The Magazine

Dunkin’ Donuts offering a foursquare special via AMEX

4

on July 12th, 2011

For those of you who follow this blog regularly, you’ve probably noticed that I’m a big fan of Dunkin’ Donuts (I may or may not be mayor of two different stores). That’s why I’m excited that they’re the newest merchant to join up with foursquare via the American Express offers.

Users who “load” the special to their American Express cards after checking in will receive a $2 credit when they spend $10. It won’t help much on my daily coffee purchase, but it is certainly a nice offer for days I buy donuts for the office. The deal runs through the end of July.

Unfortunately the import process wasn’t handled very smoothly, so a lot of Dunkin’ Donuts venues are now duplicated, with the special attached to the new duplicate venue (which isn’t even categorized!). This makes the special hard to find. The duplicate ones don’t show up in my Explore specials tab since they don’t have any checkins to make them worth recommending. It also creates extra work for foursquare’s superusers, who now must go through and clean up the mess (superusers: let’s get on this so people can get their discount donuts!).

What do you think of the deal? How can foursquare fix the duplicate import mess that’s been going on for more than a year now?

  • 5square

    Who cares about finding the special… how many people do you know who spend $10 at DD AND find the need to charge it only to get $2 back… which… is about the average interest amount… rendering this special useless to the user/customer…. in my opinion.
    DD was not the ideal candidate for 4sq/AMEX’s second attempt on this type of promotion..

  • RichG_

    I think this is a great move. Dunkin Donuts is tremendously popular in my area of the country. AMEX is doing a great job of setting themselves apart. I don’t shop for credit cards everyday but I might consider them.

    As a superuser I like to give special attention when I see a national brand claim venues (Restaurants, Movie theaters, Hardware stores, etc.) Foursquare may have gone through a period where they would just make hundreds of duplicates when a partner made a bulk claim. A lot of work for superusers but I think I have all my DDs sorted out.

  • http://www.allankintz.com ack154

    I VERY rarely ever go to a DD. The one we have in town is literally on the other side of town from where I am and work, so there is pretty much zero chance of me stopping there in the morning for anything.

    The only times I seem to stop at one are when I’m traveling, which itself is also rare these days. Even more rare I think would be me spending $10 at DD. And I certainly wouldn’t be TRYING to spend $10 just to get the $2 back…

    • Jason

      The only time I spend more than $10 is if I’m there with a few other people. But None of the DD venues in my area have the special. There are no dupes either. I’m kind of confused.

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