Starbucks made a major change to its birthday rewards

coffee starbucks

(Reuters/Juan Carlos Ulate )

Starbucks just changed its birthday rewards program.

The program awards customers with a free beverage on their birthday every year.

Customers previously had seven days to redeem the reward, meaning they could get a free drink at any time during the week of their birthday.

As of September 30, however, that policy has changed.

Starbucks has shortened the redemption period to four days, reports Melody Overton on her blog, StarbucksMelody.com.

Customers can now get their free drink up to two days before their birthday, on their birthday, or the day after.

When asked about the change, a Starbucks spokeswoman told Overton, "The reason for the change is that these rewards are meant to be a true celebration of our customers' birthdays. We absolutely want our customers to be aware of this and are updating our FAQs and terms of use."

One customer made headlines recently for hacking the rewards program and getting a free drink every day by lying about his birth date.

In order to redeem a free birthday drink, customers must be a registered member of Starbucks' rewards program.

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