Christmas season is over and if you’re a coffee lover, you most likely would have gotten a planner or two from the major coffee establishments in the country. Apart from having a beautifully-designed planner to use in 2011, another perk that comes with it are the handful of coupons that would get you discounts and freebies in that coffee shop.
In this battle, we will pit the planner coupons of Starbucks versus the ones included in Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CB&TL) 2011 Giving Journal.
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| Coffee Bean Coupons |
Planner Acquisition
Of course, one needs to get the planner in order to get the coupons, so we need to compare what one needs to acquire these Christmas promos.
In order to get the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf 2011 Giving Journal, one must get 24 stamps in their stamp card. 1 stamp equals to 1 purchased drink. These are broken down as follows:
- 21 Regular or Large sized Original Ice Blended, Frozen Swirl or Coffee-based or Tea-based beverage or Frozen Swirl
- 1 Apple Caramel Ice Blended or Apple Pie Tea Latte (Regular or Large)
- 1 Tea Latte (regular or large)
- 1 Original Ice Blended (regular or large)
For the Starbucks Coffee 2011 planner, one needs to acquire 17 stickers in their card. 1 sticker equals to 1 purchased drink. These are broken down as follows
- 9 holiday drinks (any size)
- 8 core drinks (any size, not including bottled beverages, juices)
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf 2011 needs more stamps to get their planner so in terms of monetary amount; they may be more expensive than what Starbucks requires. However, due to its flexibility with the requirements, only 3 required drinks with 21 for your own discretion (yes, you can buy a regular iced tea repeatedly to fill it up with stamps), you can actually spend near the amount needed in Starbucks despite needing more stamps.
Verdict: Tie. CB&TL for flexibility, Starbucks due to smaller requirements.
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| Starbuck Coupons |
Stamps against Quantity of Coupons
Yes, you are getting a planner in exchange of the stamps, but we are focusing on the coupons so let’s compare each coupon’s stamp value. The stamp value represents how much each coupon is worth.
There are 12 coupons, one per each month, included in the CB&TL. Starbucks, however, only has 8 included in the planner, 7 of which have an indicated month of usage while one is all year round.
This equates to
CB&TL: 21 stamps = 12 coupons, that equates to 1.75 coupons per stamp.
Starbucks: 17 stickers = 8 coupons, that equates to 2.125 coupons per sticker
Verdict: Starbucks. Considering that you don’t scrimp on purchasing drinks in CB&TL, Starbucks coupons have more stamp value.
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| More Coffee Bean coupons |
Quality of coupons
No, this is not what grade of paper they used to print out the coupons. The quality is determined on how useful the coupons are, also known as, “I must indeed use this one as it is a bargain!”
Starbucks Coupons are as follows:
- January 6-31, 2011 – Get four free Top Pot Doughnuts for every order of a Coffee Carrier
- February 2011 – Purchase any Espresso beverage or Tea Latte and get a free Espresso or Tea Latte beverage of equal or lesser value.
- March 15-31, 2011 – Get a free Starbucks Via stick for every purchase of Starbucks Via Ready Brew
- April 2011: Get a 10% discount when purchasing a tumbler or mug.
- May 2011 – Purchase any Frappuccino, get a second Frappuccino of equal or lesser value free.
- June 2011 – Purchase a bag of Starbucks Kape Vinta or a Philippine Collector Series merchandise (mug, tumbler, Bearista Bear) and get a free tall handcrafted beverage
- October 2010 (! Starbucks typo??) – Free Complimentary upsize of Espresso beverage
- Whole year – Purchase a handcrafted beverage at any 2011 store and get a second beverage of equal or lesser value free.
CB&TL Coupons are as follows:
- January 2011 – Free upgrade on Caramel Macchiato
- February 2011 – Buy one, take one Tea Latte
- March 2011 – Buy one take one Fruit Tea Ice Blended
- April 2011 – Buy one take one Frozen Swirl
- May 2011 – Buy one take one Salad
- June 2011 – One free brew of the day
- July 2011 – Buy one take one infused cappuccino (any flavor)
- August 2011 – One free small tea latte (any flavor)
- September 2011 – Buy one take one breakfast set
- October 2011 – Buy one take one Non-coffee Ice Blended
- November 2011 – Free infused cappuccino (one shot, any flavor) from 7:00– 10:00 am
- December 2011 – Free regular sized Affogato Frozen Swirl
Verdict: Seeing that it has mostly has free or buy one take ones for coupons, CB&TL coupons take the quality coupon award.
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| Front and back parts of the Starbucks coupons |
Individual Awards
- Best deal (CB&TL): September 2011 Buy one Take one Breakfast Set.
o It’s practically getting a 200+ peso value for free. Treat your loved one to a breakfast!
- Best deal (Starbucks): May 2011 Buy one Take one Frappuccino.
o That’s around 170 peso value in Venti form.
- Worst deal: (CB&TL): November 2011 Free infused cappuccino from 7 am – 10 am.
o Limiting the deal to only a few hours each day makes the deal less flexible to customers, more so to the employees who begin work at 7am. Will the cashier deny the order of a customer should there be a long line that would prevent him to arrive at the cashier by 10 am?
- Worst deal: (Starbucks): Whole year Buy one take one handcrafted beverage at a 2011 Starbucks store.
o If you see a Starbucks store that’s being built near your place, you’re in luck. Just wish that they would complete it by 2011. Otherwise, good luck in searching the news wires and driving/commuting to wherever their new store may be in 2011.
Final Take
Although the score is tied at 1 win, 1 loss, 1 tie, I tip my hat more to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’s 2011 Giving Journal coupons as they provide a better value to the customer due to the amount of freebies that it provides without making one jump through hoops to get it.--------------------------------
* Captured with a Nokia N82
1 comments:
CBTL Planner FTW! Got the same pair too, red and blue.haha! Using my CBTL one too, my Starbucks Planner is blank... haha http://twitpic.com/3ocx4j nice blog btw :)
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