Rising Coffee Prices
Thinking about grabbing your favorite morning beverage on your way to work tomorrow? You might want to think again, Starbucks is yet again increasing their prices. Earlier this month, the coffee powerhouse announced the prices of certain beverages will increase upwards to 30 cents. The exact price increase depends on where in the country you’re buying coffee, but brewed coffee will cost 10 to 20 cents more and espresso drinks and tea lattes will go up between 10 and 30 cents.
If you are like me, you scratch your head and just question, “WHY?” Why does a company making close to $5 Billion per year feel the need to punish loyal customers, customers that allow such profit margins to be achieved. It can make us, the consumer upset knowing, that even a 11¢ price increase provides an additional $110,000 PER DAY!
The simple fact is, unless you are a major coffee addict, purchasing several coffees a day; you probably will not feel the difference on the price spike. About 65 percent on the drink menu will stay the exact same price and for the majority of us this is a huge help.
As with anything in life, there is always a positive side to the situation; in this circumstance Starbucks is using the increased pricing to give a raise to our nearby baristas. You know, the people smiling behind the counter while you market your rainbow-colored drink on Instagram.
Perhaps, this is why prices are increasing though, as consumers we are constantly surrounding ourselves with social media and post everything that we eat and drink. We have become accustomed to allowing other to have say what we should and should not be drinking. Be this Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or our homemade coffee brands we associate quality with the number of likes we get on a media post and if we see a direct correlation between the brands we post and the number of likes we get we are more than likely going to post something we know others will see as relevant.
Then again who knows, maybe consumers are able to see past the vein reasons why brands such as Starbucks raise their prices. Maybe they truly like what they have inside their cup instead of the logo on the outside of it. And perhaps brands are truly admirable and have no idea that they are able to scheme consumers into thinking their products are far superior than the others.
Be judge and make sure before you order your next triple grande late that the price you pay is reasonable and fair.