It was sometime in 2003 when I learned that Starbucks was having their own branded Visa card, complete with great rewards. Unfortunately, it was only available in the US at the time which was quite disappointing. So in early 2005 when I discovered that it was finally available in Canada, I signed up immediately. And at the very beginning of March 2005, I received my brand new Starbucks Duetto Visa card. So new, this program was, that my card number had five consecutive zeros.
It was great. It functioned as both a credit card and a Starbucks card. At the end of the billing period, 1% of the total of the purchases was added to the balance on the Starbucks Card part. Plus, every three months Starbucks would give an additional bonus depending on how much I had spent at Starbucks using the card. According to my records, I have received $887.85 in free coffee from this card between all the various rewards and bonuses—that's an average of almost $15 a month!
Also, during the first year or so there would occasionally be a coupon for a free drink included with the monthly bill, usually for whatever new drink they were just introducing (I like green tea, but their Green Tea Latte... not so much. I just realized I haven't seen them selling it in years—I must not have been the only one who held that opinion. Fortunately it was free thanks to the coupon.).
And as if that wasn't enough, the card simply looked awesome. Aside from having a great design, the card was semi-transparent in places too which added to its coolness. Seriously, it's happened many times that cashiers commented on its appearance. And they see cards constantly, so they should know. Unfortunately I just learned now that my camera appears to have issues (but I'll leave that for another post) and my iPhone 3G's camera doesn't handle close-ups good so I can't take a good picture, but you can check out some other images here.
But alas, it was not to last forever. At the beginning of March, close to five years to the day since I originally received my card, I received a piece of mail from its issuing bank that said on the envelope that it was detailing changes to the Starbucks Duetto Visa. On opening it up, I found enclosed a letter mentioning that they were discontinuing the card and one of their other Visa cards would be issued in its place by the end of June.
Well that card arrived a few weeks ago, but I have no intention of using it. Compared to my awesome Starbucks Visa, the rewards are pathetic. I used to be able to get $25 to spend at Starbucks after spending $2,500 on the Visa. With this replacement card, it gives Rewards Points that can be redeemed for whatever I would like from their rewards catalogue, but in order to get enough points to redeem for a $25 Starbucks card, I would need to spend $6,000—more than twice as much. Hardly an equivalent replacement, don't you think? At least that card had a signup bonus of 3,000 points, which is the exact amount needed to redeem for a $25 Starbucks card. I just have to call to obtain a password for their reward redemption site and that $25 is as good as mine.
That's most likely the reason why it was discontinued. The rewards were just so good compared to their other offerings, and the bank probably didn't like spending what it did on these Starbucks rewards. I'm sure Starbucks would have loved to continue having the card available if possible, as all correspondence from them was apologetic in tone, and it appears to still be available in the US. Plus, they not only mailed me a coupon book with six coupons for free drinks of my choice, but a $25 Starbucks card as well. Hardly the actions of a company that was eager to drop a program.
But lest you feel pity on me for suddenly having to greatly increase my coffee budget, I've found another way of getting my free coffee fix. Airmiles. I've been getting lots of Airmiles lately thanks to special offers at stores, which I've been trading in for Starbucks cards. Normally they take far too long to accumulate to even be worth it, but when you find deals like buying 5 boxes of cereal and getting 50 bonus Airmiles (which is almost one-quarter of the requirements for a $25 card right there) it adds up considerably faster.
In any case, now I have to figure out what to do with my trusty old Starbucks Duetto Visa. Even though I haven't used it in over a month (I fortunately was able to find a new Visa that comes much closer to the level of the rewards that the Starbucks one gave than the card that replaced it), I only finally removed it from my wallet tonight. I know you're supposed to destroy old Visa cards so ensure they don't get misused but I just can't bring myself to destroy it. But I think that's probably alright, as the number doesn't work anymore anyway, and it's not like I'll be tossing it in the garbage.
Maybe I'll frame it and put it on my bookshelf. Or put it on display by my jars of coffee beans. Realistically though, it'll probably find a new home in a drawer or tray on my desk where it'll quietly sit there waiting for some time in the future when I'll be doing some cleaning. And when I come across it again I can pull it out and reminisce about how great a card it was.
No comments:
Post a Comment