How does the Starbucks Delivers fee change affect China coffee industry users?

Starbucks China cut its Delivers delivery fee from 9 yuan to 7 yuan per order and added a 1 yuan packaging fee per item on drinks and sandwiches, capped at 2 yuan per order. A two-drink order now costs about the same as before, while a single-drink order saves 1 yuan. The change directly affects what members pay at checkout.

Many members previously paid little or nothing for delivery thanks to regional free-delivery promotions or order thresholds, so their delivery price sat close to in-store pricing. The new packaging charge adds 1 to 2 yuan to those orders. For the china coffee industry, this signals delivery margins being reshaped through fee design rather than headline price cuts, and it may push some users toward other ordering channels.

Starbucks China recently adjusted the service fee structure for its Delivers delivery service, reducing the delivery fee from 9 yuan to 7 yuan per order, while simultaneously introducing a 1 yuan packaging fee per item for certain products such as beverages and sandwiches, capped at 2 yuan per order. Between this decrease and increase, how has the actual delivery cost paid by consumers changed? What does the new fee rule mean for members accustomed to ordering through Delivers? Can third-party platforms avoid the packaging fee? This article will sort out the details of this adjustment and analyze its potential impact on consumers and Starbucks' delivery business.

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Starbucks China announced today that the service fee structure for Delivers will be adjusted. Specifically, the delivery fee will be reduced from the previous 9 yuan per order to 7 yuan. At the same time, a packaging fee will be charged for certain products, involving categories such as beverages and sandwiches, at a standard of 1 yuan per item, with a maximum packaging fee of no more than 2 yuan per order.

This combination of a decrease and an increase has left many netizens confused. One customer did the math: if ordering two beverages, the total of the delivery fee plus packaging fee is no different from before the adjustment, still 9 yuan; but if ordering only one beverage, it saves 1 yuan compared to the past.

What seems like a minor change may, for some users, become a reason to no longer choose Delivers, and the move to add a packaging fee may prompt them to turn to other ordering channels.

According to longtime Starbucks users, Delivers currently has different free delivery promotions across the country. In some areas, delivery is free during specific time periods, while in others, the delivery fee is waived as long as the order amount reaches a certain threshold. As a result, many members originally did not need to worry about the delivery fee when actually paying for delivery orders, and the price of a delivery order was not much different from the in-store price. By contrast, the new policy will add an extra 1 to 2 yuan in spending.

However, starting today, aside from the official occasional free delivery promotions, members who want to save on the delivery fee have only two options left: reach the free delivery threshold for the order amount, or redeem a free delivery coupon with Stars accumulated in their account. Yet these two methods only reduce or waive the order's delivery fee, and the packaging fee still must be paid as usual. In other words, as long as customers place an order through Delivers, they will pay at least 1 yuan.

In order to save on delivery and packaging fees, many consumers have turned to third-party platforms to place orders, hoping to use the platforms' promotional offers to lower the service fees on their orders.

But when they reach the payment stage, they discover that although third-party platforms can waive the 7 yuan delivery fee through discounts, the packaging fee still cannot be avoided. Moreover, according to platform rules, there is no cap on the packaging fee for orders, so if a delivery order contains a larger number of products, the packaging fee paid on a third-party platform may exceed the delivery fee.

It is actually not uncommon for the restaurant industry to adjust delivery fees and packaging fees. In February this year, KFC lowered the delivery fee for its KFC Delivery service and began charging consumers a packaging fee. Tea beverage brands such as Heytea and Yidian also charge users service fees as appropriate based on the number of products in a delivery order and whether insulated bags are used, among other factors.

From this perspective, Starbucks' adjustment to its delivery service fees this time may also be for the same purpose. According to a report by Southern Metropolis Daily, Starbucks not only changed its fee structure, but also introduced specially designed anti-spill lids and custom delivery boxes for Delivers, implementing separate delivery for hot and cold items, among multiple measures to improve delivery service quality.

In addition, the report pointed out that overall, Starbucks' addition of a packaging fee has not had a major impact on consumers, but it may prompt consumers to change their minds and dine in or pick up in store themselves in order to avoid being charged a beverage packaging fee, thereby increasing store visit rates.

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.