Is Starbucks Specialty Coffee, and Why Stamping Rules Varied So Much

Starbucks ran limited-time stamp-collection campaigns in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities during the National Day holiday. Two separate campaigns were offered: a linked version covering seven southern cities such as Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Jiangmen, Guilin and Sanya, and a Beijing-only booklet version. Participants reported that stores applied the stamping rules differently, with some locations allowing free stamps in the morning and requiring a purchase in the afternoon.

The southern campaign reportedly allows free stamping at designated stores, with a postcard for city-exclusive stamps for those spending at least 68 yuan. The Beijing campaign gives a stamp with any purchase and a folding booklet for 15 limited-edition stamps at 88 yuan. The layered-color stamps require multiple applications in sequence to build the pattern, and inconsistent enforcement left many collectors confused about what the organizer intended.

During the National Day holiday, Starbucks launched limited-time stamp-collection activities in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and many other places, drawing widespread attention from stamp-collecting enthusiasts. However, as the campaign progressed, many consumers found that stores had noticeably different understandings and executions of the rules, and in some cases even the same store allowed free stamping in the morning but required a purchase in the afternoon. This kind of ever-changing policy left participants confused and also sparked discussion about whether the organizer should unify the rules. This article will sort out the specific contents of the two stamp-collection campaigns and present the various problems consumers encountered during actual participation.

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During the National Day long holiday, some chain brands teamed up with local culture and tourism departments to launch interactive projects such as check-in stamp collecting. Starbucks also rolled out limited-time stamp-collection activities in cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, attracting the attention of many stamp-collecting enthusiasts.

According to information on social platforms, Starbucks currently has two stamp-collection campaigns underway. One is a linked stamping campaign covering seven cities in the south, with participating stores in Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Jiangmen, Guilin and Sanya. Consumers can stamp for free at designated stores in these cities, and if they spend at least 68 yuan, they can also get a postcard specially used to collect city-exclusive stamps.

The other is a stamp-collection campaign exclusive to Beijing. Customers can get a stamping opportunity with any purchase at designated stores in Beijing, and if the actual amount paid for the order reaches 88 yuan, they can also get a city stamp-collection folding booklet to collect 15 limited-edition stamps related to Beijing attractions.

Judging from images circulating on social media, the stamps provided by both campaigns are the currently popular layered-color stamps. When stamping, multiple stamps of different colors need to be applied to the paper in sequence, and after repeated overlaying, an exquisite pattern is finally produced.

For stamp-collecting enthusiasts, checking in and stamping is their own version of “I was here.” They use richly colored patterns to record the cities they have visited and the attractions they have toured, leaving vivid marks on their journeys. In order to collect all the stamps, many people are willing to invest time and energy, traveling among various limited-edition stores and enjoying the fun of collecting patterns.

Many Beijing users said they would first call store staff to ask about the stamp styles at each store, then plan a route that is relatively time-saving and effort-saving so they can gather all 15 limited-edition patterns in a relatively short time. Stamp-collecting fans in the southern region, however, find it difficult to travel back and forth between multiple cities in a short period, so they came up with the idea of exchanging stamped postcards with like-minded people in other cities to complete the set of 7 limited-edition stamps.

After seeing the exquisite patterns posted by others, some netizens whose interest was stirred up followed stamp-collection guides on the platform and went to nearby designated stores to stamp. However, in actual practice, many fans complained that the stamping activities at some stores were chaotic, making it completely unclear whether there was any threshold for stamping.

They pointed out that in guides shared by stamp-collecting fans, some stores allowed customers to stamp for free, and the stamps placed on the counter could be used freely multiple times. But in reality, some staff members would ask customers to “make a purchase before stamping,” and stressed that if they did not consume in the store, they could not participate in the activity.

In addition, some stamp-collecting fans also found that staff at different stores had differing understandings of the campaign rules, and some stores even changed the rules from one moment to the next. Many people reported that some stores allowed customers to stamp for free in the morning, but by the afternoon, staff changed their tune and said that without a purchase, customers could not stamp, catching customers off guard.

Many users believed that Starbucks, as the organizer of the campaign, had not unified the activity rules in advance, causing each participating store to act on its own and leaving consumers unfamiliar with the rules lamenting, “I really can’t make heads or tails of it,” which seriously affected participants’ experience of the activity.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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