Freudian Sip customers are upset by the coffee shop’s sudden and unannounced elimination of their loyalty card system.

The old promotion had offered free paper loyalty cards to customers which allowed them to receive a free drink after collecting 10 punches.

In addition to the six Freudian Sips on campus, other establishments offering similar loyalty cards, such as The Arbor Grill and The Marketplace, have also decided to discontinue these discounts.

“The reason we stopped providing these is because we have a lot of increasing costs with the minimum wage going up,” Betsy Corrigan, associate director of campus dining, said. “We think it’s a great idea [minimum wage], but we also have to find ways to reduce some of our cost.”

Currently, anyone who still has punch cards is still allowed to redeem them, Corrigan explained.

“We are continuing to punch them, we are continuing to redeem them, but once they’re fully redeemed, we are not going to be using it anymore,” Corrigan said.

Despite the discontinued offer, many money-saving options still remain.

Freudian Sip holds a happy hour every Wednesday from 4–5:30 p.m. which features 50 percent off all prepared drinks. Customers can also receive a 50 percent discount if they wear a Freudian Sip T-shirt while ordering. The Freudian Sip T-shirts can be purchased for $10 in their stores.

Still, many customers are unhappy with the change.

Marcella Tyler, Tseng College staff member, said she used the loyalty cards frequently and occasionally gave the punch filled cards as gifts to individuals in her office.

Many costumers felt as if the change was too quick and lacked proper notification and information. Other customers even considered changing coffee shops.

CSUN senior music major Lauren Keber said that, with the removal of the loyalty card system, she would now rather go to Starbucks than the Freudian Sip — one of the reasons she chose to go to Freudian Sip was because the store had a better reward system.

“Customers have made complaints that we should bring back the loyalty card,” undeclared freshman Daniel Flores said. “They say it usually helps and benefits them so that they can get free drinks around the finals when everyone needs drinks.” Flores has been working for Freudian Sip for about a year and a half.

He also said that customers who are not happy with the change should keep contributing to the suggestion box, usually located beside a cash register.

Corrigan said that there are other, better deals still being offered to students, such as the MataMoney card. The refillable plastic cards allow students to put any amount of money on them and offer students a 10 percent discount on every transaction.

“We stopped doing loyalty cards, but we’re not the only one. A lot of companies out there are looking for ways to make more money, but that’s not what we are looking for,” Corrigan said. “We are looking for ways to reduce our cost and also to provide 10 percent off on every transaction on MataMoney card.”