Mini Starbucks Card hits stores on June 30

That's Tuesday. Chuck Davidson of the Starbucks Card team says of the new mini-card: "Just clip it to whatever you like (keys, gym bag, etc.) and continue to enjoy your on-the-go lifestyle. ...The Mini Starbucks Card works just like a Starbucks Card; register it to enjoy rewards, benefits and to protect your balance too!" Read "You asked for it: Introducing the Mini Starbucks Card"

Comments

[Will]

Awesome. This is gonna be the thing that turns the company around! Just like movie tie ins, sugar free mochas, and mandated -3.5% variance!

Job well done team.

[SS]

Apparently some customers have already received mini cards from the company as a perk for reloading their registered card online.

[jtwilkins]

Do I still have to have my big gold card?

[Bouncing Barista]

yes, if you want to get your gold discount...cuz registered benefits and gold benefits are NOT the same and do NOT mix...

[crema_the_crop]

I can't wait to handle people's gross awkward clumps of nasty keys and lanyards...

[jtwilkins]

I do not understand why companies make stuff like this. Why would you make a mini card if it is not compatible with the Gold Card. Lets put some though in this. Make mini gold cards or let you link your gold status to any Starbucks card.

[Really]

I agree, starbucks needs to put more "though" into things. They need to bring new "thoughs" to partners and get their "thoughs" on it. "Though" about it?

[brown dot]

yay another stupid idea by some lazy customer who does not want to carry their wallet with them...was this something that was truly necessary for the success of our business? I think not. I do not think that a mini sbux card will bring in more customers, this just gives another goody for customers to have and collect and take up room.

[me]

Hello? Are you guys serious???

This was something customers asked for.

And it didn't cost anything to actually implement it. It is not a new technology or anything. It is just a smaller card.

The unreasonable negativity against everything on this forum is the reason I come here less and less. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of reasons to complain about Starbucks, but giving customers a smaller card because they like it should not be high on our complaints list.

[blarg]

maybe they should remember what the company wa about in the first place and not come up with new novelties? i don;t know. maybe?

[revenge of the King]

To Me:

I think that the problem is Sbux comes out with these things without working out the bugs. Then at the store level we have to deal with customers who would want their gold card on a mini. If Sbux had a better gold/rewards program that wasn't confusing to partners and customers. Now there is another way to confuse. Countless times ideas have been rolled out and changed. The new gluten free cake was at first a 5 day product. We notice that they were molding in the package. Then a action item came out that they were now a 3 day shelf life. I still saw moldy ones. Then another action item saying they are now a 2 day product. If feel like Sbux is so rushed to fix what took years to destroy.

[me]

I totally agree, the card mess should get worked out, just combine both cards into one, apply the discount that is better for the customer (computers are amazing, they can do that, you know) and away you go. But again, even if they bring out a mini gold card, what is the problem? It is NOT another card. It is just the size of it. If someone likes to cut his card into a heart shape but leaves the magnetic strip why would we care at all????

[pnwguy]

Yeah...the customers demanded it, but at the store level it will be slightly problematic. I've had to swipe mini discover cards and its sort of a bitch. They are always on these giant keyrings...I think everyone with mini cards is a janitor.

We have people who have punched a hole in their cards and attached it to their id lanyard and it works fine. Mini cards would work nice if they were scannable and didn't need to be swiped. A lot of what comes out of "headquarters" lately are clearly concieved by people who have never worked in a store, which should never be the case.

[stacy]

I think the cards are adorable but I have two problems with them.
1. They are too hard to swipe. You basically have to hold it with your fingernails because our card readers are rather deep. There needs to be some type of bar code or something that we can just scan.
2. What are people in DT supposed to do? Turn off their car and hand us their keys so we can swipe them?

[Will]

Sure, it didn't cost anything to implement (except printing the cards and rolling them out), but does it bring in any revenue?

[Melody]

I didn't get mini card early, so I haven't seen them yet. Is the new mini card intended to replace a customer's wallet sized card? I'd rather have a mini card with the SAME number as the one in my wallet instead of having to switch to a new card.

My own experience with mini cards is that they wear out and fray even faster than normal cards. I still want a Starbucks card akin to a bank debit card - long lasting and durable. Hopefully the new mini cards will hold up.

[Back to Basics]

Ah I completely agree with everyone who says they're dumb. The excuses they came up with is that people lose their starbucks cards. I'm sorry, if you're too stupid to find a card in your purse or wallet, then you are too stupid to come to starbucks. Please do not hand me your keyring of keys so I have to jangle them around the swiper, if they do indeed swipe, and then hand the janitor's keys back, oh but wait, let me swipe your gold card first. Brilliant!!

[white_knight]

how bout coming out with less novelty crap as this (which btw does have some cost to produce) and giving us partners more hours/more partners on the floor which will increase productivity which will gain new customers and keep our regulars happy as oppose to waiting and taking off because there is a loooong line in both drive thru AND lobby. which will rake in more money for the company?

idk just a "theory" of mine.

::i know its a run on sentence, go ahead bash my grammar, i dont care..ITS THE INTERNET!!::

[prosumer]

nice thinking, stacy, drive through really would be problematic...and seriously, all the mini cards I've handled are far too small for our card swipes...not to mention the security guard style key collections that come attached :(

[CamSpi]

We got these at my store a month ago and have been selling them for a while. oops!

[drive]

So is this guy saying his friend Sally takes her dog into Starbucks?

[(former) FLA SM]

Way to go Starbucks!!! Welcome to the 1990's!!!

[klbarista]

I think the scannable idea is a brilliant one, "me". It would have made things a lot easier for the barista on cash. We have a lot of runners coming into our store, that will be great for them to carry this card instead of cash when on a run.... overall, we'll have to wait & see!!

[Ryan (SS)]

All stores have received or will receive new POS stations, which include faster card approval time and a shallower swiper for cards. It will be fine with the mini cards. Some stores, like mine, do not have fully working scanners. I would much rather fiddle with swiping then try to type in a SKU or UPC if my scanner didn't work!

This idea cost no more money to implement then a normal starbucks card, and the reasoning for it is to allow easier use for customers, that way they use their cards more and THAT brings us more revenue!

[pnwguy]

Ryan, I'm sure it does cost more because its a specialized size. Retooling equipment to cut cards at a different size than industry standard usually incurs a set up fee. Add to that the fact that we are ordering much less (I would imagine) than regular sbux cards...and then the bulk discount goes down too.

If your scanners aren't "fully" working. CALL IT IN! They will send you new ones. This is my biggest pet peeve. When stuff is broken call it in and get it fixed.

[tula]

This is really off topic, but could someone explain to me if the manager doesn't print individual schedules for baristas why the master schedule can't be copied?

[eleanor abernathy]

white_knight,

It's "as opposed to" not "as oppose to".

You said to bash your grammar. There you go!

[me]

tula, why don't you just get a pen and some scrap paper and write it down for yourself? It works for me for almost half a decade now.
But aren't they planning on making it all online accessible? That would probably help you as well. Until then you might be stuck with writing it down yourself. Shouldn't be a big deal, should it?

[STARBUCKS GOSSIP webmaster]

It it's off-topic, but it in the Open Thread. As well as responses.

[white_knight]

@eleanor abernathy

thank you, I appreciate your every dissection of my comment!

these can also be found at eBay..if you don't mind placing a bid higher than 5.50!!

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

Does anybody know what the "goal" for selling the Starbucks mini Card?

And does this starbucks Mini Card make me look fat?

[marcus]

re: moldy gf valencia orange cakes

I liked these when I first tried them as they are relatively healthful--good amount of protein from having whole eggs as the main ingredient and good fiber from the orange pulp; although, I thought they could have used more of an orange tang taste to it. They have the base notes right just not a high citrusy taste that makes it pop.

Anyhow, the last time I got it, after I took a bite, I had long strands of what I guess was sugar coming from my mouth to the cake. It's kind of hard to describe--it basically looked like long strands of a spider web. I assumed it got overheated and the sugar in the product melted to create this. Then my sister got one and had the same thing happen.

So when it happened to me I called up and told the manager about it, and she said call us back right away if you get sick, which I thought was a bit odd as I told her I just thought they must have been in the heat too much and the sugar melted, but I figured they were just being cautious.

The next time my dad went in she told him she had thrown out the entire last batch, and I assumed it was because of my comment, but now I wonder if they were also instructed what you all have said--about keeping them only for 2 days at a time.

That seems like an extremely short shelf life; although, it doesn't have preservatives and you all are getting them shipped from somewhere else.

I'm not too worried about the stringy situation, just curious if it was related to the mold--what did the mold look like?

All in all I thought it was a creative product using orange pulp as a "flour." Just needs more tang! And maybe some natural preservatives like vitamin e.

[STARBUCKS GOSSIP webmaster]

Take it to the open thread, Marcus.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

It's so small that babies or 'tards might choke on it if they put it in their mouths!

[emjay]

whenever we get stuff like this that really doesn't make a lot of sense, i always think about what the t-rex in meet the robinsons says--"i don't think this was thought through very well". you'd think a multi-million dollar corporation would hire people who would actually find the bugs and work them out before putting something on the market...
and, personally, i don't think the mini starbucks card is all that mini. i know we have to swipe them, but still...

[North Star Barista]

Computers can do amazing things. However SBUX is still DOS based, perhaps once we move into the 21st century we'll actually see some of things they have been promising. Like schedules online and having a gold card and registered card all in one.

[laurieanne]

I guess I don't get it. Why do people wait for Starbucks to solve this kind of problem? When I got my gold card months ago, I punched a hole in it and put it on my keychain. When I go to Starbucks, I slip it off the carabiner and hand it over to the cash register person to run thru the swiper. Done. People need to learn to take care of themselves, this is not rocket science. You have a card, you want it on your keychain; just do it. Jeez.

[scshc]

hey, the mold on the orange cake was blackish. don't worry about the spider web effect, it was probably just a sugar/protein thing.

[Ryan (SS)]

Oh, if only we were allowed to call in such a little thing as scanners =) We've had them replaced 4 times, the issue isn't with the scanners, it's with the POS! We got new systems and they STILL don't work. We've pretty much given up on Enterprise Help Desk!

[SBUCKS DRONE LOS ANGELES]

Just thought I'd throw my two cents in here. The mini-cards are quite a joke to me. Personally, I think it's a gimmick and totally useless. "Oh, we (Starbucks) want to be trendy and innovative!". If I sound negative about all this, I apologize. On top of touching customer's dirty money and credit cards, I have to grab their keys! Amazing. There goes SBUX again, fixing what isn't broken. First it was the STCF recipe, now its SBUX cards. What's wrong with getting your wallet out to take your money/credit card and your SBUX card, all at the same time? I'll tell you what's wrong with that. Nothing.

[Tall in a Venti Cup]

I really don't think the starbucks mini-card is going to do well at all, and will only end up costing the company more.

For instance, whenever i'm on till, most customers end up just taking the card as a free souvernir/keychain when im off brewing coffee or grabbing pastries!

[Lauren-Ash]

To be 100% honest; I do not like these new little Starbucks cards...Fine they are cute..nd ya they are a great idea ... but i absolutly hate when a customer hands me their huge pile of keys nd i'm having a hard time trying to swipe the card into the pos bcuz keys nd other things get in the way...uuugghhh lame.

[SAUNDRA MADDEN]

I NOW HAVE A GOLD CARD... I WANT A MINI
GOLD CARD.. CAN I PICK UP ONE IN THE STORE

[gold]

The gold price has traditionally operated in a counter-cyclical manner, rising when the economy is in trouble, and staying static or even falling when other investments are promising investors more for their money.