Get free Panera coffee with an Amex card
American Express and Panera are partnering to offer a free six month MyPanera+ Coffee membership to eligible cardmembers:
This is available to all US American Express consumer and corporate card members
You must sign-up between November 1, 2021, and January 31, 2022, and then the membership is valid for six months
This benefit is only available to new MyPanera+ Coffee subscribers
After the six month trial concludes, you’ll be charged $8.99 plus tax per month for a subscription until you cancel, so make sure you cancel your subscription if you don’t want to pay that
For those not familiar with a MyPanera+ Coffee membership, this offers free unlimited hot coffee, hot tea, or iced coffee, every two hours, in any size and flavor, with unlimited refills. Given the standard price of $8.99 per month plus tax, this is like a ~$54 value.
How do the economics of this work?
We’ve seen an increasingly common trend whereby credit card issuers partner with all kinds of companies to offer limited time perks. I would assume (though I could be mistaken) that there’s not any money directly changing hands here.
Rather I suspect Amex benefits by offering a new perk for cardmembers, while Panera benefits in a few ways:
Coffee and tea costs very little, and once people are in a Panera store getting a free drink, they’re much more likely to also buy something else
Panera hopes that people will keep their subscription beyond the free six month trial period
Generally credit card issuers offer access to an affluent consumer base, at least compared to the population average, especially with premium cards
Arrangements like these seem like a win-win-win. They’re great for consumers (we get something for nothing), they’re great for credit card issuers (they can offer new perks), and they’re great for the businesses being promoted (which are getting new customers).
Bottom line
Those with an American Express credit card in the United States can take advantage of a six month MyPanera+ Coffee membership. This gets you unlimited free hot or iced coffee, as well as tea, at Panera locations throughout the United States. This is a nice new perk, especially when you consider that this even works with no annual fee Amex cards.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this Amex perk at Panera?