Why You Should Stop Wasting Money on Starbucks Lotteries
I used to be a big fan of wacky Starbucks contests — those that reward you with random stickers, tokens, or other knickknacks on the digital playing field for completing various Buy Starbucks tasks. And by saying this, I could say, “I’m a goof.” It’s much shorter.
I got really caught up in Starbucks’ marketing efforts, popping up at unclear times of the day – sometimes even twice a day – to complete an assignment in one of these contests . That would give me even more digital chances to complete one of Starbucks’ digital challenges and win big prizes like extra Starbucks stars or a free year on coffee.
The genius of Starbucks promotion is that its digital format makes it easy to forget about the underlying principle of such distributions. Here’s the secret: the chances of you winning something meaningful at Starbucks are very low, and it’s all about getting you to buy more Starbucks stuff, not giving you any kind of reward for your efforts.
This shouldn’t be news, but what can be eye-opening is how infinitesimal your chances are of what you might consider “low” or “easy” prizes in Starbucks games. Consider his latest challenge, Starbucks for Life. If you click on the link to read the official rules , what you should do whenever you are seriously thinking about improving your buying habits in order to win something on a silly hand, you will find this diagram:
The main prize is “Starbucks for Life” – 5.
First Prize – Starbucks for 1 Year – 15
Second prize – “Starbucks for 6 months” – 50.
Third Prize – “Starbucks 3 Months” – 125.
Fourth prize – “Starbucks for 1 month” – 100.
Fifth Prize – PlayStation 4 System and PlayStation Now 12 Months Code – 135
Sixth Prize – Two (2) Atom Tickets – 400
Seventh Prize – 400 Bonus Stars – 200
Eighth Prize – 150 Bonus Stars – 25,000
Ninth Prize – Starbucks for Life Coffee Collection – 2,500.
The numbers listed after each potential prize represent the number of “rare” play chips that exist in the game. In other words, you only have a 25,000 chance of winning a rare item that will help you earn 150 bonus stars , which is unlikely to be a prize you would write home about. And the chances of you winning a rare coin and getting an even better prize are even smaller.
Think how many people buy Starbucks coffee on a daily basis and how many of those people are likely playing this free game multiplied by the month or so that the game is played, and you might begin to understand why exactly you and everyone else , we won’t win anything. Your additional in-game purchases that give you a better chance of getting rare items are more likely to help a Starbucks chest than your star collection.
Instead of buying stuff, play free games smarter.
If you just need to play these games, or feel lucky, don’t buy anything if you can avoid it. Start by reading the official rules of the game to at least understand if your chances of winning are low, microscopic, infinitesimal, or nonexistent. That might be all it takes to convince you that the extra coffee you’re considering, or McNuggets, or whatever isn’t worth buying. And in doing so, you’ve probably now “won” more money (by saving, not spending it) than you would ever get in one of these draws.
Otherwise, see if the game has the ability to play without purchases. For example, in the latest Starbucks for Life game from Starbucks, you get two free logins per day for submitting information to a web form . And every time a new weekly challenge comes up, you also get two free entries for it. Take this route and you’ll probably earn more games than just buying coffee, and these free entries will also allow you to complete weekly challenges, earning even more free games. You probably won’t win anything even remotely significant anyway, but you will feel better knowing that you didn’t have to do anything to have a little fun with the game.