Starbucks Made $212 Million From Gift Cards Nobody Used

Something’s haunting my junk drawer. It’s a gift card with money still on it, and it’s been there so long it’s practically paying rent. I keep meaning to use it. I keep not using it.

Turns out I’m not the only one living with a ghost, and somebody is counting on that. Every year, big companies calculate “breakage,” the amount of gift card money they expect will never be redeemed, based on historical averages. For Starbucks, it’s a serious profit driver. The company reported $212 million in breakage revenue in 2022, according to the Associated Press. That’s a lot of coffee nobody drank.

It’s not just Starbucks, either. A Bankrate survey found that 47% of U.S. adults have at least one unspent gift card or voucher, averaging $187 each. Added up, that’s about $23 billion lurking in wallets, glove boxes, and drawers. Call it the undead balance sheet.

Most people don’t skip their gift cards on purpose. They forget them, lose them, or can’t find them when they’re standing at the register. That’s a fixable problem, and it’s the one we’ve been quietly working on.