A few months ago they announced an environmentally friendly initiative where cutomers could bring in their own cups/mugs as long as they're clean and get a 10-cent discount on the coffee and 25 bonus stars. They said they intended to make it permanent. It only applied inside the store (either drink there or take it out) and not with the drive-thru. I have a Tervis metal cup similar to the ones they sell that's well-matched to a grande size (they've poured it into a grande cup and then mine to make sure), so they're trying to stick to the same amounts as with their own cups.

With all the churn with employees I'll have to remind 'em most of the time to put in the cup discount before they swipe my Starbucks card (a 2007 Paul McCartney one). Refills are usually 56 cents here after tax but if the card is registered then that zeroes out to free. They know me well enough to not even bother to run it on refills half the time.

With certain locations like in airports, all bets are off, and outside the U.S. the card doesn't work at all but is still kinda neat to show off. Any of the current reloadable cards also would work.

So, with that, every third brewed coffee could be free (and the free one doesn't have to go in the reusable cup and can be a venti even if earning with grandes). One of the baristas also told me that extras like whipped cream are free on the free one, but I haven't tested that.

Now they're making it one free after every four, at least after 2/13.