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Updated: Unfortunately, Starbucks reduced certain benefits, and is making it more difficult to find these powerful savings. I’ve changed a couple points to reflect the shift.
Starbucks is a favorite scapegoat of budget-minded personal finance gurus. Spending $4-5 on an espresso drink is unfathomable. The basic understanding is that if you spend that much every day or even a few times a week, it adds up. Spend $5 for 120 days (1/3 a year) and you’re looking at a staggering bill of $608. For someone on a strict budget that can really hamper your goals. Few people who are frugaling would argue that they have an extra $608 lying around for coffee.
Today, I’m presenting a slightly different angle. As a student, I’m often away from home for extended hours. I frequently make coffee before I leave, but I like to have a cup in the middle of the day, too. This presents a budget versus energy conundrum: To have the coffee and get my rocket fuel, or save money and feel tired.
Rather than choose one option, I’ve decided to save money at Starbucks and reduce the amount of times I frequent the major coffee chain. When you look at the prices at your local Starbucks, you probably see a variety of high-priced, calorie-packed drinks – all exorbitantly indulgent and painful to your pocketbook. But the way I see it, I immediately take 12-13% off that price – every time.
Here are 5 tricks for staying frugal at your favorite coffeehouse:
1. BYOT: Bring Your Own Tumbler ($0.10 discount)
Anytime you bring your own mug or tumbler, Starbucks rewards you with a $0.10 cup discount. Filling up a 16+ ounce tumbler should cost you over $2, but the discount helps keep it under that. I always carry mine around, as it’s far greener than using and throwing away paper cups every day. An added perk of using a tumbler is that it stays warmer for longer and you drink slower.
2. Use, Register Your Starbucks Card (8.33% discount)
This is pretty simple: Get a Starbucks card and register it online. Yes, you’ll sacrifice some privacy and Starbucks will have a rough estimate of every location you could possibly be in (just think how many Starbucks there are in the world). In exchange for this location information, Starbucks rewards you with 8.33% (or more) and free refills on brewed coffees.
Basically, once you register the card and start using it, you’ll collect drink points. For every 12 drinks/food items, I get a free one. When I bring my own tumbler ($0.10 discount) and use that with my Starbucks card, I’m actually receiving an additional 8.33% off the final price in the form of a future reward. The best part is that the reward can be for anything. Once you collect your twelfth bonus drink, you can use it for a venti whateverfrap at $5 or buy a bacon gouda sandwich (like I often do). These both cost more than my traditional morning/afternoon coffee, and effectively cause your total discount per order to be even more than 8.33%!
3. Order The “Short” (cheaper and you still get free refills)
What’s a “short”? Well, it’s an off-the-menu drink size that every Starbucks employee knows about. Instead of the tall size, which is 12 oz, the short is a measly 8 oz. Now, if you’re on-the-go and a regular coffee drinker like me, it’s hard to fathom drinking such a paltry sum (am I right?). But if you’ve got some time on your hands and you’ll be hanging out at Starbucks, it’s by far the best deal.
Order a short coffee with your registered Starbucks card and you’ll pay a face value of about $1.65 (depending on the location). Based on the 10% discount from before, your short, brewed coffee will ring in around $1.49. At that price, you’re likely to beget the myth that Starbucks is a super expensive coffee chain. The best part is that you can still get free refills on these drinks, too! I regularly get a refill, which effectively halves the price per cup at $0.75.
4. Use A Rewards Card To Pay Your Starbucks Card (2% discount)
I’m back to using credit cards after a brief experiment only using cash. When used responsibly, credit cards can maximize your savings for purchases you were already going to complete. When you refill/top off your Starbucks card using a rewards credit card, you still get the bonus points that the credit issuer pays out.
Let’s say I use a rewards credit card to refill my account. By doing so, I get an immediate 2% discount to the Starbucks refill/order. If you follow the previous method, you’re actually going to be paying only $0.73 per cup!
5. Buy Starbucks Coffee At A Grocery Store ($5 per pound)
This is one of the simplest methods to save when you’re out and about and need a coffee fix: Buy a pound of Starbucks coffee at your local market. On the front of every bag of Starbucks coffee nowadays should be a coupon for a free tall coffee. To be honest, Starbucks coffee is hardly ever the most inexpensive, frugal choice at the supermarket, but when you combine free drink deals and maybe a coupon from the Sunday ads, you’re in serious business.
Starbucks regularly offers a $2 off coupon on the purchase of 2 one-pound bags of coffee. Let’s say one pound is $8 – multiply that by 2 and you’ll get $16. Use your coupon and the price gets knocked down to around $14. The two bags will include two tall coffees, as well. That is a value of about $4. Effectively, this brings your grand total for the 2 bags to about $10 after all your savings ($5 a pound).
Unfortunately, the free coffee for a bag of coffee is actively being phased out. Scoop up some of the last bags with the old design, and you’ll still get a free cup!
I am glad that I don’t have a coffee addiction. I am not a fan of Starbucks coffee because they over-roast their beans. If you have ever ground your own coffee and bought beans that are roasted correctly, you wouldn’t frequent the place.
That being said, these are good tips for those that enjoy their Starbucks coffee.
Thanks for reading the tips! 🙂
Hmm… I’ve heard about that idea that Starbucks “over-roasts” their beans. Personally, Starbucks coffee was what I grew up getting used to. I like a darker, burnt flavor. To each their own! Hah.
Awesome tips! I had no idea about the short – this is perfect for me when I go to Starbucks. I love plain ol’ black coffee, but I hate Starbuck’s plain brews, so I always get some sort of coffee drink if I go. These are treats in several ways – A. because I don’t really need to spend the money on it and B. because I don’t really need all the calories and sugar that they manage to pack into a chai tea latte. Will definitely be ordering a short next time 🙂
Glad the tips may come in handy! 🙂 The short is a great little boost.
Smart article – if you’re going to have a regular Starbucks run, at least make sure you save as much as you possibly can! I think this would be especially useful for those who often work out of Starbucks.
For the SB addicts, definitely good tips! Thankfully, I’m not a fan.
I’d be curious what you prefer!
Great tips, especially on the short! I never knew about that before. Thanks!
Great tips. There are many credit cards that give 5% at grocery or drugstores. If you use these to buy starbucks gift cards, and then load it onto your existing rewards account which you can easily do online, you will be effectively giving yourself a 5% discount on everything.
The 5% rolling categories discounts are another great option! Thanks for adding this. 🙂
I didn’t know about the 2% discount if you use the rewards card to refill your card. I’ll have to start doing that!
Do it! 🙂 The savings will add up fast.
Just order an espresso shot on ice and then add your own milk later for a MUCH cheaper latte! Drizzle in some caramel (if you have it) and there is your caramel macchiato.
I used to work at Starbucks when I first moved to NYC and loved watching the different habits people had to save a few bucks.
The best Starbucks hack — go in right when they’re closing and ask for any pastries/bistro boxes they’re about to throw away. FREE!
That’s an amazing tip! Thanks for the inside scoop. I’m going to try and do both!
Good tips, Sam. There’s a Starbucks a block down the street from me and I mainly use it as a place to meet Craigslist buyers in a safe, open public space. I may have spent $5 here in my 10 years living a block away. 🙂 That’s how you save $$ at starbucks.
For a serious tip, sign up for their card online. You get a free cup of coffee each year on your birthday as long as you make 1 purchase during the year.
And good recommendation on the short coffee cup. For regular coffee drinkers who don’t visit starbucks a lot, that’s a great way to get relatively inexpensive coffee.
From where I come from, Starbucks is a place for those who can afford to spend money on a very expensive cup (or tumbler) of coffee. So it’s normal to see only the rich and the working class frequenting the place. The price of a tumbler of coffee at Starbucks here is already my lunch budget for a family of 6.
one of the best lessons on buying at starbucks and drinking cheaper.. thanks so much.. i did not know this.. i love to stack discounts like this.. congrats on a great article.. blessings, lucy
BUT i do agree that they over roast their bean!! lol
Ask for a splash of water in your coffee if it’s too “dark” for your taste. You may like it much better.
Great tips! I just wrote a post on my blog about saving on Starbucks coffee beans by combining a coupon code, store promotion and discount gift card. Since you seem to know about the Starbucks MyRewards program, can you transfer money from one gift card to another so you don’t have to have six different MyRewards accounts? I often buy discount Starbucks gift cards for 20% off and I’d like to pool them under one account for the most savings.
Kendal,
You can absolutely combine account values! Either walk into a store with the two cards and put the money on one, or go online and transfer funds. Easy as can be! 🙂
I thought a cup (or tumbler) of Starbucks coffee from the U.S. would not be as expensive as it is from where I come from. Boy, was I so wrong if a cup of espresso is $4 to $5! It’ s a good thing that you shared these tips even if I don’t frequent the place, I’ll keep them in mind.
I like to buy gift cards from the resalers at a discount. I check giftcardgranny.com and buy from whomever I can get the best deal. Right now, the best deal (other than ebay) is 22% off. You can load the gift card to your Starbucks account just like any other card. I’ve been doing this for a lot of my purchases lately, buying a gift card at a discount to cover all or most of the cost, and the savings really adds up! And you can use your reward card to buy the gift card. I haven’t had any problems with cards not working so far.
Anne,
That’s a great idea! Thanks for suggesting that idea. 🙂
Both #2 and #5 are wrong. It’s a free reward for every 12 purchases not 10 and the Free Tall with the bagged CPG coffee offer stopped at least a year ago.
Hey there! Thanks for your updates and comments. When I first created this article, both of those were active. These have been changed since then. I’ll change the article to reflect this! Thanks.
Best way to save is to go to Costco when they have a sale on their 2.5 pound bag of whole bean Starbucks French Roast coffee. The normal $19.99 price drops down to about $15.49 (-$4.50). And…if you have a Costco American Express Card, you save another one percent or so. That’s about $6.19 a pound for Starbucks French Roast. Not bad!
I came upon this trick by accident. The Starbucks inside Target (closest one at the time) gave me break when I ordered a Tall Mocha with only 1 squirt of chocolate (2.75 vs 3.25) But none of the Starbucks will do that. I asked for a dog biscuit once and they gave me a puppy whip instead. Now I carry my own chocolate and ask for a puppy whip for my tall latte, saving 50 cents each time! (plus I give my puppy the other half of the whip!)
I always use my rewards card to buy discount Starbucks gift cards from Raise.com. It’ saves 12-15% off the top each time. I also like that since I buy it as a “big” purchase ($100 gift card at a time, since that’s usually the best savings), it means I actually had the money to do it then, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that I spent how much on coffee over when I check my credit card bill.
Buy discounted gift cards and add them to your registered card. Save at least 15% off the top.
The closest Starbucks to me has a Dunkin; Donuts in the next shopping plaza. I have switched over to DD for 90% of my coffee needs, which saves at least 50%.
Yet another way to save on coffee costs whilst out and about: Brew at home and take it with you in a good quality thermos (like “Stanley” brand–the construction worker’s friend!). Preheat the thermos with boiling hot water for about 10 minutes, then put in your coffee. It should keep hot all day. Just so you know, cheap non-glass insert thermoses will only last 2 or 3 hours so it’s best to get a quality one.
You can save even more by getting you fancy coffee at McDonalds once in a while.
This is a perfect example of the trade-off of one area of trying to “be good” for another that I put in a comment on your post about deleting the ads. It’s all about balance. If you give in to the consumerism of having a Starbucks Card, you can save a significant amount of $! They know that’s the case, and surely make up the savings in other ways, such as knowing your location. My husband thinks he’s not giving in by not having any of these types of rewards cards, but would cringe if I told him how much more $ I’d spend everywhere including the grocery store. Plus surely there are other ways my location is being constantly tracked (like my iPhone). It’s a judgement call.
Love the info as I have a bit of a coffee problem and love and hate Starbucks at the same time 🙂