Starbucks had the unfortunate experience of launching its Starland promotion just days before the coronavirus sent the entire U.S. into lockdown mode. That was bad for Starbucks because many of its stores were shut down and others only were operating through the drive-thru.
It was good news for those of us who were still playing the contest every day from home without stepping foot in a store. I earned countless stars in my account without spending a cent. Now that my local Starbucks is open, albeit with a totally different setup and no chairs in the store, I’m able to redeem some of those stars.
Starbucks is really trying to get its loyal customers back because they’ve re-launched an old promotion with a new twist.
The Match Two promotion was one of my least favorite of the Starbucks promos. The previous version made you complete two tasks to earn a small number of bonus points. If you completed all of the tasks you’d get a number of bonus points.
The problem was many of the tasks were not any of the types of Starbucks purchases I’d typically make. Afternoon visits or buying four coffees are not my usual Starbucks visit.
It seems that the promotion department is no longer trying to get people to change their spending patterns. Instead, they’re happy if you’d resume your previous purchases.
My Match Two categories are right in line with my pre-coronavirus Starbucks visits.
Using the mobile app, buying breakfast, enjoying an iced coffee, going on a weekend and visiting two days in a two are all things I’ve previously done. It’s no big deal to complete those tasks. I’ve actually been doing them regularly once I’ve stopped working at home and my local Starbucks has reopened.
A major difference is you’re able to pick a challenge that you’d like to skip. You won’t earn points for that challenge but you’ll get points for the match as well as the points if you’re able to complete the board. So if I don’t want to visit two days after 2PM, I’ll still be able to earn a big bonus.
I’m glad to see that Starbucks has changed the goal of their promotions from getting people to change their coffee habits to getting people to resume their habits from before coronavirus. Going to Starbucks, even in a social distancing compliant manner, is one way that I get to feel things will eventually get back to normal.
#stayhealthy #staysafe #washyourhands
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
3 comments
Where are you seeing this? It’s not on my app.
FYI – this may be a targeted promotion. I found a website but when I log in it says my account not eligible.
Maybe try again David? It wasn’t working for me yesterday either but is now.
Even better yet for the Starland promotion, you could enter without making a purchase. I did my two free plays everyday and got hundreds of stars without any purchases. Haven’t found a way to do that with this promotion though. 🙁