Starbucks is, undoubtedly, expensive. Even a single shot of espresso or a brewed coffee at Starbucks is worth three times that amount at a coffeeshop.
Perhaps it’s our coffeeshop pricing that’s the issue – we’re so used to coffee prices there, that Starbucks feels like so very pricey when we do head down, that it becomes sort of a treat.
But if you’re like me, you want your Starbucks and you want it cheap(er). Exactly how much cheaper can you get it?
I’ll assume your drink costs $10, at the largest size.
1)Bring your own mug.
It’s $0.50 off if you BYOM. Yes, you can ask them to wash it for you, if you’re thick-skinned enough.
2)Don’t top up your Starbucks card.
What trickery is this? After all, every 12 drinks you buy entitles you to 1 free drink, right? That’s 1/13 off your drink, when you average it out. But there’s a better way of doing it.
3)Buy a new Starbucks card each time you run out of money, and top up the minimum amount ($10). Claim the free drink with the card.
What this means is that for every $10 you spend, you get a free drink. That’s a much better deal than a 1/13 discount. You can also use multiple cards to pay for a new drink, ensuring that you’re not left with some odd amount like $0.37 across several cards.
Just remember that you need to use a new email each time you register a new Starbucks card, in order to get the free drink.
Using this method, your $10 drink is now, on average, $4.87. Let me illustrate.
If you spend $950, you can buy 100 drinks (remember, BYOM means a $0.50 discount and hence each drink is $9.50. But for every $10 you spend, you get a free drink, so that’s an additional 95 drinks, for a grand total of 195 drinks per $950 spent.
What if your drink is $3? It’ll now be $2. Not as spectacular, but a 33% discount is not something to snort about either. (I think only an espresso or brewed coffee is $3).
If you spend $250, you can buy 100 drinks (again, BYOM makes a $3 drink worth $2.50). That $250 spent also nets you an additional 25 drinks, for a grand total of 125 drinks per $250 spent.
The discount ranges from 33% to 51%, and of course the discount gets larger the more expensive your drink costs. But at least this way, you get to have your cake and eat (part) of it too.
Also, if you haven’t noticed – Singapore has three Uniquely Singaporean Starbucks Card designs. Not bad for our small country, eh?
don’t forget to use your citibank card for 10% rebate!