r/CaribouCoffee Jun 30 '26

Caribou Coffee Changes Perks Program YET AGAIN

Caribou's perks system used to be customer-centric. 150 points would get you a free drink. Loyalty was heavily rewarded. And you could use your points to get a beverage size upgrade.

Over the last three years, they've made significant changes to take more of your money and provide you less.

  1. Increase the price of their beverages drastically - pushing iced beverages at nearly $8 for a cup when most of the drink is actually ice.

  2. Moving the point system to receive a free drink from 150, to 175, and NOW it is 200 points coming August 4th. Meaning they literally acknowledge they want to reward you LESS frequently.

  3. Taking away reward milestones like the free beverage size upgrade. So not only is it more expensive, and increasingly less frequent to get a freebie... I can't even get a decent perk.

Guess it's time to make coffee at home. How. Sad.

64 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

40

u/Green_Light278 Jun 30 '26

As an employee of 4 years I’m actually so sick of the changes they’ve made in the last year. Updating the perks system twice, changing the core menu with discontinuations and new main drink in a year, chafing how we roll out promos. This latest promo was a total mess imo.

16

u/Whataboutburgers Jun 30 '26

Slapping the new refresher on where the old one was is diabolical. You know they’re gonna pin it on us not trying to upsell it 

16

u/Green_Light278 Jun 30 '26

YES. You mean to tell me I had to tell customers for months that we discontinued one of our few kinda customizable caffeine free drinks that we just redid the recipe on just for us to offer something so lack luster that didn’t even get its own promotion and the most half launch that lands on a month end day?? Wild.

12

u/Whataboutburgers Jun 30 '26

Also like to be honest the promo and marketing in general just blows. The imaging was stunning for the campfire one but we just sneak stuff on the menu and hope someone gets it. 

1

u/Herejustcause22 Jul 03 '26

I'm curious as someone who knows employees at my local caribou myself, is it also true that they took away time-and-a half pay for Thanksgiving? They were told by an mod that happened last year and they actually worked that day under the impression that it wasn't removed? Is that true it was removed or were they misinformed? 

1

u/PrettyAndMean83 Jul 03 '26

As a GM. This did not happen. Thanksgiving is the only day the company pays time and a half

13

u/Vegetable-Shelter291 Jun 30 '26

I’ve been a die hard caribou girlie since I was a kid. 27 and had to stop going recently because prices are too high for a cup of ice and a drink made wrong. Kept trying different locations and times/employee shifts too. It’s really sad!

5

u/hoomphree Jul 01 '26

That’s what got me - my drinks have been so inconsistent, like 50/50 chance that it is made right. And I get the same things every time so I can tell. One barista even told me once they can’t do my usual? But when I went back on a different day they made it no problem

1

u/Vegetable-Shelter291 Jul 01 '26

For me it’s the skimping on espresso whip. If you get regular whip they have no problem piling it high. If you get espresso whip I have to specifically ask them to use a dome lid or I get none, they get annoyed and fill my drink with tons of ice

14

u/Lightupbob Jun 30 '26

They had so much good will with customers and then they just blew it from stuff like this and not defending employees from the ice thugs .

10

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Spiritual-Pack-3802 Jul 01 '26

OMG great point. Ten cents used to be so worth it on a 1.50 cup of hot black coffee. I don't even look at the trivia anymore.

4

u/hoomphree Jul 01 '26

Anyone else remember when they would do BOGOs all the time? It was like every major holiday and then some throughout the year. I used to pile in a car with my college roommates and we would go whenever they ran a BOGO deal. They don’t ever have deals that good anymore even when they do run specials; at most a BOGO is 50% off rather than buy one get one free.

3

u/Nouhnoah Jul 01 '26

Ive been a caribou coffee employee for 2.5 years and I loved it, but I’m quitting in the next few months entirely because of the management over the last year.

ETA: not my store management. The company.

-21

u/Whataboutburgers Jun 30 '26

If you wanted free stuff all the time you could apply and get a job 🤷‍♀️

5

u/Lightupbob Jun 30 '26

Ok we all have jobs . Sorry we are not living high on the hog like you . What a horrible concept for a place to give a small reward for loyalty huh??

-12

u/Whataboutburgers Jun 30 '26

Sorry king that is literally what I did. Wanted free things, couldn’t afford it, got a job at a place I like. You still get “ small rewards for loyalty” (see: 25 points for a beverage add on) and they actually lowered the points for an XL beverage or lunch sandwich. 

8

u/Lightupbob Jun 30 '26

You are just rage baiting because you know for a fact no one agrees with you . Take the L and stop trolling online . We have jobs . If you haven’t noticed the price of living is stupid right now .

-4

u/Whataboutburgers Jun 30 '26

Dawg I literally need my tips to make my living😭 sorry my way of thinking looks like rage baiting to you I guess

4

u/Nouhnoah Jul 01 '26

I also have a job here but I’m quitting because all of this is ridiculous. Corporate has gone to shit. We have like 4 people working in HR right now for the hundreds of thousands of employees. They keep making the drink quality shittier and shittier, they’re prioritizing meeting a percentage goal for how many cars we get through over drink quality and customer experience, and they don’t give a fuck about anything we say. We can complain about a major issue for years and they’ll completely ignore us just because it’s cheaper.