Lisa
wakes up at 6:15, takes shower, grabs a quick bite to eat, and get a coffee at
Starbucks before heading off to work in the morning. She then works hard all
day, struggling under the pressure to make sales because she knows she has
bills she is struggling to pay. She’s been warned by the electric company that
she has a week to pay her bill before her power gets shut off, and she’s
already lost water twice. Why then, does she continue to buy her morning coffee
at Starbucks? Does she really need to pay four dollars every morning for a
simple cup of coffee?
According
to an article written by USA Today, Starbucks has “changed what we’ll pay for
coffee” drastically since it went public in 1992. People are now willing to pay
four dollars for a cup of coffee that they could have easily prepared for
themselves at home for a fraction of the price. Why then, do we find it
acceptable to go to Starbucks every day and buy overpriced coffee? According to
USA Today, “We live in a society where people think $5 is $1 because of
Starbucks,” and therefore, we include it in our daily routines, not even
realizing the hole it burns in our savings over time.
I
decided to do a little research and see how much people could potentially be
spending on just Starbucks every year. One of the most popular items on the
menu is the Caramel Macchiato, which costs $2.80 for a tall. Over a week,
that’s $19.60, a month, $84, and over the course of an entire year that’s a
whopping $1022! I also decided to look up the average electric bills and
average water bills. Per month an electric bill was about $95.66, and a water
bill was $51. Now if Lisa hadn’t gotten that Caramel Macchiato every day, she
could have paid for almost eleven months of electricity with her Starbucks
money, or twenty months of water. In a nutshell, Lisa would have been a lot
better off financially if she hadn’t gotten that morning coffee.
So
the question remains, why do we do this? Why do we continually pay so much for
coffee? We could easily make our coffee at home, which would probably not only
save us money, but also time in the morning. The answer is simple. According to
another blog about Starbucks, it has “already touched culture and left a
lasting mark.” Starbucks has found its way into every nook and cranny of our
society. It has even found its way into schools, one of them being my very own,
New Trier. Because it has made such an imprint on our society, we are quick to
go throw our money away at there without even batting an eye at it.
So now I ask one final time, why?
What has made Starbucks this huge phenomenon? Why is it that we allowed
Starbucks to impact our culture so much?
Anna, this post is very interesting, and I share your confusion on this trend! Why do people continue to pay such high prices for coffee, especially when the economy is in such a poor state? I know people who go to Starbucks every day and I have always thought of their daily routine as a little unnecessary. But, I had never really given too much thought to this "normality" that seems to be essential to so many Amerians. I was shocked, however, to see your research! It is crazy to think that if a person simply cuts out on his or her daily coffee, he or she could easily pay some bills for almost a year!
ReplyDeleteSo, why do Americans feel the need to continue paying for this pricy coffee? I think laziness/convenience is a main factor. The more popular Starbucks becomes, the easier it is to fine one. People know what they like to order, and they want to be able to get it anywhere, anytime. These days, it is almost impossible to drive two blocks in a metropolitan area without seeing a Starbucks. Now, many of the coffee shops are even drive-throughs. Starbucks has been able to recognize and draw from this American value of saving time, to somewhat manipulate customers into paying for over these over-priced beverages.
I, too, was shocked to see your research regarding the comparison of buying a caramel macchiato to paying for electricity. My answer to your question of why we go to Starbucks is that old habits die hard. And they die especially hard when every two blocks we see that familiar Starbucks logo. The truth is that this company and the coffee it sells is something that is constant no matter where we are. If we are in London we can get the same tall latte as we would get in Wilmette. The atmosphere, the merchandise, the baristas- they all feel comfortable. It's overwhelming to walk into a new coffee shop and see different choices and taking a chance on how something new will taste isn't ideal when you're in a hurry. Some may call this being lazy, but I just see it as a need for comfort.
ReplyDeleteI see this daily indulgence as a small comfort in what sounds like an otherwise stressful and long day. I personally buy Starbucks at least once a week, and I really loook forward to this little joy in my life, even though I have to fork over $4.73 for my grande mocha frappuccino. Everyone needs a little self indulgence, and yes, Starbucks is a pricey self-indulgence, but I think it is a necessary one.
ReplyDeleteAnna, Interesting observations here and a nice job blogging this quarter. It's great that you provide a link to a newspaper article to anchor your post -- and the psychology of relative pricing is a fascinating topic. A couple of thoughts: let readers know that "tall" in Starbucks-speak is "small." Where are your utility bill stats coming from? (I want to live there!) Last, and most important: what do you think the Starbucks phenomenon says about American values, culture?
ReplyDelete