It’s no secret that newly-minted CEO Brian Niccol has been making some serious changes at Starbucks. He brought back Sharpies (IYKYK), made menu cuts, and even introduced a slew of new bevvys. Now, there’s another new update—but fans aren’t too happy about it.
Beginning June 24, the Seattle-based coffee giant is nixing its 25-star bonus for customers who bring their reusable cup, CNN reports. According to a Starbucks spokesperson, you’ll earn double stars on your order instead, which sounds great but actually isn’t. It will likely just result in fewer points overall.
Implemented in 2022, the initial 25-star bonus plan was available for all loyalty members. With it, you could earn enough to hit the 100-point redemption level by bringing a personal cup just four times and snag a qualifying coffee, tea, or snack for free. Specialty drinks and additional food are available anywhere from 200 to 400 points (which is another words for “stars” in the Starbucks Rewards program).
For the uninitiated: You typically earn stars/points by making purchases at Starbucks—usually 1 star per dollar spent, but sometimes with bonus multipliers for special promotions or payment methods. Instead of 25-star bonus per visit with a reusable cup, you’ll now only earn double stars on your purchase.
Fans are not happy. “Honestly the 25 stars is what keeps me going back daily. I love saving my stars for when I go on vacation,” one person wrote in a thread on Reddit. “My drink is $4.75 (plus tax) and I get it daily. So I usually get 9 stars and the 25 extra. So for spending $4.75 I get 34 stars a day when I bring my cup.”
“Now I’ll only be earning about 18 stars a day,” they added. “Big change. This sucks.”
Fellow customers quickly chimed in with their own frustration over the policy change.
“Definitely feels like loyalty is getting burned here. I definitely will not be going as often due to this change,” another chimed in. “More love for the local shops with my money, as Starbucks has proved that’s what they want.”
Others called out Niccol specifically for the switch-up. “Watch him nerf the CUP fund,” a Reddit user wrote. “What is he going to take away next…” another said.
I thought we wanted to ENCOURAGE people to bring in reusable cups, not contribute to the plastic waste epidemic with single use cups,” someone else pointed out. “Right, Starbucks? Did you forget that that was part of the mission statement, Brian?”
