Fewer.

I am sure they will miss your business, toots.

I went through the drive-thru today with starbucks. Ordered half the normal pumps of vanilla and notice " + .80 2.5 pumps". Figuring he misunderstood me, i said "No...i want LESS pumps, not more".
His reply was because it's a non-standard order, they add the charge.
I have never paid attention to this because usually I go inside.
It will be my last trip to starbucks.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It doesn’t seem consistent across all categories of drinks. And you can add sweetener and creamer to coffee for no charge at all.

The app is kind of fun. You can decrease ice, increase temperature, etc. and make the drinks less sweet!

And the baristas will hate you for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The better question would be, how can you be sure that overwhelmed or careless Starbucks employees pay attention to every minute customization of your drink order?

The tickets are pretty straightforward and so many drinks are customized that they should be attuned to looking at the printed label. I always remove at least one pump of the sweetener - I like some flavor to the drink, but as regularly made they are just too sweet for me.

That’s probably why there’s a surcharge for customized drinks, even if they require less of the ingredients than the standard drink. It’s for the extra time it takes them to customize it instead of making it by rote.

That's like getting charged more for saying "no bacon" on a sandwich or salad in a restaurant if it typically comes with it. They might charge me the same for no bacon, but never more!

Anonymous wrote:OP here. App just updated and now the default is no sweetener. And adding sweetener does not incur a charge.

The app update said “we’ve made some changes to make things run smoothly” aka to stop overcharging you for asking for less sugar.

Can you tell us exactly what your order is to see if I can replicate it? I wonder if it’s a store by store charge?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how many pumps are in anything. It’s fascinating.

I know. What on Earth is a pump of sugar?

The flavored syrups. Decreasing the pumps of caramel or mocha or whatever your flavor of choice is, is a great way to cut sweetness and calories. Our family enjoys Starbucks as a treat. By using nonfat milk, one pump of syrup instead of the normal three or four, and eliminating whipped cream it’s a much more reasonable treat and not as much of a sugar bomb.

People still believe fat is the devil, eh?

OP here. App just updated and now the default is no sweetener. And adding sweetener does not incur a charge.

For a $3+ cup of coffee, I should be able to specify how many pumps of sugar I want. Charge me more if I want a lot of extras, but not for less sugar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The better question would be, how can you be sure that overwhelmed or careless Starbucks employees pay attention to every minute customization of your drink order?

The tickets are pretty straightforward and so many drinks are customized that they should be attuned to looking at the printed label. I always remove at least one pump of the sweetener - I like some flavor to the drink, but as regularly made they are just too sweet for me.

That’s probably why there’s a surcharge for customized drinks, even if they require less of the ingredients than the standard drink. It’s for the extra time it takes them to customize it instead of making it by rote.

Starbucks has always been super customizable, they are used to this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The better question would be, how can you be sure that overwhelmed or careless Starbucks employees pay attention to every minute customization of your drink order?

The tickets are pretty straightforward and so many drinks are customized that they should be attuned to looking at the printed label. I always remove at least one pump of the sweetener - I like some flavor to the drink, but as regularly made they are just too sweet for me.

That’s probably why there’s a surcharge for customized drinks, even if they require less of the ingredients than the standard drink. It’s for the extra time it takes them to customize it instead of making it by rote.

It’s not a surcharge for customization. It just seems to be related to reducing (or adding) sugar. I just tried adjusting the ingredients on a Honey Flatwhite, a Frappacino, and a tea/lemonade. Only the tea/lemonade got a surcharge when I reduced the sugar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The better question would be, how can you be sure that overwhelmed or careless Starbucks employees pay attention to every minute customization of your drink order?

The tickets are pretty straightforward and so many drinks are customized that they should be attuned to looking at the printed label. I always remove at least one pump of the sweetener - I like some flavor to the drink, but as regularly made they are just too sweet for me.

That’s probably why there’s a surcharge for customized drinks, even if they require less of the ingredients than the standard drink. It’s for the extra time it takes them to customize it instead of making it by rote.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how many pumps are in anything. It’s fascinating.

I know. What on Earth is a pump of sugar?

The flavored syrups. Decreasing the pumps of caramel or mocha or whatever your flavor of choice is, is a great way to cut sweetness and calories. Our family enjoys Starbucks as a treat. By using nonfat milk, one pump of syrup instead of the normal three or four, and eliminating whipped cream it’s a much more reasonable treat and not as much of a sugar bomb.

It’s not just flavored syrup. You can reduce sugar in any of their drinks that contain sugar. If you’re not selecting a fake sugar, they use liquid cane sugar - hence the pump reference.

Anonymous wrote:

The better question would be, how can you be sure that overwhelmed or careless Starbucks employees pay attention to every minute customization of your drink order?

Taste and color. It’s harder to tell if they got the milk right, but extra syrup changes the color and definitely changes the taste.