Starbucks Coffee Co. has decided not to charge a monthly inactivity fee for its branded store-value cards. The announcement came last month, just weeks after New York Senator Charles Schumer said he planned to propose federal legislation to ban monthly fees automatically deducted from gift cards.
Starbucks said it never assessed the $2.00 inactivity fee, but planned to eliminate it because it “believes that the customer experience is further enhanced when giving, using and reloading the Starbucks Card.”
 |
| Starbucks to halt inactivity fees |
The policy outlined on the back of the Starbucks Cards stated that there may be a $2.00 monthly service fee collected on cards that went inactive for 12 months. The change—now in effect—will be noted in newly printed versions of the cards this spring.
A Starbucks spokesperson said the decision to eliminate the fee had been in the works prior to Schumer’s announcement.
Schumer said his legislation would be modeled after new California and Massachusetts laws that ban monthly fees. A growing number of states have this year either passed new laws regulating gift certificates and cards or tightened existing regulations. (November 2003 PROMO)
Schumer cited a study of 32 New York store and mall gift cards that revealed that as much as $2.50 a month can get automatically deducted from cards as soon as six months after they are first purchased. A penalty, he said, that few gift givers or receivers are aware of. The fees are often disclosed in small print on the back of cards, Schumer said.
“Anyone who has ever gotten an ugly sweater from Aunt Edna knows what a godsend gift cards can be,” Schumer said in a statement at the time of his announcement. “But they should come with a warning attached—there may be a Grinch in that gift card. I was surprised when I heard how the money on a gift card can disappear into thin air if the card sits unused in your wallet.”
Network
