Some coffee fans get grim delight in Starbucks woes

[PixilEyes]

It was problley that whole if you ask for a large they will just stare at you thing.

:p

I kid I kid.

[RAID 0]

It was problley that whole if you ask for a large they will just stare at you thing.

:p

I kid I kid.

When I go to Starbucks (not my choice) I purposely ask for, "A large back coffee." Never has anyone stared, but they must think I'm a loser since I dont know the lingo.

[revvo]

I'm sorry but coffee isn't worth 5 dollars, no matter what's in it.

And your made in Pakistan Diesel jeans are worth $100? Your Chinese-made leather shoes are worth $150? Forget the actual worth of what you're buying. Everything we buy is well over its cost price. Yeah for some people, paying $150 for Energie jeans is worth it, well for others, paying $5 for specialty coffee is also worth it.

If people are willing to pay for it, as a company who wants to maximize profits (among other things), why would you charge less? You'd be dumb to charge a coffee $3 when you know they would pay $5 for the same thing. Nobody's forcing you to buy somewhere in specific. You vote with your money.

[Scirwode]

To be honest with you, I'm scared about going into the place. I don't know what it is but everytime I want to go in I just froze as I see the prices they sell some of their beverages. The place decorated in an art decor style that screams money also doesn't help, what with most of their customers using Macs and iPhones and all other expensive gadgets. Sad I know but there it is :pinch: .

Scirwode

[gaurav]

"It's just coffee," said Marc Poulin

What he said.

Their bottled cans available here are pretty OKish, a lil costly.

I don't see what this "hate" against a corporate drink maker is for?

[4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran]

Someone said they do have very strong coffee, and I agree with that. I like Costa Coffee a bit more. I don't think Starbucks will go out of business though, but if they lowered the price a bit then they'd get more people addicted to coffee which will help all coffee shop companies.

[PL_ Veteran]

yeah me too, mcdonalds has good coffee too, very under rated

They don't here, it's just brown and water :pinch:

[way2quik]

Out of MC D's, Tim Hortons, Blenz, Cuppa Joe, 7-11, Waves, and my Universities coffee..... Starbucks and sometimes Blenz and Waves Coffee, are the only places I go for coffee.

I'm the person who likes my coffee burnt and dark.

Besides, Starbucks does make good beaned coffee. I'm not talking about their cold Frapp's because THOSE are overpriced and too sweet for my taste.

Starbucks does not do franchising, at least not here, so if those shops are closing down, there'll probably another coffee shop to replace it.

And I most certainly figure it will be a Blenz or Tim Hortons or one of those corps.

[+shift. MVC]

I always thought Starbucks sold way overpriced coffee, but I always find myself going back there.

[Guest]

I've only ever been in a Costa Coffee once, and I didn't even drink anything. I just don't drink coffee or tea, not because I'm "straight edge" (far from it) I just don't see the desire.. being hooked on that stuff looks pretty bad too.

I've always thought that going to coffee shops makes you look either like a sheep or a pretentious fool (Or both).

[Punio4]

Do any of you people actually go to a caf? anymore?

You know? The one with a waiter and a terrace? And real coffe? Served in CUPS?

[4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran]

Do any of you people actually go to a cafe anymore?

You know? The one with a waiter? And real coffe? Served in CUPS?

Costa Coffee bring it to you but you have to order it at the till.

[Galley]

We have a local coffee shop, Liquid Highway, that was worried when a Starbucks moved in next door, but their sales are better than ever. All of their profits are donated to charity.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

I don't understand why people don't like Starbucks. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but they make some pretty good drinks there, even if they are a little expensive.

-Spenser

i dont like starbucks b/c they sell mediocre coffee at a really expensive price. if you know anything about the quality of coffee, you know that starbucks is borderline crap. however, they appeal to the masses which have no idea and like their tripled dipped iced frappaccinos that barely taste like coffee.

basically it's like saying you like wine, but drink Boones Farm or Nightrain :no:

[Hurmoth]

Moved from BP to RWN

Breaking News is for tech news only.

[Kreuger]

P.S. in regards to Tim-Hortons, perhaps the people here may not go if they raised their prices; but I can almost say with absolute-certainty that the people I see who line up in a drive-thru for 20+ minutes every day for their cup of brew would still pay if the price increases; hell they probably burn near 60 cents to a dollar of gas waiting in that line.

Yeah I know and in our small town where there's only one, lineups will always be out on the street. I'm just speaking for myself.

yeah me too, mcdonalds has good coffee too, very under rated

Really? I've never tried it. Usually just Tims or store bought.

I love how people complain about starbucks being overpriced...nobody is forcing you to buy starbucks, so if you find it expensive don't buy it? Oh wait that answer was too logical to understand.

Why not go complain about ferraris being too expensive, lamborghinis being too expensive, etc..

I won't buy it and I'll still complain. I definitely do complain about everything being too expensive. I guess I'm cheap and complain a lot.

they've already raised the prices over the past few years too much ..

Yeah I know they've raised their prices but an XL is still under $2 so I don't mind too much.

And your made in Pakistan Diesel jeans are worth $100? Your Chinese-made leather shoes are worth $150? Forget the actual worth of what you're buying. Everything we buy is well over its cost price. Yeah for some people, paying $150 for Energie jeans is worth it, well for others, paying $5 for specialty coffee is also worth it.

If people are willing to pay for it, as a company who wants to maximize profits (among other things), why would you charge less? You'd be dumb to charge a coffee $3 when you know they would pay $5 for the same thing. Nobody's forcing you to buy somewhere in specific. You vote with your money.

If they want to pay that, it's their problem but I never would. Some people have more money than brains.

I don't see what this "hate" against a corporate drink maker is for?

I don't hate them, just don't agree to their pricing. To me it's not worth it.

[markwolfe Veteran]

How cans someone be happy that people are losing their jobs? :wacko: :huh:

Think of it this way. Where I live (it isn't an overly large community), we had a couple of coffee shops. Some local ones that were mom & pop types of operations with real cups and everything. One smaller chain opened up a year and a half ago, and became fairly popular.

Then Starbucks came in with not one, but two shops. One stand-alone, and one inside a new Target store that opened. Just this past Monday, the smaller new chain coffee shop had to close their doors. The other shops have either closed, or are probably about to (I don't have access to their books, so cannot accurately assess their finances). Job lost.

Or are they just shifted to meet demands? :yes: If specific stores are not getting the revenue needed, then they close. Some people move to other Starbucks stores. The excess will have to go elsewhere, as if there is no demand, forcing an artificial supply is nonsensical. And, if there really is a bit of demand in that area, a surviving mom & pop shop may find they are starting to thrive and need more employees.

So, I guess that no one was overly sad about the "loss/transfer" when Starbucks opened a bunch of stores. Why be suddenly sad about a rebalance the other way?

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Starbucks was slow to pick up on things like Fair Trade coffee while some of their competitors, like Second Cup, was not. I have no doubt that their alienated some of their original core audience.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/f...ffee/index.html

[Scorbing]

I personally think Starbucks should simply lower their coffee prices down to something reasonable. Lets face it. Coffee beans are cheap as hell. There is no reason to sell coffee that high. If they want people to be happy and improve their business, they need to lower their prices down. $5.00 for a cup of flavored coffee is ridiculous.

[j.r.l.]

Personally I can't have enough of the french vanilla cappuccinos from timmies. $1.54 for a large, hardly anything to fuss about.

[Aaron Veteran]

i dont like starbucks b/c they sell mediocre coffee at a really expensive price. if you know anything about the quality of coffee, you know that starbucks is borderline crap. however, they appeal to the masses which have no idea and like their tripled dipped iced frappaccinos that barely taste like coffee.

basically it's like saying you like wine, but drink Boones Farm or Nightrain :no:

I was recently shoping for a espresso machine for my birthday. I knew very little so I began lurking around some coffee blogs and forums. I have to say, that you are right with respect to "aficionados" think about Starbucks. Burnt and bitter are written most every time Starbucks gets mentioned. Most of the members of this one particular forum are either baristas themselves or the kind that think it is a good idea to buy a $500 machine for in house lattes (I went cheap and bought a $80 DeLonghi, but it was a pump not steam driven!)

You guys realize that a cup of coffee from Starbucks is only like ~$1.50? The $5 drinks are the specialty drinks.

[Hurmoth]

I was recently shoping for a espresso machine for my birthday. I knew very little so I began lurking around some coffee blogs and forums. I have to say, that you are right with respect to "aficionados" think about Starbucks. Burnt and bitter are written most every time Starbucks gets mentioned. Most of the members of this one particular forum are either baristas themselves or the kind that think it is a good idea to buy a $500 machine for in house lattes (I went cheap and bought a $80 DeLonghi, but it was a pump not steam driven!)

You guys realize that a cup of coffee from Starbucks is only like ~$1.50? The $5 drinks are the specialty drinks.

Exactly.

I love Starbucks and I hate that people are losing their jobs, but as a shareholder I want Starbucks to cut the fat and I've always thought they've had to many stores. I live in a medium sized city in Virginia and we have four that I can think of alone. We don't need four and I seriously hope that two of them are closing. Again I hate that people are losing their jobs, no body wants that, but I want Starbucks to make money and with this many stores open, I don't see how they could be making enough money to justify the costs.