It’s officially the holiday season and last week Starbucks released their seasonal holiday drinks to celebrate (though sadly they didn’t bring back my favorite Gingerbread Latte). Did you know that with every Starbucks purchase you make you can be earning points towards FOUR different loyalty programs? That’s pretty big power for a Chestnut Praline Latte.

Don’t let my excitement for the holiday menu fool you: these points can be earned on any Starbucks order year-round, not just seasonal items. Here’s the breakdown of how you can earn all these points:

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Starbucks Loyalty Points

This is probably the most obvious set of points you can earn from Starbucks purchases. All you need to start racking up points is the Starbucks app on your phone. When you order on the app, your points are earned automatically, and if you pay in-store, just make sure to scan the QR code app before swiping your card.

The best way to maximize points on Starbucks orders is to pay with a gift card loaded into your account, as you earn 2 stars/dollar spent with a gift card (vs. just 1 star/dollar when paying with a credit card). Just use “scan & pay” if ordering in-store. You should also periodically check the app for any promotions or offers that are currently going on and register for them, as you may be able to earn extra stars that way.

When redeeming points, you should do a value calculation just like you would when booking flights to ensure you’re getting the best deal. For example, my go-to orders at Starbucks are a Venti Strawberry Açai Refresher, which costs 150 stars or $4.95, and the Iced Lemon Loaf, which costs 50 stars or $3.65. Quick math says that the refresher’s redemption value is 3.3 cents/star whereas the lemon loaf is 7.3 cents/star, more than twice the value. Thus, I’m much better off using my stars when I want to get a bakery item like an Iced Lemon Loaf and pay with a gift card for my drinks.

Note that Starbucks stars do expire 6 months after they’re earned, so you don’t want to let them sit too long in your account and end up losing them. You can track when your points will expire by going to the Starbucks app homepage and clicking “details” under your stars and scrolling to the bottom section (“Stars expiring soon”).

Delta SkyMiles

Delta recently announced a partnership with Starbucks where you can link your Delta SkyMiles account with your Starbucks account and earn 1 SkyMile per dollar spent at Starbucks. Also, when you register before 12/31/2022, you get 150 Starbucks stars and 500 Delta SkyMiles after your first purchase. The last perk isn’t likely to come into play often for me (since I rarely fly Delta), but you can also earn double stars on Starbucks purchases on days when you have a Delta flight.

Here’s the website to link your accounts.

My favorite thing about this partnership is that it’s a set-it-and-forget-it program, so you only have to put in the initial work of linking the accounts and then you can mindlessly accrue points on Starbucks purchases you’re already making.

United MileagePlus Points

As I’ve written about before, using the Mileage Plus X app to buy gift cards is a great way to earn United MileagePlus points when you know you’ll actually use the gift card (otherwise it’s a waste). I know there will always be a Starbucks order in my future, so it makes sense to buy a gift card and earn 2 MileagePlus points/dollar (+ a 25% bonus on points because I have a United credit card). Applying this gift card to my Starbucks account also helps me earn 2 stars/dollar as mentioned above.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

The card you use to buy the gift card on the MileagePlus X app matters. I had originally tried to get 4x Amex points/dollar by using my Amex Gold card to buy a Starbucks gift card in the app, but it unfortunately coded as shopping, not a restaurant. However, using my Chase Sapphire Reserve card codes the purchase as a restaurant, giving me 3 points/dollar spent. It’s not clear why Amex and Chase code the same transaction differently, but it’s the banks’ world and we’re just living in it so we have to play by their rules and adjust accordingly.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are definitely the most valuable of all the currencies discussed here because they are transferable to many airline and hotel programs, allowing for greater flexibility in redemption and a better value on those points.

Now that I’ve broken down all the ways to earn points simultaneously on a Starbucks purchase, you can see that a $10 Starbucks purchase paid for via the app with a gift card can earn you 20 Starbucks stars (worth ~7.3 cents/point), 10 Delta SkyMiles (worth ~1 cent/point), 25 United MileagePlus points (worth ~1 cent/point), and 30 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (worth ~2 cents/point). When you add up the points earned and multiply by their estimated value, that’s ~$2.36 worth of points for future drinks, flights, and hotels, or approximately a 24% rate of return on your Starbucks order. It may not seem like much on a single purchase, but if you’re an avid Starbucks-goer, these savings can add up quickly.

If you are reading this and learning something from this post or any on my blog, I thank you for your support. This is just a fun hobby for me right now and a way for me to share what I’ve learned with others, but if you wanted to say thanks and buy me a coffee, you can do so here: buymeacoffee.com/maximizingmypto (it was too on-topic not to throw that link in!)