You Who?

I heart Starbucks

I have a Starbucks Duetto card, which is a combo Visa plus Starbucks Gift Card. Every time I use the Visa I get a little cashback on the gift card. These guys are masters at marketing. Since getting the card, they send me free stuff all the time: New coffees, coupons, birthday presents, and even a Scattegories board game. Recently, I got this little postcard:

Because you're a loyal auto-reload customer, we're giving you a little gift: $15 loaded onto your Starbucks Card.

Wow, $15 for nothing! That's 8.15 cups of coffee. The naysayers will scoff and say, "That's only because you've spent so much money there," -- so what? Who else gives freebies when they don't have too?

The part that is really slick about Starbucks' marketing is how they have managed to inspire some loyalty in me at the corporate level. Even though I am less than happy with my local Starbuck right now, corporate is briding the gap.