Starbucks credit card could mean a whole latte trouble

by Beth Teitell
Tuesday, February 25, 2003

Give the Defense Department the ability to track how many tall skinny lattes I drink a week? No, thank you.

Last Friday, Starbucks announced it was teaming with Visa and Bank One Corp. to introduce a Starbucks credit card in the fall. Like other branded cards - the Delta Airlines American Express card or the General Motors Master Card - the Starbucks card will allow users to earn points toward rewards.

So instead of using your credit card to work toward a trip to Hawaii or GM's Yukon Denali, you can charge your way to ``free'' espresso macchiatos. That would really make you feel proud at the end of the year when you look at your Starbucks credit card statement, wouldn't it? Your friends with normal miles-earning credit cards are flying off to exotic locales to see where shade-tree coffee is grown, and you, you're looking forward to standing in line at your local coffee shop, hoping the guy who's been nursing the same cup of burnt-tasting coffee for an hour will vacate his table so you can sit down and drink your burnt-tasting coffee.

Well count me out. For starters, if the government's Total Information Awareness System is ever used to monitor civilians, I don't want some Pentagon lackey punching my name into a computer and two seconds later finding out how much of my disposable income I'm spending on Chai or reduced-fat scones. Let my video store release my porn rental record (or, more damagingly, the number of Julia Roberts films I've taken out), but I want my foamed milk consumption kept private. Not that I have anything to hide, mind you, but some things just don't look good in print.

Besides, Starbucks is already taking enough of my money as it is. I can imagine what would happen if I got the Starbucks Visa. First, I'd use the card to pay for the company's overpriced drinks, then, so hopped up on toffee nut lattes I couldn't think straight, I'd forget to make my credit card payment in a timely fashion, and Starbucks would collect interest on what already was an inflated price. Paying 18 percent on top of $3.50 for a cup of joe should be against the law. Hey, maybe I should forget the card, and just have the Herald's payroll department deposit my check directly to Starbucks each week.

If Starbucks operates like the airlines, they'll suck you in with all kinds of sweet talk, and then impose black-out periods. You won't be able to use your points - Beans? StarBucks? - to buy an eggnog latte between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Or no ``free'' frappuccinos if the temperature rises above 90 degrees.

As you may know, Starbucks already offers prepaid Starbucks cards, which you can keep reloading with money. The company openly admits that this speeds your in-store and online transactions, a ``benefit'' I consider highly dangerous. When you're about to spend the kind of money involved in a Starbucks transaction, especially if you're buying more than one drink, there should be some kind of forced cooling-off period, to give you time to consider your decision when you're not suffering from a caffeine withdrawal headache, or fearful of setting one off.

Actually, as frightening as the Starbucks card is, what truly scares me is what it will lead to. Hate Starbucks though you may, you have to acknowledge that the company is a trendsetter. If the Starbucks Visa flies, other retailers will jump on the bandwagon. If Ben and Jerry's ever introduces a card, I'll really get into some trouble.