Shane Ferro looked at some startling Starbucks numbers:

• Starbucks has a card system that people can pre-load money on and use to pay for drinks.
• Customers have pre-loaded $1.2 billion worth of unspent cash.
• Assets of that size mean that Starbucks is actually one of the larger banks in the United States.
• Unlike other banks Starbucks doesn’t have to pay interest to depositors.
• However it can invest that money in other ventures earning itself a tidy investment return.
• Customers, in essence, have given Starbucks a $1.2 billion interest fee loan.

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Source: Huffington Post