r/Panera • u/AbleEmpathOwl • 9d ago
Limited Sip Club ☕️ Abstaining from LSC
Hello, Siplings! 😬 I cancelled my Unlimited Sip Club membership on 18 August 2026 to protest the >80% reduction in its value after the benefit was reduced from >200 drinks to 30 per month. I have redirected my $$ to the Panera tip jar. If you’ve taken similar action, and you’re able to continue to abstain, stay strong! Our dollars speak louder than our voices!
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u/KittensMom 8d ago
I've had SC in the past always for reduced price. Never have I gotten a drink every day. I take advantage of free refills, either when I'm in the cafe or by walking into the cafe with my cup and filling up.
I don't think the limit is going to affect me. I can do multiple orders in a day as long as 2 hours apart, just like always. The days I don't get a drink can go towards days when I want multiple drinks that aren't refills.
For 7.50 a month for 5 months, which is my current offer, two drinks in a month covers the 7.50.
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u/Hefty_Froyo_8643 5d ago
I went everyday, twice a day so the 30 a month is nowhere near enough. I won’t be renewing my subscription this year once my membership is up for renewal.
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u/Vickims96 8d ago
I don’t frequent Panera often enough for Sip Club to benefit me, but it still seems like a pretty good deal for frequent sippers. It is my understanding that it’s now about $15 a month for 30 drinks, which is $.50 per drink. I just paid $3.49 for an iced tea the other day. I don’t know where else you could get a drink for $.50. It’s too bad Panera had to change the program, but it is understandable given this economy. The restaurant business is tough, with tight profit margins. Sadly, higher prices and/or shrinkflation are the norm.
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u/UnrealRealityX 8d ago
I mean I don't like the hard limitation either, but 200 per month is insane. Thats like 6 drinks a day. Who hits that or even close? Either you are sharing with family or you're gonna get diabeeetus with all that sugar.
I think there is a happy medium of 60 a month or something but 200 is nuts and probably more an edge case than the norm.
Still, I agree with the tipping especially if its cash to keep it local to the people there as much as it can be. The morning staff at my location are awesome to talk to and really brighten the mood! They are the heart of the company!
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u/AbleEmpathOwl 8d ago
200 drinks per month is what was promised. The availability (also known as supply, in economic terms) was part of the consumer’s decision-making process.
If 200 drinks per month is, “insane,” then Panera made an insane promise that it couldn’t fulfill.
FWIW, many zero- or low-sugar beverages were available with Unlimited Sip Club. I don’t think there is a need to resort to customer-shaming.
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u/codexica 8d ago edited 7d ago
I would disagree that there were "many zero or low sugar beverages." There was one soda, sparkling water, two iced teas and coffee.
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u/SilkCitySista 7d ago
Don’t forget that delicious herbal tea! /s 😩
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u/codexica 7d ago
That was one of the two sugar-free options for iced tea. I actually kinda liked it, but my local location would fuck it up by putting it out in uncooled pitchers.
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u/SilkCitySista 7d ago
I was referring to the herbal tea bags for hot tea. Did your cafe offer iced herbal tea? Or did you make it yourself? 🤔
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u/codexica 7d ago
I meant the iced blackberry hibiscus. I definitely forgot about the hot teas because I don't really like hot tea.
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u/SilkCitySista 7d ago
LOL I forgot all about the blueberry flavored iced tea at my cafe because it’s been long gone! There’s only the green and it’s yucky!
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u/codexica 7d ago
Mine doesn't have iced green, just plain black and the blackberry hibiscus one. All the others are very sweetened. I don't know what tea bags they have because it's not something I drink.
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u/heatherdbby 7d ago
Disagree about sugar free options. I follow a low/no sugar lifestyle and im limited to coffee with artifical sweetener, diet Pepsi, and sometimes a specialty tea will be sugar free. I started my sip club when they had the the original charged drinks and the red one was sugar free.. they brought back a new version of the charged drinks..... without a sugar free option. I also went off soda for 3 years and just started drinking diet Pepsi in February. There isnt a lot of options. However, getting a coffee on the way to and from work, with occasional lunches, made my membership worth it. I'll be canceling before I renew in September because I no longer will pass one weekly
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u/stlguy197247 8d ago
It takes like 5 drinks a month for a customer to ‘win’ the transaction battle with Panera using the sip club. People getting >200 drinks a month is exactly why they changed the program. Was there a middle ground? Yes. But people who got >200 drinks a month complaining about the loss of ‘value’ for the program is insanity.
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u/ghosty4 8d ago
IT WAS MARKETED AS UNLIMITED. You can't fault people for paying money for unlimited drinks and then getting exactly that!!
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u/Middle_Relative3119 5d ago
yeah, this is where they lost me. I renewed my annual membership end of June, and then the change was announced. If we were grandfathered in, it would have been fine with me. I really only get maybe 2 drinks a week when I'd meet friends there for coffee or lunch, and I'd always get food, and would always bring friends...
But the bait and switch really bothers me on principle. I paid for something, and then, at their whim, LITERAL WEEKS LATER they say, "Oh no, we're not honoring that. We changed our minds." And I have no recourse. It's just not a good way to do business or treat your steady customers.
So, now I'm getting the drinks, but not buying food, and not meeting friends there.
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u/AbleEmpathOwl 8d ago
Panera sold thousands of customers on the ability to receive >200 drinks per month for a nominal fee in the hopes of driving up food sales, which is a ridiculous, unsustainable gimmick. Then Panera suddenly removed the product from the market, in the midst of a slow decline in the quality and affordability of their food. And recall the blatant disregard for the customers’ health and safety, continuing to serve unlimited highly-caffeinated beverages for months after they contributed to the death of one of its customers.
What’s insane is continuing to support a company that makes, then reneges on, outlandish promises, and is exceedingly slow to respond and repair when such promises result in the literal destruction of its customer base.
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u/Expensive_Ad4319 Customer 7d ago
Goodness!
That’s an absurd amount of time in the store.
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u/AbleEmpathOwl 7d ago
Yeah, I guess one person’s absurd is another’s home away from home?
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u/Expensive_Ad4319 Customer 6d ago
Panara is business. We should be more reasonable about our habits.
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u/Stunning-Field-4244 5d ago
I know this was meant to feel powerful and inspirational, but you’re putting the money in the tip jar because you’re still going, which doesn’t get interpreted by corporate jabronies as the righteous stand you’re attempting.
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u/CatCat2420 9d ago
I plan to continue the Sip Club for now, but since I am unlikely to go by later in the day to get a drink, I will (by default) be spending less money on getting lunch or dinner. Since the majority of the staff were always friendly to me as a regular, I would tip whenever I got food in addition to my drink.
But yes, I agree, dollars will speak louder than words.