Would You Buy The Starbucks “Black Card” ?

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I don’t know about you but I do not understand the concept of the American Express Black Card. You have to pay some absurd amount of money each year in order to have the card, and you have to spend upwards of $150,000 per year just on that card to maintain it! So, when Starbucks announced that they would be producing their version of the “Black Card” for the second year in a row, I was a bit dumbfounded.

starbucks

For a cool $450 Starbucks is offering their version of the infamous “Black Card”. The company explains that this is a limited-edition must have for those customers that can’t imagine paying for their coffee drinks with cash, an app, or just a normal gift card. These stainless steel gift cards are laser etched in order to create a more personal feel for the customer.

The exclusive gift cards come with over $400 of Starbucks credit, but what about the other $50 you are paying for the card?  The company claims that the extra $50 doesn’t even cover the cost of producing the card, thus “there is a really strong value to the customer” says spokeswoman Linda Mills. The company claims that since there are so few in existence, they do not spare expense when producing these keepsakes.

The cards made their debut 2 years ago on Gilt and according to the company sold out the allotted 5,000 cards in about 6 minutes. Well, that is one way to make a quick $2.25 million. But, not this year – good guy Starbucks will only produce 1,000 cards in order to increase exclusivity, which will make them roughly $425,000 in say about 2 minutes.

I am not a complete Starbucks addict like many of my peers but even if I were I can tell you right now that I wouldn’t be trying to have one of these cards. Maybe I am out of the loop but I just don’t see the sense in buying an uber exclusive gift card, when I could have the $5 gift card that does essentially the same thing.

Courtney Michalek
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3 thoughts on “Would You Buy The Starbucks “Black Card” ?”

  1. I have to agree with Lee– I am not a crazy starbucks fan, but I get those gift cards ALL the time and always lose track of how much is on each one (as i do with most gift cards…coming from the girl who tried to use a card with $.86 on it last week). I personally wouldn’t use it but those 6am risers who need coffee EVERY morning may benefit from this!

  2. I have several Starbucks gift cards scattered around the car, house, and office. Not knowing how much I have on any one card, I periodically collected them all and use multiple cards to purchase coffee. Really irritates the server. Guess this card would end all that hassle.

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