No More Starbucks Shareholder's Card

I received my 2006 annual report from Starbucks yesterday and I opened it right away because I was anxious to see what this year's special shareholder Starbucks Card looked like. I was so disappointed to find out that they have stopped issuing such a card as of this year. Instead, they just include a coupon for two tall (12 oz.) brewed coffees - not nearly as rewarding as a card exclusively for shareholders.

The coupon contained this notice:

For several years now, we've invited shareholders to visit their favorite Starbucks by including a Starbucks Card in out annual shareholder mailings. We viewed it as a good way to introduce this innovative Card program to our investors. Over the years, the Starbucks Card has become an old favorite with our shareholders, thanks to the experiences they've enjoyed as they used it to visit their Starbucks.

This year, we'd like to offer you a new kind of invitation - one that will allow you to share the exceptional coffee and warm hospitality you enjoy at your Starbucks. So get together with someone you care about and drop in for coffee. Our treat. Then visit us online at www.mystarbucksstory.com to tell us how you used this invitation to share your Starbucks with a friend.

They didn't really say why they discontinued the card. I suppose it is more environmentally friendly to send out a cardboard coupon instead of a plastic card. I went to www.mystarbucksstory.com to find out if anyone was discussing the discontinuation of the card, but the site didn't work with Firefox on Linux :( I did find some people talking about it on a site dedicated to collecting Starbucks Cards, BucksCards.com.

I will continue to use my shareholder card from 2006:


I liked the design better than the one from 2007: