The local shoe store — buy nine pairs; get the 10th pair free. At the pizzeria 10 receipts means a free pie. At The Body Shop eight points earns a tub of Satsuma Body Butter.
Shell out $25 for a Starbucks card and get two free lattes (one for signing on, one for your birthday) plus a 10% discount on every drink.
That was then. Now Starbucks is dumping the old card in favor of a new one with a tiered system of rewards involving stars. You’ll get one free beverage for every 15 transactions. (Note: number of transactions, not number of drinks. Buy 2 drinks and sorry, it’s one transaction.)
Starbucks says the new card is free.
Well, not quite free. Loading cash on the card and using it to pay for drinks is the only way to reap the benefits of the new program. Just think of those stars as the chain’s way of thanking caffeinistas for what amounts to an interest-free loan.
Companies that make alienating changes in their loyalty and rewards programs “are playing with fire,” says Allen Adamson, managing director of the branding company Landor Associates.
Consider the trickle-down effect of these shape-shifting programs. A marathoner will complete the 26-mile, 385-yard race only to be told at the tape that the new distance is 27 miles. A couple who’ve been married for a quarter of a century will discover that the new requirement for a silver anniversary — let’s call it super-silver — is 30 years of wedded togetherness.
Excerpted from WSJ: Buyer Be Wary of Your Loyalty Being Betrayed, Feb. 19, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704509704575018963639140970.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion
The Homa Files 
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