Grab your morning cup of joe and a ride, too, all from Starbucks. Beginning this week, the global coffee chain will be selling not only cups of caffeine and gift cards for its own stores, but gift cards for Lyft as well. For the first time, you’ll be able to purchase $20 Lyft cards to use for your morning commute. And to give customers further incentive to take the plunge, the ridesharing firm is also offering a $5 Starbucks gift card alongside your $20 of Lyft credit.
This actually isn’t the first time Lyft has worked with Starbucks on a promotional deal benefiting both parties. In 2015, the transportation giant gave Lyft drivers the opportunity to opt in to the Starbucks Reward program’s Gold Level, which granted them the occasional free cup of coffee, among other perks. Moreover, the partnership that commenced last year allowed riders to give a particularly phenomenal driver a virtual Starbucks gift card as a tip. And in the Bay Area, some Starbucks employees are getting free Lyfts if they work a very late or very early shift.
The partnership is expanding even further now, and Lyft notes in a blog post announcement that its “pink-patterned cards are available now at Starbucks stores in our 20 biggest cities — and they make the perfect gift.”
Lyft Vice President of Partnerships Oliver Hsiang told TechCrunch that gift cards, while seemingly a bit antiquated in an increasingly digital world, are still an extremely popular gift to both give and receive. “Believe it or not, there’s actually a lot of people who still prefer to transact and offer gifts through this channel,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that we made it as easy as possible for folks to be able to use, and to also gift Lyft as many ways as possible. The ability to be able to offer the app at Starbucks itself is also really great for us, because we’ll be located right at [point of sale], and we can hopefully get in front of a wider audience that we otherwise might not have been able to.”
Currently, if you sign up for Lyft and link your Starbucks account in the app, you’ll get 125 stars, which buys you a free cup of coffee. You’ll also earn five stars towards free Starbucks products if you grab a ride between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. Monday through Friday.
