Costco is currently selling five prepaid Einstein Bros Bagels cards for $39. Good idea – right? Maybe not. Though the mixed berry smoothie is awesome, we recently went to four Einstein Bros stores hoping to consolidate the five prepaid gift cards to one – just a routine practice at Starbucks. Not one of the Einstein Bros stores we visited knew how to consolidate prepaid cards. We were told, “Our POS system doesn’t handle that; I don’t know how to do that; I haven’t been trained to do that; and this is my first day.” Here is what we know for sure. We are not buying anymore Einstein Bros cards until they figure this out. Cards of small denominations with partial balances are a hassle to carry.
You have to love Starbucks’ mobile apps. You would think Einstein Bros would have something comparable. Oh well.
