Have a coffee, give a coffee, suggests Jonathan Stark. (Photo Credit: CC BY-SA/David Reber/Flickr)
Mobile applications consultant Jonathan Stark of Providence, R.I., is conducting a social experiment he calls “broadcasting money.” He’s allowing people to download his Starbucks card to their smartphones and buy coffee with it. The only thing he asks is that participants pay it forward to the next java junkie.
Keep purchases at $3 or less, then tweet about it
As a part of the experiment now known as “Jonathan’s Card,” drinkers are instructed to spend $3 or less on their Starbucks treat, then tweet about the experience while including the card’s current remaining balance. Most importantly, participants are encouraged to give what they can to reload the card.
Stark, 42, realized his concept of broadcasting money was possible once he took a screenshot of the bar code in the Starbucks app, which acts like a Starbucks gift card, on his iPhone. By emailing the screenshot, Stark made it possible for anyone with email to show the QR code to a Starbucks barista and get coffee or anything else Starbucks serves. Even a laptop screen would work. Those without smartphones could simply bring a printout of the code.
Free Starbucks went viral
At first, Stark had 100 Twitter followers who participated, and the Starbucks card balance remained relatively low. However, once his pay it forward experiment caught fire, the card received more than $4,000 in donations over the past weekend.
“Ninety-five percent of people are super cool and like the idea,” Stark told the Los Angeles Times. “The last I checked, about an hour ago, the number of people getting drinks versus people contributing money was 2 to 1.”
Once the card balance began to skyrocket, Stark noticed that people stopped limiting themselves to $3 per visit and exceeded $100 in multiple instances.
“As long as the balance stays low, say $20 to $30, it seems like it manages itself,” he said.
Mobile payments: Where it’s at
Considering how easy and convenient mobile payments have been for consumers in Jonathan Stark’s broadcasting money experiment, it seems logical that as smartphone use grows, more people will shift away from credit cards. So long as banks and merchants sort out the fee structure – with a little help from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – the consumer financial revolution will continue to go off without a hitch.
Critics of Stark’s idea claim that they’d never donate money simply so people can take advantage of free coffee. Yet as Stark points out, this mobile payments experiment reflects human goodness in miniature. If money were donated for something like expensive prescription medication for those in need, the social impact becomes all the more obvious.
Contribute to Jonathan’s Card
Here’s how to pay it forward, courtesy of TechCrunch:
- Visit starbucks.com/card.
- Click the “Reload A Card” tab.
- Enter the card number shown in the photo (6061006913522430).
- Click “Reload This Card” in the left sidebar.
- Choose a reload amount.
- Choose a payment method.
Testing Jonathan’s Card
Sources
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