Starbucks raised their prices on many drinks on Monday.
To be fair, they said in August that they were going to start raising prices, but according to the Chicago Tribune many people didn’t even notice they were paying more per drink. The article posted today at chicagotribune.com says that Starbucks raised prices on larger “more complicated” drinks and actually lowered prices on smaller drinks. In general, they said, small drinks were lowered in price by 10¢ and larger drinks went up by 10 to 15¢.
Not a big deal really. But let’s break that down.
Say a person buys four cups of coffee a week (based on my own average, not any real stats):
That’s 4 (cups of coffee per week) x 52 (weeks per year) = 208
Let’s make those small coffees at Starbucks. Savings: 10¢ per cup.
Total savings per year: 208 (cups per year) x 10¢ (savings per cup): = $20.80
Now, let’s make those large coffees at Starbucks. Increase: 10 to 15¢ per cup.
Total increase per year (10¢): 208 (cups per year) x 10¢ = $20.80
Total increase per year (15¢): 208 (cups per year) x 15¢ = $31.20
So look at this: If you buy a small cup of coffee three times per week instead of a large cup of coffee three times a week you could save $52 a year!
If you don’t think $52 a year is not much, send me a check for $200 in 2014 and see if you feel good about it.
Posted by Curtis Chambers on November 19, 2009 at 8:52 am
I like Starbucks, but I usually just order a small coffee black. I was going to Starbucks every morning for a while. It seems like an odd time to raise prices. Your analysis of the cost will definitely make a Starbucks regular think twice
Posted by Kevin on January 6, 2010 at 12:10 pm
I’m going to send you a check for $200 in 2014, and I’m going to feel good about it!
Posted by Yaya on January 6, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Excellent, Kevin… my get-rich-scheme just might work!
Posted by Jeremy on January 13, 2010 at 9:59 am
Something about the article really piqued my interest, I’ve been putting some thought into this one, and I intend to put together a well-researched addendum.
I’m interested to see how the numbers come out, but unfortunately, as you know, I’m not much of a coffee drinker, so I don’t see the results of our collective study being of much benefit to me, but hopefully others will be able to learn from us.