Like come on, people are otraged about the most minor stuff, but somehoe can’t be bothered to boycot or change the situation with convenience pricig, where same stuff you buy at a store is 10-20x the price per unit.
“Youre taking advantage of my tiredness, making me pay more of my hard-earned money for the privilege of being too tired to prepare my own food/drinks myself, essentially making me work more hours for having worked too many hours and being tired as a resilt of it. So: making me more tired for being tired already”
People were outraged, when this was news years ago.
The frog has been boiled and has been dead for sone time.
I can’t keep track of all the things I’m outraged about anymore. It’s too much.
I’m not outraged at Starbucks over convenience pricing because I haven’t noticed it because I don’t go to Starbucks.
I’m outraged because Starbucks is anti-union, anti-consumer, and donates money to an authoritarian regime.
Maybe OPs was a bad example but I’ll join you and OP in saying fuck starbucks
Same. Haven’t been in years. Fuck Starbucks.
Oh which authoritarian regime has Starbucks donated to?
The genocidal country with lots of bombs whose flag has blue and white on it
You have been banned from r/worldnews.
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Why don’t you boycott it and quit buying things that aren’t worth the price? Seriously, people aren’t outraged at this because convenience has value which means it costs.
The way to attack this problem is with robust antitrust enforcement. Where there are obscene markups there should be increased competition to provide the good/service which drives the price down. When that doesn’t happen it’s because something is stopping competition.
making me pay more
No, you’re choosing to pay more. Make your own coffee at home. Or hell, don’t drink coffee. Nobody’s making you do that, either.
A slightly better example might be convenience stores in low-income areas where many people don’t have access to transportation to the more affordable grocery stores. The fact that you immediately jumped to Starbucks (something many people consider a treat of sorts) as something you’re forced to buy out of convenience shows how privileged you are to have this “problem”.
Or support your local coffee shop.
privileged people don’t see themselves that way. they don’t see buying starbucks as a choice, they see it as a necessity for living. the choice to make coffee at home does not exist for them. they also would not want to associate with someone who makes coffee at home, because that’s what poor people do and the last thing they would ever want to be like is a poor person.
the price increase of SB to make addicts stop buying it would have to be massive, like double or triple, not a 30% increase.
It’s adorable how people taking a left turn out of coffee shops at rush hour think I’m going to let them in.
My brain can’t parse this, what is this supposed to mean?
I thought people are leaving the store, why would they think you’re letting them in? Also what does the direction they’re going have to do with anything?
You have to think as an American and see that it’s about cars, drive-throughs and lane merges.
The part that makes me angry is that a few minutes research will often find you a trove of small businesses serving fine coffee in the area. I really don’t see what’s special about that brand.
Usually those small local places are selling better coffee, and at a lower price. If you’re buying from SB then first, you don’t know shit about coffee, and second, you obviously don’t care about price.
Starbucks only sells over roasted burnt swill, that’s why they have so many flavors there. Try getting a regular black or with cream and sugar instead of their flavors, no better than Dunkin or mcdanks (all piss water) your better off with the huge tin of folgers or maxwell house at home, or going to a real coffee shop (not corpo chain)
because those small businesses aren’t a brand the customer associates themselves with.
people who brand shop often brand-identify, and their self-worth/image derives from purchasing the brand’s products. they won’t go to another place because that would mean they are a different person, they are a SB person, not a third party person, not dunkin donuts person, etc.
just because you don’t think that way, doesn’t mean there aren’t millions and millions of folks who do. just like the fact you might not use face book, but there are 3 billion people using facebook.
Nah, in minds of people I actually respect, buying at Starbucks ia not associated with being rich, its the other way around 😃 (a poor person either with poor self-control/willpower or intentionally trying to come off as rich)
Cool, where I live SB is for the office workers and DD is for the blue-collar workers. And neither group wants anything to do with each other.
It’s a symptom of overwork. People are too tired to exist outside of work, so they actually are forced to buy the coffee / chai latte / whatever. Without the drink they can’t get through the day. Then they’re too tired to make lunch so they have to buy the $10 bagel. Then they need to order dinner because no fucking way are you going to the grocery store or preparing anything after a 996 shift. Then you lose consciousness on the couch and repeat tomorrow
It’s essentially another form of income tax; the higher paying your job the more you have to pay in human fuel
It’s also one of those weird networking obligations too, where if you skip too often, people notice
Their workplace probably has free coffee if they have a job like that.
So what when grocery stores do it? You grow your own potatoes too?
I’m not seeing the comparison here. There are grocery stores where you can get potatoes at a reasonable price, based on the costs involved in growing, shipping, and stocking said potatoes. No, I don’t grow my own potatoes, I shop at those stores. The grocery stores that charge more for potatoes are generally the “high end” grocery stores (in my area, Whole Foods, Raleys, Sprouts, etc) and are not doing convenience pricing which is what is being discussed.
You’re completely right, I thought this post was about personalised pricing like different prices depending on location and data about customers. My bad.
No worries. Yeah, stores with that kind of pricing are the ones that I typically avoid.
The biggest problem I feel is how the customers are they own propaganda, usually people with disposable income will have better health and look younger. Capitalism can be so cruel. Maybe OP sees how “everyone is doing it” but doesn’t consider who ‘everyone’ really is!
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not everyone has the opportunity to make the coffee themselves
Can you expand on this? Why can’t you make your own coffee and put it in a thermos?
Maybe homeless people? But even then… there are ways.
Or hell, drink McDonald’s coffee if price is an issue. It just doesn’t come with a status symbol on the cup.
Me saying that Starbucks is not forcing anyone to do anything and saying you’re allowed to make your own decisions is… Victim blaming. Lmao.
You know that there are people starving in the streets right? And you’re freaking out because “I need my coffee 😩😩😩 I’ll die without it 😩😩😩” get a grip, please
The comment I replied to was apparently made by a coward.
No, Starbucks is a bad example.
No one needs to go to Starbucks. In fact, their coffee is shit, no better than 7-11. In fact you probably get better coffee at a convenience store, since they offer actual varieties and don’t charge $8 for a cup.
McDonald’s sells coffee for $1 that I would argue is far superior to Starbucks over-roasted crap.
Starbucks is a treat, not a necessity. Hell, coffee isn’t a necessity, and I drink it every day.
I don’t get mad at shit like this, I just don’t buy.
Rage gets you nothing from these pricing schemes. Letting the company go broke does.
I solved this problem, with regards to coffee, permanently for myself by getting a Timemore S3 and an Aeropress Go. All said that $200 CAD invested 5 years ago has save me hundreds in coffee bills, and now I can make a fresh cup at the campsite, road side, anywhere. All I need is hot water.
I just stopped drinking coffee.
I don’t think most people know enough about convenience pricing to be outraged about it.
The whole system of personalised pricing is designed to be unnoticeable to the general public or even make you think you’re paying less.
On a sidenote I don’t like the attitude of other commentators saying it’s just for Starbucks so it doesn’t matter to me, I make my coffee at home. Nothing is stoppin the system of convenience pricing to infect everything that isn’t Starbucks and everyone needs to buy groceries.
E: I misunderstood the OP, I thought he was talking about surveillance pricing/ personalised pricing which is something else entirely. Paying more because you want your drink at 3 in the morning or delivered to you or from a smaller store near you is normal and makes sense to me.
I think it’a good reminder that rewards programs, points, and generally every incentive that encourages you not to shop around is bullshit.
Time is money.
It’s not like expensive convenience has a monopoly. If you don’t want to pay more, do it yourself.
Exactly. I’m mostly amazed at how widespread it is, because damn that’s a lot of people paying inflated prices I never would.
Even if every person prepared their own food and drinks 99% of the time we’d still have restaurants and coffee shops.
Mostly with convenience pricing I’m thinking about things like how a convenience store can be next to a supermarket and charge you a 20% markup on the exact same item, and people pay because they can’t be bothered going into the grocery.
A convenience store next to a supermarket isn’t very convenient unless the supermarket is huge. Most convenience stores tend to be closer to you and stay open more hours than supermarkets. I’m ok paying more for that. Convenience stores here are run by neighborhood people, supermarkets are run by rich businessmen. Starbucks is not that kind of shop though.
Convenience stores where I am are generally franchises, and some are literally in the mall 30 seconds walk away from the grocery. Same opening hours, same location, etc.
Not sure what’s the point to them then. If you’re at the mall you’re already inconvenienced
My point exactly! They exist only to serve people who can’t be arsed to go into the grocery to get something.
People are beyond lazy, they’re willing to break laws and impede other people and their safety in order to avoid walking 35 meters
This doesn’t work for stuff like tickets where there is a convenience fee for them to not print you a physical ticket. So you’re paying for their convenience.
Well, how do I calculate if the time-money I save on preparing food > price money ai give up for said food?
Just see how much you get paid an hour and divide that by minutes.
Then see how much the same food costs at a grocery store plus how long it took you to prep cook and wash dishes vs how much it cost to buy it at a restaurant and how long you had to wait for it
For me it was about making things simpler. We bought a dual level countertop oven that I use for like 90% of our meals. I season and put proteins in the bottom tray and then prep some veggies and toss them in the top tray, then 20 mins later we have a meal. If you use foil you basically only wash your plates and forks.
if you buy multiple meals worth of groceries at a time its just as quick to get home and make a meal as it would be to drive by a place and pick up food. If you make a big meal like a huge pot of spaghetti then even faster each subsequent day.
I boycott things all the time. I also have friends who seem to not care at all. One of my friends considers herself really politically minded, but still eats at McDonald’s, gets her daily Starbucks, orders on Amazon, shops and target and uses ChatGPT as her therapist. I’ve tried to point out the irony, but she gets incredibly defensive. I think some people don’t care about anything but convenience. In this day and age, with social media, it made everyone the star of their own personal movie in their head. If things don’t directly impact them, even if they like to talk the talk, they’re not willing to walk the walk.
People want change but they don’t want to change.
It’s much easier to complain about things than do anything about them. It’s also a good way to make friends, misery loves company.
I feel like she’s at least ahead of the mass. I am dealing with walking the walk atm and is so damn hard. Sometimes I wish I could be just willfully ignorant, too late for me
Outraged that if I don’t want to make my own food or drink, the price of someone else’s labor to make it for me is added in?
I really wish it were law that your subtotal included a field called “profit to the shareholders” to transparently show you exactly how hard you’re getting fucked over.
My local butcher shop sells whole pork side ribs for like $13 CDN and still make a profit. Walmart charges $18 and makes a killing any time they sell one. My local butcher pays living wages while walmart doesnt…
I don’t pitch a fit online, I just don’t use them.
Man there is a technology out there that threatens %90 of peoples jobs, the literacy rate of both youth and adults, steals from artists and makes everything worse.
If people don’t stand up against that they won’t stand up for anything. Most people are just cattle at this point.
If people don’t stand up
Stand up and do what? With whom? When and where is this happening? What are the anticipated consequences? What is the anticipated pushback? Who is leading the struggle? What are the demands?
I see a ton of “Somebody Should Do Something!” but vanishingly little “Join the DSA, rally around AOC, and unionize your workplace. Here’s the steps. Here’s the meeting. Here’s the agenda. Here’s people with resources and experience who can make it successful.”
They are standing up against it but they still can’t compete with Wall Street PE firms that see AI as another way to eliminate a certain percentage of that pesky human labor that costs so dang much to keep alive.
How exactly are we suppose to stop such greed when we aren’t allowed to remove these elements from our economy? Voting doesn’t fix it. Boycotting doesn’t fix it. Its entrenched. History offers but one suggestion and the system is very anti-violence these days.
People make the choice to buy overpriced coffee at places like Starbucks. The excuse “I’m too tired to make my own coffee” is just ridiculous.
OPs example of too tired is ridiculous. The only time I get a black coffee from Starbucks is if I’m in a bind for time, downtown without my thermos, or I’m traveling away from my ChemX.
It’s all about convenience not replacement of my much better coffee from home.
Where I live, there are loads of places you can get coffee from that are cheaper and don’t belong to anti-worker, anti-consumer US megacorporations. Your mileage may vary here, of course.
I don’t think it’s matters. If you think a local coffee shop isn’t paying the minimum wage you’re dreaming. Starbucks is the McDonald’s of coffee. All fast food jobs are designed for teenagers/part-time college students. Local coffee shop sure as hell can’t afford a benefits package. Starbucks at least offers to reimburse for your four year college degree.
64% of local coffee shops close in the first five years. I’m sure it’s not because they are paying their baristas soooo well.
https://perfectdailygrind.com/2026/09/opening-coffee-shop-2026/
There is no such coffee job in America that pays a living wage, offers medical/dental/vision, and retirement. The reason for that is it isn’t a career.
The only way to not feed into that machine is to make you’re coffee at home. I’m sure you’ve never ordered anything from Amazon, or used AWS either.
Good luck with that
This may come as a surprise to you but there are countries where even minimum wage workers have health insurance etc.
It isn’t a surprise. You are talking to an American about an American company. Your concerns for said American company happen to be standard practice in the country that it was created in.
This may come as a surprise to you, but context matters.
Define “convenience pricing”.
Convenience has always come at a price. Your local corner shop will likely stock bread and milk, and it will be a lot more expensive than it is at the massive supermarket a mile or two away.
So… The bread in supermarket is high in preservative chemicals, which is why it can stay ‘fresh’ for days. The one from a local bakery (boulangerie or pattisere or whatever) will have a shorter shelf life since they don’t have a long supply chain to manage
There’s not much evidence that the preservatives are bad or the supermarket bread is inferior, but I do miss the fresh smell and crack of the bread when I end up eating the (imo inferior) supermarket bread
Processed foods like white bread are inferior to real sourdough not just from a taste perspective but also health as white bread lacks the same nutrients and spikes your blood sugar.
I’m not talking about a bakery. They’re even more expensive, and even less convenient since most of them close just after lunch. I’m taking about a corner shop. Think Kwik-e-mart on The Simpsons. Apu sure as shit wasn’t baking his own bread.
Oh, I guess I’m lucky to have a corner shop with fresh bread, not just the same supermarket one
So… The bread in supermarket is high in preservative chemicals
This seems like an America thing.
Not the case here in Finland, for example.
Most white bread sold in supermarkets is preservative full, even in Europe and Japan. It’s required because the supply chain (from baking to on shelf) itself costs at least half a day or a full day depending on the setup.
A similar bread baked at home has a shelf life of 2-3 days before it is not fluffy soft anymore. This puts a big constraint as the feedback for the next batch is literally time critical. A longer shelf life enables bulk distribution per store which reduces logistics cost and improves per unit cost
White bread, but most bread sold in stores here isn’t white bread.
Granted I don’t really know if it’s full of preservatives. It does often have added sugar which is already shit (and a kind of preservative i guess).
I almost exclusively eat rye bread, just like the rest of this country.
That’s a healthy country, hopefully late stage capitalism doesn’t take that away
There’s nothing outrage can do. You’ll still buy from them since the rich own everything and you still have to eat. You can’t outlast a billionaire just on hunger alone. Billionaires own the world. We’re just the (soon to be obsolete) chattle that lives in it to increase their profits.
I thankfully live in a place where Starbucks isn’t the norm, and independent cafes can do coffee better than any chain
It pains me when I see people go to these places that obviously overcharge and underdeliver
