Just for meeee
I’m not exactly what you’d call a Starbucks “type.” You know who you are. I’m not a regular. I don’t ohmygawd need my fix. I don’t cry tears of joy when the pumpkin spice lattes return each fall. (I did, however, ask to see the ingredients one time. It’s not pretty.) And I will not call a “small” a “tall.” Nope.
I do, however, enjoy Starbucks coffee (even though I’m still on a decaf kick… most of the time). I also think their business model is brilliant. Convince your employees they have a stake in the company. Convince your customers you know who they are. Talk about how nice you are to the planet. Convince the world you’re not as big as you are. And make billions.
They do a lot of things right. I can’t argue with that. Most recently, however, they’ve announced that they’ll be raising prices on some of their “larger size, harder to make” drinks due to the soaring costs of Arabica coffee, which is currently at a 13-year high. This will no doubt enrage some venti-double-mocha-light-no-whip-drinking patrons. But I’m kind of all for it.
Call me crazy, but I kind of like to see a this big company feel the effects of the economy. Do you ever see Walmart prices going up? No. And at what cost? Employee wages? Quality? At least with Starbucks’ price increase, we can convince ourselves they’re trying to pay their employees and their coffee growers fairly. And in the end, it’s you, coffee fiend, who will benefit from a better drink served by a happier barista.
End Starbucks rant.
Why didn’t anyone ever tell me that a soy latte is an entirely different drink than a coffee with soymilk? Is it because it’s twice as much? I don’t even care. Give me foam or give me death.
Foam or die.
Lol. Wow this is the first I’ve heard of the price increase! I think I did notice that my latte that I get once every week or two weeks is now over $5 instead of $4 and change.
Oh how I do enjoy the PSL. Don’t tell me the ingredients, I don’t want to know
Starbucks can drive me crazy but I always end up going back for some reason! I ALWAYS get my drinks with soy milk now and someone finally told me about their rewards program to save money on soy!! (I blogged about it I was so happy … I love saving $$ http://debarooroo.blogspot.com/2010/09/soy-milk-for-all-at-starbucks.html)
I’m with you on the refusal to call a “small” a “tall” and so on.
Dear Starbucks, you’re an American company so use the English language on your menu!
So I’ve been working at a Starbucks for about two weeks now, and I don’t know how long I can doooo this. I’m okay with the work itself, but having to write a billion instructions on a tiny cup is… frustrating.
you should… increase the prices. oh wait!
aaand I’m scared of the PSL… just because the syrup/sauce scares me.
Great post, Katie. I’m with you on the price gouging of the large, scary drinks since it’s probably in the best interest of the individual. However, I do loooove their coffee.
i like this. at least they’re being honest and handling it in a responsible way.
also, it’s nice to see someone else who isn’t going, “omgpumpkingpsicelattesomg!” i like my coffee plain. call me a purist, i guess. i know starbucks has made a move in the past year to clean up their ingredients, and i’d love to see it carry over to their syrups since so many people are obsessed with them. how hard can it be to make pumpkin syrup using pumpkin, honey, and spices, right?
there’s no pumpkin in it at all. or spices for that matter if i remember correctly…
I’m with you on this one, not only because of the reasons you listed, but also because those large complicated drinks are the worse things you could order. Some people need some discouragement from consuming 400 calories in caffeinated liquid form in one sitting. And as much as I like Starbucks coffee, I still have mental anguish when they ask me what size as I mentally convert “small” to “tall” in my head.
I just read about this – a little silly, if you ask me, but I do like that they’re also talking about reducing the prices of the really basic drinks. Like coffee, which is mostly what I get there anyway – I’m with you about the horror of what’s in some of those “special” syrups. It’s hard for it to taste good at all once you know!
I love this. I used to be obsessed with Starbucks but then I discovered my local coffee shop with great coffee and half the price for the same great coffee. It’s because they don’t have the overhead.
[...] mega coffee shop brand has seen plenty of media attention lately due to an increase in its drink prices, and I’m wondering whether the timing of the company’s stellar holiday marketing campaign is [...]