Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Starbucks, monetary superpower

jpkoning.blogspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 141 posts

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#61

Post by [deleted] »

gruez wrote: post #27
arafa wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can also be used for money laundering, as a result.

How would you launder money with starbucks cards? Sure, you can transfer balances with them, but that alone doesn't help you launder money. According to the treasury dept: >First, the illegitimate funds are furtively introduced into the legitimate financial system. Then, the money is moved around to create confusion, sometimes by wiring or transferring through numerous accounts. Finally, it is integrated into the fin…

[deleted]

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#62

Post by tomrod »

Yep -- Starbucks and similar typically hold these in big banks, who pay interest on the deposits.

They're called "brokered deposits" in finance, and they have all kinds of restrictions. Banks like them because they have predictable stability to lend against.

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#63

Post by lotsofpulp »

chrisseaton wrote: post #60
lotsofpulp wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That made me delete the app and avoid Starbucks. I was more than willing to pay with a cc, but they wanted me to give them an interest free loan?

Did you realise it was optional?

When I used the app a couple years ago, it was to skip the in store line and it was forcing me to pay a minimum $5 or $10 for Starbucks credit, and then use that to pay for the $3 item I was planning on buying. Basically, asking me to pay $5 for $3 item since I go to Starbucks once every few years. I don’t know if it has changed.

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#64

Post by burtonator »

nlawalker wrote: post #23

One use of Starbucks gift cards not mentioned in the article: cashing out foreign currency. "When you’re leaving a foreign country and still have some of the local currency, take it to a Starbucks and load it onto a gift card. You can use the card later in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Mexico, and the Republic of Ireland." https://lifehacker.com/put-leftover-foreign-currency-on-a-st...

This is how I get around taxation of my bitcoin. I went outside the US and bought $35k worth of Starbucks gift cards. I mean I'm hyper-caffeinated now but at least I didn't pay taxes. PS... I think I can see through time!

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#65

Post by burtonator »

pweezy wrote: post #50

I've always thought that the main reason for Starbucks to push their card and reward program is to save on per-transaction credit card fees. By my understanding, in the US, typical merchant fees to accept a card are a flat $0.20-$0.30 transaction fee, plus 2-3% of the total dollar amount. The article mentions the interchange fee (the 2-3%), but for small purchases the transaction fee is more significant. I assume the…

This is a great example of a HUGE competitive advantage Starbucks has over regular merchants that's very unfair. Smaller merchants don't get the scale advantages here...

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#66

Post by techsupporter »

maurimo wrote: post #31

I keep wondering why people buy Amazon/Netflix Gift cards. Great, you converted 50$ into 50$ that can only be used on Amazon, and people may end up not using at all. This is also financing with negative interest rate.

I do this for two reasons:

1) Hitting minimum spend requirements for a credit card bonus or discount (e.g. 10% statement credit at [Store of the Week] with a max credit of $10 or something).

2) I have a Target credit card and almost everything in Target, including gift cards, is discounted by 5% if I pay for it with Target's credit card. That makes my Hulu subscription or Nintendo Switch digital purchases 5% cheaper in the absence of anything else.

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#67

Post by aidenn0 »

gumby wrote: post #28

> But the only way to cash out of Starbucks balances is to buy a coffee--a promise that Starbucks can always keep! By the way this isn't true in California: by law all stored value and store-credit cards last for 10 years and can be cashed out.

They are only required by law to cash out gift cards with a balance of less than $10.

[edit]

Source: https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/legal_guides/s_11.shtml

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#68

Post by kortilla »

dragonwriter wrote: post #45
notatoad wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, they absolutely can. but they don't. They aren't trying to run a forex business, they're trying to sell coffee so they charge a fair rate. it's not going to be the best rate possible, but it's probably a better rate than anybody else at the airport will give you.

> yes, they absolutely can. but they don't. [citation needed] > They aren't trying to run a forex business Right. Particularly, they aren't trying to sell services to people price shopping for forex, is an incidental convenience provided to a customer base that literally isn't even checking prices. Why you'd assume that the rates will be especially favorable is unclear.

Has it occurred to you that some people actually check?

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#69

Post by asavadatti »

gumby wrote: post #28

> But the only way to cash out of Starbucks balances is to buy a coffee--a promise that Starbucks can always keep! By the way this isn't true in California: by law all stored value and store-credit cards last for 10 years and can be cashed out.

Only for gift cards under $10 IIRC

Re: Starbucks, monetary superpower

#70

Post by dannyw »

pweezy wrote: post #50

I've always thought that the main reason for Starbucks to push their card and reward program is to save on per-transaction credit card fees. By my understanding, in the US, typical merchant fees to accept a card are a flat $0.20-$0.30 transaction fee, plus 2-3% of the total dollar amount. The article mentions the interchange fee (the 2-3%), but for small purchases the transaction fee is more significant. I assume the…

Big players like Starbucks pay per transaction fees in the range of zero.
Post reply on HN