Starbucks roasts coffee and sells coffee, tea, other drinks and food through its own and licensed coffeehouses.
This scheme has endedStarbucks replaced the shareholder card with a coffee invitation in 2007. Its current investor FAQ does not confirm a shareholder gift or discount today.
From gift cards to coffee invitations
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Coffee for two replaced the card
The Seattle Times reported on 2007-03-01 that the annual mailing contained a coupon for two drip coffees instead of a $3.50 card. Starbucks’ notice, transcribed by Ken Weiner, invited shareholders to bring someone along: “Our treat.” It asked them to describe the visit at mystarbucksstory.com, a campaign Starbucks also promoted in its 2006 annual report.
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A thank-you from the coffeehouse
Four people in aprons appear on the card, which is marked as a 2006 shareholder special edition. The design adds a handwritten thank-you; the orange sleeve thanks shareholders and states the loaded balance.
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Coffee cherries in Costa Rica
The 2005 card shows green coffee cherries. Its sleeve describes them waiting to ripen in the warm Costa Rican sun and says the design was made for shareholders.
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A tasting room in Seattle
The 2004 card shows a row of tasting cups. Its sleeve says a coffee cupping in Starbucks’ Seattle tasting room inspired the design.
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A new store in Madrid
The card bears a 2003 shareholder-edition marking. The matching sleeve panel says a new store opening in Madrid, Spain, inspired its design. That panel does not state a loaded value.
What shareholders got
Starbucks gave shareholders special-edition cards to spend in its coffeehouses. The surviving 2004, 2005 and 2006 sleeves state a $3.50 balance and describe credit for drinks, food and other purchases, rather than a percentage discount. The 2004 sleeve limits use to most stores in continental North America; the later two specify participating stores in North America.
Previous claim process
The surviving sleeves and reproduced notice do not state a minimum holding, an ownership cutoff or whether shares held through a broker qualified. We have not established a historical application process.
Practical notes
Why send shareholders a card?
The notice transcribed by shareholder Ken Weiner says Starbucks included cards in its annual shareholder mailings to introduce investors to the card programme.
Did all shareholder gifts end in 2007?
The evidence establishes a change from cards to a coffee invitation, not the end of every shareholder gift. We have not established whether Starbucks repeated the invitation after 2007. The current investor FAQ covers stock ownership and dividends but does not confirm a gift or discount. It supplies no basis for expecting free coffee from buying shares today.
Rewards and Bean Stock are different
Starbucks Rewards is a loyalty programme for customers. Bean Stock gives eligible employees an ownership stake in the company. Neither is a coffee benefit that a retail investor obtains simply by holding Starbucks shares.
What survives of the original material
BucksCards preserves photographs of the cards and their printed sleeves. The 2007 notice survives as a shareholder’s transcription. Contemporary reporting corroborates the switch to coffee invitations. We have not recovered the original 2007 enclosure. The 2003–2006 dates are the years printed on the cards, not verified mailing dates; the 2007 date comes from the reported mailing.