Convenient for whom: the mystery of the mini Starbucks gift card
I was in a Starbucks recently. The only reason I got into Starbucks lately (rather than taking the drive-through) is to get a Song of the Week card. Look, if they want to give me free music, I'll take it. Or, I'll go in if I want to see what's in the baked goods case. The problem with their baked goods is now that they're complying with New York City's no-trans-fats or triglycerides or whatever-the-hell-NYC-is-banning-in-food rules, all their baked goods everywhere kind of suck. So thanks, City of New York, for ruining snack time all across America.
At any rate, I was in Starbucks, and I noticed that there's a new option for your Starbucks gift card: you can get it in keychain size. It's smaller, and there's a little hole in one corner.
My first thought was, how convenient! My second thought was, that's the least convenient thing I've ever seen.
I foresee 2 scenarios where you'd want to use a gift card at Starbucks. And before I kick those scenarios off, I'm going to assume that most people are like me, in that they have separate key chains for their car key / remote control, and their house & other miscellaneous keys. If you're one of these types that has only one key ring, God bless you, you're a better person than I am. For the rest of us, I'm assuming 2 rings.
Scenario 1: the drive-through. You pull up & want to pay using your handy gift-card-on-your-key-ring. But where is it? If it's on your car key ring, it's dreadfully inconvenient to hand that to the barista through the window, seeing as you'd have to turn your car off and remove the key. If it's on your house / other key ring, you have to fish in your purse of pocket for the keys, and that's no more difficult than fishing for your wallet and your regular gift card.
Scenario 2: the order-in. You don't have to worry about a card, but the result is the same in that it's just as easy to reach for your wallet as your key ring.
So who are the people that Starbucks hopes will pick up these new gift cards? Did their marketing research tell them that there's an entire untapped market that, once they have the option of putting their gift cards on their key rings, will start spending money at Starbucks willy-nilly? Or, does the CEO's nephew work for the company that makes these key ring gift cards, and this is some sweet nepotism in action?
I'll leave that question to the corporate watch dogs. I'm sure they'll get on this right after the worldwide financial crisis is tied down.
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