What Changed in Mstand's Membership Rules and Where Are Coffee Beans From?

Chain brand Mstand canceled its long-running perk that let members buy 10 cups and redeem one free drink, converting accumulated points into credits without prior notice. The credits can no longer be exchanged for free drink vouchers, only for limited discount coupons. Some customers were one cup away from a free coffee when the promotion came down.

Longtime users holding thousands of credits called them useless after the change, and Mstand has scaled back member benefits repeatedly in recent years. For context on how these programs work, most coffee shops design point schemes to drive repeat visits, and coffee bean origin differs by region, so menus and supply chains vary widely between chains.

The chain coffee brand Mstand recently, without any prior announcement, suddenly canceled its longstanding perk where members who bought 10 cups could redeem 1 free cup, and forcibly converted users' accumulated points into credits. After the adjustment, these credits can no longer be exchanged for free drink vouchers, only for discount coupons with limited value, sparking widespread dissatisfaction among longtime users. Some customers were just 1 cup away from redeeming a free coffee when the promotion was taken down; users with thousands of credits accumulated in their accounts went so far as to say the credits have become "useless." In fact, Mstand has repeatedly scaled back member benefits in recent years, and this unannounced adjustment has been criticized for harming too many user rights. This article reviews the course of the incident, user reactions, and the evolution of the brand's membership system.

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To boost repeat purchases, many coffee shops design point-collection programs for redeeming drinks, encouraging customers to come back and spend again and again. The chain brand Mstand also once rolled out a similar mechanism—members who bought 10 cups could redeem 1 free coffee, and this perk indeed attracted many consumers to gradually become loyal users of the brand.

However, yesterday, when Mstand members opened the official mini-program, they were surprised to find that all the points they had accumulated had disappeared. Only after further inquiry did they learn that the brand had directly halted this long-term promotional program the night before without any notice.

Many customers who regularly bought Mstand coffee said that before the promotion was canceled, they had already accumulated quite a few points, and some were even just 1 cup away from redeeming a free drink.

But Mstand took the promotion down without any advance notice, merely converting users' accumulated points into credits as compensation. And after the membership system adjustment, these credits can no longer be exchanged for free drink vouchers as before; they can only be used to get some coupons with mediocre discounts. This left longtime users with thousands of credits in their accounts very unhappy, saying bluntly that after the membership system change, these credits suddenly became "useless."

Brands often adjust or upgrade the membership systems for loyal users based on changes in the market environment and consumer demand, hoping to retain fans with better benefits. And before making major changes, brands generally issue an announcement in advance; for example, when Starbucks previously introduced its Gold level membership, it notified users on social platforms of the specific system upgrade time.

In contrast, Mstand issued no notice before adjusting its membership system, quietly wiping out the points members had accumulated through multiple purchases and canceling redeemable free vouchers, a move users see as "playing dirty." Some keen point collectors said that if they had known in advance the promotion would be canceled, they could have responded accordingly, rather than now being able only to watch their previous efforts turn into a useless number.

However, some longtime users who have stayed with Mstand for years were not particularly surprised by this adjustment. According to their recollections, Mstand's member points originally could be used not only to redeem drink coupons, but also to exchange for brand merchandise, coffee beans, and other products, with quite a rich selection, which attracted many consumers to actively become loyal fans.

But in recent years, these generous member benefits seem to have become an operational burden for the brand. To control costs, Mstand has previously adjusted its membership system multiple times and reduced the level of benefits, and the variety of products redeemable with points has repeatedly shrunk.

Compared with previous times, this completely unannounced membership system adjustment "hurt" too many users' rights, making it hard for them to accept that benefits they should have enjoyed suddenly vanished, so much so that many people said they were "emotionally wrecked" and were deeply disappointed by Mstand's membership adjustment this time.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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