MANILA -- It has been an annual craze for some Filipinos to get their Starbucks planner by collecting 18 stickers after buying 18 cups of Starbucks coffee.
Although redeeming the Starbucks planner is for free and has no additional cost, buying 18 cups of coffee at over PHP2,000 is much expensive than buying a planner directly from a bookstore which would only cost at least more or less PHP300.
Sometimes, your company even gives planner as Christmas gift. So, you can get a planner at no cost at all.
But why some Filipinos would still choose to buy more than PHP2,000 worth of coffee products in exchange of a Starbucks planner?
Sheryl Tanglao, 29, a learning and development lead, got her first Starbucks planner in 2008 when she was in college.
Tanglao, a self-confessed Starbucks coffee lover, said she never fails to redeem her Starbucks planner in almost a decade.
“In 2008, I was hanging out with a bunch of friend when they brought me to Starbucks. Then I saw the Starbucks’ planner. It just so happened that year, that they launched that one with leather packaging. I liked it because it was very elegant,” she said.
“I got hooked. I started going to Starbucks,” she added.
Tanglao confessed to be a “Starbucks lover”, adding that she “rarely try other coffee shops”.
“I love coffee. I like their [planners’] designs, the graphics. I looked at the planners of other coffee shops, for some reasons it didn’t pick my interest,” she stressed.
“Throughout the year, it became a tradition for me. Every year before Christmas, I have to get Starbucks planner,” Tanglao said.
This was also true for Roderick Evans Bartolome, a 37-year-old corporate communications officer.
For the last 24 years, he got himself a planner every year.
Since he became aware of Starbucks planner, Bartolome started to collect stickers until he completed all 18 stickers for him to redeem the sought after PHP2,000 notebook.
He admitted that owning a Starbucks planner, as you collect and complete the 18 stickers, is a status symbol.
But recently, Bartolome found a better planner, which offered by Starbucks competitor -- Coffee Bean Tea Leaf.
He said the Coffee Bean planner as the best planner he got.
“There’s an item in it [Coffee Bean planner] that you were asked questions. What are you grateful for this month? What was the best thing happened to you this month? So, you were not just jotting down your activities, it’s becoming a journal also,” he explained.
Besides, it is cheaper to collect stickers to redeem Coffee Bean planner, since you only need to buy 12 cups of coffee or tea.
While getting himself a Coffee Bean planner, Bartolome is still able to collect Starbucks planner, as his wife is a coffee lover and prefer Starbucks coffee. They still get stickers from Starbucks for them to collect and complete in exchange of the planner.
But aside from these planners from coffee shops, Bartolome also found another company offering a planner in exchange of certain number of points -- the Suki Day of Mercury Drug.
For only 30 points from Mercury Drug’s loyalty card called Suki Card, a customer can get a planner.
Bartolome also noticed that the design of Mercury Drug’s planner improved. This year, the drugstore’s planner are in pastel colors, which are more appealing.
Bartolome redeemed Suki Day planner for his loved ones and friends; a Starbucks planner for his wife; and Coffee Bean planner for himself.
For the 27-year old filmmaker Mira Ticlao, although she started to get herself a planner just two years ago, she likewise owned a Starbucks planner.
Ticlao’s first planner was from Coffee Bean, but then she shifted last year to Starbucks planner.
“There is something in collecting stickers. It's something that makes you excited and consume the establishment's drink at the same time. You know, pop culture!”
She shifted to Starbucks planner because of curiousity -- to know why some people is so dedicated in collecting that PHP2,000-planner.
What is common among Tanglao, Bartolome, and Ticlao -- aside from collecting Starbucks planner, or other planners -- is that writing their activities in a planner helped them to remember their schedules and perform their duties.
For long-time planner collectors Tanglao and Bartolome, they still kept their planners and read them back once in a while.
“Yes, we are embracing the digital age, where we can jot down schedules in your phone’s calendar and sync it to your other devices,” said Bartolome.
“But keeping a planner is really something special. It makes my schedules more organized,” he added.
“It’s not just for the sake of collecting Starbucks planners. All my Starbucks planners are gift for myself for what I’ve been through the year and help me to organize the following years,” Tanglao, on the other hand, said. (PNA)
