Starbucks Fans Are Noticing Discontinued Items Popping Up On Their Apps

Any devoted Starbucks enthusiast who is stopping by the coffee chain on a regular basis for their favorite beverage, baked good, or breakfast sandwich likely has the brand's free app installed. On a practical level, it's more convenient — if your credit card is hooked up in the app, you can pay in advance, and even order in advance for a quick and easy pick-up. More importantly for repeat customers, though, is the fact that you can earn Stars through the app (via the Starbucks website). Over time, that extra little perk courtesy of the app can add up to some serious savings — or at the very minimum, a couple of free lattes — as you cash in those stars for Starbucks Rewards.

One way to accelerate the pace at which you earn those Stars is to collect Bonus Stars, which are accessible in the app through things like Double Star Days, games, and personalized offers. However, some Starbucks fans are noticing a strange thing in the app — in order to obtain those sought-after Bonus Stars, customers are being told to purchase items that have been discontinued, as the Starbucks subreddit revealed.

Reddit user Torirock10 shared a picture of the screen they saw, with 150 Bonus Stars on offer if they bought four items, including a Protein Bowl. As the Reddit user wrote as the post title, "gonna be hard for the protein bowl since it doesn't exist anymore." Another Reddit user, SprinklesOk3889, was told to buy the discontinued Violet drink.

Reddit user Torirock10 commented on their own post, expressing their frustration as they wrote "it's [the protein bowl] not even on the app to order anymore like come on guys," punctuating the complaint with an eye roll emoji. Another user chimed in, writing, "i guess nobody's getting bonus stars this week."

And, it seems that the issue extends beyond discontinued items to include items that are out of stock as well, meaning that customers still wouldn't be able to obtain those desired Bonus Stars. As one user wrote, the app "kept giving me items that have been out of stock for weeks." Another seemed to question whether the algorithms for suggesting items in the app was broken, saying that they always buy hot lattes yet the app only listed an iced latte amongst the items that they could purchase for Bonus Stars.

In response to Reddit user SprinklesOk3889's post about the discontinued Violet drink popping up in their app, user miniguy555, who self-identified as an Assistant Store Manager within the subreddit, seemed to point the blame at Starbucks corporate, writing that "I have no idea why the violet drink is even a possibility to get for these promotions but I'm not surprised corporate is so detached that they forgot to remove it as an option." It seems until the glitch clears up, fans may have some trouble collecting those Bonus Stars.