Starbucks' new $450 gift card
The limited-edition Metal Card is so exclusive, it won't be sold at Starbucks stores.
Starbucks has produced the coffee gift card equivalent of the renowned Centurion credit card (better known as the Black Card).
The new $450 Starbucks gift card, called the Metal Card, is good for only $400 worth of Starbucks goods because the card itself costs $50 to make. Consider it the Taj Mahal of gift cards, except it's stainless steel.
"This is a card for the 1%," cultural anthropologist Robbie Blinkoff told USA Today. "It's all about status, and to tell you the truth, I don't know if I'd want to be seen with one of these."
Chances are good that you won't get one of them, either. The newspaper says only 5,000 are being made and that they'll be sold only on Gilt.com, a luxury-goods site -- beginning Thursday for Starbucks rewards members and afterward for the rest of us who are willing to spend that much.
What does this exclusive card get those with the financial heft (or the well-heeled relatives) to buy one, in addition to bragging rights?
- Metal Card holders get instant Gold status in the My Starbucks Rewards loyalty program, which provides free brewed coffee and tea refills, plus a free drink or food item for every 12 stars you earn.
- The Metal Card is reloadable. (At that price, it had better be.)
- The lucky recipient could better afford a 16-ounce cup of the Finca Palmilera coffee Starbucks debuted at 46 Pacific Northwest stores last week, which costs $7 and now reigns as Starbucks' most expensive coffee ever.
Starbucks obviously sees a business advantage by appealing to the wealthier among us. Is this card now on your holiday wish list, or has the coffee chain gotten a little too rich for your blood?
More from MSN Money:
This $7 cup of coffee is nothing compared to: "The Worlds Rarest Coffee"..
"Kopi Luwak"...**coffee beans that have been digested *then "pooped out" by wild civets,
in Thailand. Check the Internet, it is selling for
$400.00 per lb. Dave Barry wrote one of his most hilarious articles about this coffee
years ago..I am still laughing. And idiots are still buying this "****"...literally!
RELATED ARTICLES
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
ABOUT SMART SPENDING
Smart Spending brings you the best money-saving tips from MSN Money and the rest of the Web. Join the conversation on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
Editor Bev O'Shea lives and works in the foothills of the Appalachians. A former copy editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Orlando Sentinel, she joined MSN Money in 2007. She's a fan of sunsets, college football and free shipping, among other things.
Having worked as a writer, reporter and editor for more than 25 years, Editor Julie Tilsner is the sort of person who can't help but correct grammar in Facebook postings and on billboards. She's written for BusinessWeek, the Los Angeles Times, Parenting, Redbook, AOL and others. She lives in Los Angeles County with her family and loves to drink wine and practice yoga, although not generally at the same time.
A writer for MSN Money since January 2007, Donna Freedman won regional and national prizes during an 18-year newspaper career and earned a college degree in midlife without taking out student loans. She also writes about smart money tactics for magazines and on her own site, Surviving and Thriving.
Mitch Lipka has been warning people about scams and shining light on questionable business practices for more than 20 years. Mitch, the consumer columnist for The Boston Globe, has also been a reporter and editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Consumer Reports, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and AOL. He won the 2010 New York Press Club award for best consumer reporting online and was honored in 2011 for his reporting on child product safety.
Marilyn Lewis is an award-winning writer with a passion for getting readers clear, straight information that helps them stay out of financial trouble. A former reporter for The San Jose Mercury News, she works from her home in Port Townsend, Wash. Contact her at MarilynLewis@Outlook.com.
LATEST BLOG POSTS
Children from lower income families are at greater risk of suffering accidental injuries and being sickened by food, according to a Consumer Federation of America study.
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
TOOLS
Best rates on savingsFind the highest rates on savings accounts, CDs and money market accounts.
- Are you saving enough for retirement?
- Find a great credit card
- Car insurance premiums by model
