Heads Up: Starbucks Stars & Rewards Fail

Do you have a Starbucks gift card? Have you reached the “Gold” level? Are you using the Starbucks App on your iPhone to find Starbucks stores, pay for your drinks and collect rewards — Stars?

I do all of the above.

Yeah, I know many friends and acquaintances who like to get on the anti-Starbucks bandwagon touting a disdain for “corporate coffee”. Please, spare me. Oh sure, let me wander into an indie-coffee shop in some gentrified suburban neighborhood and shell out four-dollars for a mediocre pour of a cup from under- or over-roasted beans pumped out of thermal container that’s been sitting for hours. Or maybe spend five-bucks for a “pour over” — paying for the privilege for some clueless millennial hipster to tend to my dear cup of jo.

Get over it.

Starbucks may not be the best, but there’s no question it’s consistent. I will use my app and search out a store especially when I’m in a different town. Its gold and star reward loyalty program sometimes gives me an opportunity to sample something off its menu other than coffee. I like that, such as the oatmeal, breakfast sandwich or pastry.