According to an article in The New York Post, Starbucks is increasing the cost on all its complex orders.
In reality, Starbucks is just upping prices. This isn’t exactly earth shattering. But here’s the trick: they aren’t upping prices on plain cups of coffee. In fact, they are actually lowering the cost of those by 10 cents. Which means their new pricing plan looks sort of like it puts a douchebag tax on those of us who enjoy asking the barista for a double decaf soy latte with a shot of chai. Or whatever.
Really, it’s not that exciting. It’s not like the baristas get to use their discretion and then tack on an extra $.25 if you are a pain in the ass. “Oops, you didn’t say please! That will be another dime!” Although I have to admit that would be fun. Mostly, they just upped their prices a little, which I suppose is fair. Companies do that from time to time. They just got exciting by lowering the cost of regular coffee–perhaps as an incentive to bring in more customers? To reward those of us who don’t make the barista do extra work?
But then again, isn’t that what Starbucks is all about? The extra work, the silly names, the weird combinations? I mean, if I wanted a plain old cup of black coffee I could get that anywhere. It’s only at Starbucks where I can get my delightful Tall Caramel Macchiato with Whipped Cream. I guess I’m the douchebag.
