I have previously wrote about getting more bang for your (Star)bucks in Singapore. As some of you may already know, the existing rewards program will be ditched soon. According to some news from the inside, this will happen sometime early next month (November).

After the transition into the new My Starbucks Rewards (MSR) program, any existing drink counter will be invalid (but your free drinks are there to stay until they expire). That is to say, if you have already hit 11 drinks in your account but have failed to get a free drink (at 12) before the official program transition, you will lose all 11 drink counters. Keep that in mind!

Now, on to the new program. The new My Starbucks Rewards program is one that will benefit the company more than the consumers (no matter what they say). Essentially, they have created a tier-level membership where consumers have to qualify based on spending. Of course, I'm generally a huge advocate for such programs within the hotel industry as the benefits are extremely tangible but in this scenario, I'm really not much of a fan.

Every S$5 Spend = 5 Stars.

Here are the three levels of membership: the Welcome, Green and Gold (being the highest). The Gold level which is very similar to the existing program can be attained after earning 300 Stars. However, I am not sure at this moment whether a spend of S$4 will award you 4 Stars or is it award at every S$5 intervals (much like the accrual of UOB UNI$). If it is indeed awarded for every S$5 spend, buying an Americano (S$4.40) will earn you zero stars. This will obviously have an impact on the complimentary beverage awarded every 60 Stars on Gold.

I am definitely keen on receiving my personalised Gold card in the mail sometime soon I hope. That being said, I am more interested in finding out whether black coffee drinkers like me are going to benefit from this new program at all or not. Until then, stay hydrated and drink more coffee.