For awhile now, Starbucks has offered a loyalty program to encourage repeat business. Dunkin’ Donuts has relied on seasonal promotions, but this week they upped the ante with a new loyalty program called DD Perks.

The Perks program is pretty straightforward: You earn 5 points per dollar spent before sales tax; when you earn 200 points, you get a free medium drink of your choice.  Simple, clear, and each receipt gives you a running tally.

To earn points, you must pay using a Dunkin’ Donuts card, which isn’t such a big deal; I switched over since I was able to continue earning Plink points by recharging the card (and actually earned a higher percentage back by recharging with a higher amount than just processing small amounts on a credit card normally). The Plink offer is still active, so not only can you get up to 10 percent back via plink, but now get a free medium drink after every $40 spent.

For those who buy coffee and a bagel every morning, the free drinks will pile up fast. I also like you can redeem the free drink within three months, offering ample time to decide when to use it.  When you earn a coupon, it prints out on the receipt, but you can also reprint it from the website if you lose it, so it’s pretty well organized overall.

My only nitpick is I wish you could opt for a small or a large with different redemption values (say, 150 for a small and 250 for a large). But for a first effort on a loyalty program of this size, Dunkin’ Donuts has done pretty darned well in my book.