks corporate and voice my complaints? No, that would require social interaction. Do I make a melodramatic thread on the internet on a website that has nothing to do with coffee, calling them out? Yes, that is part of it. Do I continue asking questions to myself and then answer them? Of course. Do I take a 6 week hiatus from the coffee chain to re-evaluate where they should be in my life? Once again, yes.
And so that is what I intend on doing. For six weeks I will not be supporting Starbucks. If you were contemplating shorting
$SBUX, now would be the time to do it. However that doesn't mean I will be taking a 6 week hiatus from coffee, or other yuppie activities. Instead I will be supporting independent places in my area. I've basically already done this with food places. I eat at a chain maybe once a month now, and I eat out 5 days/wk. I will use this thread to highlight the places I visit during my hiatus. After 6 weeks, I will have to decide whether I want to come back to Starbucks fully, partially come back, or continue my hiatus.
Thank you and godbless