Black Gold

For those people like myself that have pretty much an 'addiction' to caffeine, the reward cards you get in places like Starbucks and Costa coffee help fuel your need to want more.


Say for example you have the following two scenarios:



Scenario A, Card 1
You buy a coffee and are given a reward card with 10 spaces for stamps but none are already stamped


Scenario B, Card 2
You buy a coffee and are given a reward card with 12 spaces for stamps but 2 of them have already being stamped


You are more likely to get Card 2 filled up before Card 1.


This is down to what is called the 'Goal Gradient Effect'; that you will accelerate your behaviour as you progress closer to your goal. The 'shorter' the distance to the goal, the more motivated people become to reach it. Even though you still have 10 places to fill on both cards, with Card 2 you feel that you have already started something that you now wish to finish.

However, motivation and purchases plummet right after the goal is reached when you enter the post-reward resetting stage. If there is any second reward level, you will not initially be very motivated to reach that second reward.

For the coffee shop owner, they are most at risk of losing you as an immediate customer right after a 'reward' has been reached.


- I would drink tea but I don't know the recipe...
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Order coffee, the guy behind the counter goes, "You want the 32-ounce or the large?" Geez, how big is that large? "You'll wanna pull your car around back. I'll start the pump". That's a lot of fucking coffee, I don't know if I want to be awake that long in Tennessee.
                                                                                                                                                                    ~ Bill Hicks