Starbucks Card Perks

This is not exactly a tech-related post. If you know me, you know that I love a good cup of Starbucks in the morning. It wakes me up and gets me ready to face the day. Starbucks came out with a perk that I thought was really cool. If you have a Starbucks card, and you register it, you are eligible for special perks when using this card to purchase your beverage. What are those perks, you ask? 1. Syrup and milk options for your beverage are free. For instance, I get a Vanilla Latte, and normally pay $0.30 for the syrup. If I pay with a registered card, I get the syrup for free. Knocks off 2 cents on the sales tax as well. 2. You get brewed coffee refills at no charge. Now I am assuming that you have to drink the brewed coffee at the store to get the refill. No leaving and coming back an hour later for your refill. 3. Complimentary tall beverage with whole bean purchase. This one is useless to me. Why would I purchase whole beans to make my own coffee when I get a perfectly good cup from Starbucks? Besides, it is well known that I do not know how to brew a cup of coffee. So, what is my point, you are asking? I am getting to the tech part, I promise. Apparently, in order to get your discount on any of the above, when you had your registered Starbucks card to the Barista, you have to actually tell them it is registered. That way, they will press a special “Discount” button prior to swiping your card. This is the only way you can get the discount. Now, some of the Baristas automatically press that button whenever a Starbucks card is used, which is just great customer service. Others apparently do not know about the discount, or know and only give you the discount if asked. I wrote to Starbucks and told them this should be automatic. I should not have to ask for a discount. The friendly customer service department at Starbucks wrote me back thanking me for the suggestion, and a coupon for a free drink is on it’s way to my mailbox! Score!