How Starbucks gets interest-free loans from its customers

15 Dec 2022 · 1 min

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Starbucks makes customers preload money into their app in $25 increments, while Blue Bottle lets you pay instantly with Apple Pay. That prepaid balance is an interest-free loan Starbucks uses to fund operations, and the system encourages people to order ahead and spend more.

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The Blue Bottle app, when you buy a coffee, for example, it's Apple Pay. It's just like ding ding and you pay whatever it is, $10 for your fucking matcha. At Starbucks, you have to load in money in increments. I don't know if it's $25 increments, but I have money and I use this very, very infrequently. I'm not really a Starbucks person, but when I want Starbucks and of course I just want to walk in and be efficient, I will like order a coffee 10 minutes before I like walk into a Starbucks or a Blue Bottle because I don't want to sit and wait. I do that with Postmates too. I like to intercept my orders. That makes me feel like a really smart person. I've got, I mean, not a ton sitting in my Starbucks app. And the same thing with gift cards. Your customer's giving you a loan in advance that you can use to run your business.