Dunkin' fans are revolting after the coffee and donuts chain updated its rewards program to what customers say is a much worse deal. Tweets on the matter, which are worth perusing Twitter for, include such gems as "The new dunkin rewards system is my villain origin story" and "The new Dunkin Rewards system is going to be the reason I start hard drugs. What the hell." Per Fox Business, the Dunkin' subreddit is similarly incensed (sample line: "I no longer run on Dunkin."). As Fortune explains, the old program, DD Perks, has been replaced with Dunkin' Rewards, and while Dunkin' claims customers will get "more food and beverage rewards" with the new version and that the changes were made because "our members deserve more," those members are crying foul on that claim.
Under the old program, customers earned 5 points per $1 spent, and 200 points (the equivalent of $40) earned a free drink of the customer's choice. Now, customers get 10 points per $1, but at the 400-point (or, again, $40) level, the only drink they can redeem their points for is tea. In order to make it all the way to a "premium sip," aka one of the chain's lattes or frozen drinks, one must accumulate 900 points. As Jezebel notes, the chain has also added food rewards, which weren't an option under the previous system, but that seems to be small comfort to the people who used to frequent the chain for their caffeine needs. Adding insult to injury, the new program also does away with the free birthday drinks to which DD Perks members had become accustomed. "Change can be hard for people," Dunkin's president acknowledges to the Wall Street Journal. (More Dunkin' stories.)