Starbucks expands mobile card offering
I wrote a little while ago about the Starbucks Mobile Card app and how I couldn’t wait for it to go nationwide. Well, it’s a little step closer.
It’s an interesting expansion too, with an interesting partnership… with Target. 
Right now, there are about 1,800 locations around the country at which you can pop open your app on your iPhone and have the cashier scan your screen by way of payment. Around the Pittsburgh area there are… 6.
According to Starbucks you can use the barcode payment app at Target Stores too, which is handy. Weird but handy.
So, I have my Starbucks Gold card registered with my Mobile Card app. I can refill it right from my iPhone and soon, hopefully very soon, I’ll be able to flash my phone at the staff member at Starbucks, have them scan the screen and never have to reach for my wallet! yay!
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Comments
I have an app on my iphone that lets me store the barcodes etc for store's cards, like CVS, etc. It's great because I probably have a card for every single store I've ever shopped at, including the often broke Starbucks keyring card. The problem is that the barcodes will never scan. It was so much of a hassle the first and only time I tried to use it that I think I deleted the app from my phone.
The problem could have been that I keep my screen brightness very low, cause good god the iphone screen is hella bright! Or it could be the anti-glare screen protector. I'm not interested in having to adjust my brightness every single time I go to use it and I'm definitely not going to take off my screen protector.
Maybe once the protector wears out and I need to replace it I'll retest with brightness. More likely I won't though.
Rolling this feature out to Starbucks in Target locations seems like a good idea to me. These Starbucks probably have less congestion than stand alone locations, allowing for expected speed bumps during its roll out. I can see mass hysteria during the morning rush at a stand alone location if something goes wrong with the app while someone is trying to pay. I've only had two instances of asking a cashier to scan a bar code on my phone… (1) at a Target (interestingly enough) as their registries have bar codes to apply the purchase to the appropriate registry…this worked and (2) at Best Buy to try and use a RewardZone certificate…this did not work.
I have an app on my iphone that lets me store the barcodes etc for store's cards, like CVS, etc. It's great because I probably have a card for every single store I've ever shopped at, including the often broke Starbucks keyring card. The problem is that the barcodes will never scan. It was so much of a hassle the first and only time I tried to use it that I think I deleted the app from my phone.
The problem could have been that I keep my screen brightness very low, cause good god the iphone screen is hella bright! Or it could be the anti-glare screen protector. I'm not interested in having to adjust my brightness every single time I go to use it and I'm definitely not going to take off my screen protector.
Maybe once the protector wears out and I need to replace it I'll retest with brightness. More likely I won't though.
Rolling this feature out to Starbucks in Target locations seems like a good idea to me. These Starbucks probably have less congestion than stand alone locations, allowing for expected speed bumps during its roll out. I can see mass hysteria during the morning rush at a stand alone location if something goes wrong with the app while someone is trying to pay. I've only had two instances of asking a cashier to scan a bar code on my phone… (1) at a Target (interestingly enough) as their registries have bar codes to apply the purchase to the appropriate registry…this worked and (2) at Best Buy to try and use a RewardZone certificate…this did not work.
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