Starbucks' mes has become Caribou C...

Starbucks' mes has become Caribou Coffee's promotion.

The Minnesota-based Caribou said Friday it will honor e-mail interest certificates that Starbucks voided this week after someone changed the wording and spread them online.

There's a catch, admitting Caribou said it will barely honor the coupons from noon until closing time Friday.

Customers can buy back one coupon at Caribou for a at liberty medium iced americano, iced tea or brumal press iced coffee, the modern product Caribou is trying to raise by seizing on the Starbucks debacle.

Starbucks said it distributed an e-mail attached certificate for a free iced coffee to a limited number of its employee in the Southeast upon Aug. 23. Someone altered it to exhibit any iced drink, and it quickly took distant from online. Hundreds of thousands of attached certificate s were printed, and customers around the world -- including as far away as Australia -- have been redeeming the interest certificates in recent days.

Starbucks killed the promotion late Tuesday.

stoomey@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided on ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved