Just in time for the holidays, Starbucks has launched this year's ultra-limited edition metal gift card the coffee chain said in a press release on its website.
"The card, each hand-assembled, features a gorgeous artisan rose base metal with rose colored coating, laser-etched with traditional Starbucks lettering in a stunning rose gold hue in an even more limited offering," the company said in a statement.
The card, which can hold up to $450, comes with $400 already uploaded. "If something is hard to get, it takes on irrational value," Steven Addis, a brand consultant told USA Today. "By making it even harder to get, the irrationality goes up."
Starbucks is also making 1,000 of the cards compared to last year's 5,000, which were all bought in six minutes. "Will it be one minute or two?" Cliff Burrows, group president of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa told USA Today.
The cards were made available at 12 p.m. Friday on gift.com, and will not be available in any Starbucks location.
Customers can use the card at select Starbucks locations, once it is registered. Those interested can go online to www.gift.com/starbucksrose. An e-mail address is needed to join the site or log back into continue shopping. Returning users can also click a sign in here link to insert their information they entered when enrolling.
Users can also login using the same e-mail address and password they type in when viewing their Facebook profile.
"(The company made a deliberate decision to make even fewer metal cards this year," Burrow told USA Today. "It's now more special. We've elevated it to a new level. For folks who want to keep their designer card pristine - and don't want it to get scratched from use - well, you can simply load the card onto your mobile device and keep the card, itself, safe."
