Anybody know what their margin is? That would clear it up pretty quick.

I think for what you get it is overpriced. At least from what I remember from their prices.

I haven't been to a Starbucks in about a year now ... maybe as little as 6 months.

I love a pumpkin spice latte but I don't commute to work anymore so there is no reason to go out of my house in the morning to get one. I'd have to get DRESSED for goodness sake. I bought stovetop moka pot and started making my own mochas at home.

I get Starbucks once in a while now instead of three or four times a week. I calculated the other day that I've saved at least $290 on coffee since April.

The one option should say, "Strbcks' cff tsts brnt."

heh @option3.

However... in London, Starbucks is actually cheaper than Costa Coffee and the other UK chains. At least with the espresso-based drinks. I wonder how many people forgo Starbucks for an even pricier chain store coffee?

I do not currently think Starbucks is overpriced because of the quality of product and level of customer service I usually receive there.

Unfortunately, Starbucks seems to be trying to turn itself into McDonalds lately. I have seen stores making and selling breakfast sandwiches and some products seem to be designed to appeal to children.

I am a daily Starbucks customer but will stop going if I have to wait in line for 20 minutes because someone in front of me ordered 5 bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches.

Sorry but my wife and I - and many, many of our friends - are Starbucks addicts. If I could find a tasty alternative to the Javachip Frappucino elsewhere I would, but Tim Horton's blended beverage is hardly cheaper (it only costs less because it generally comes in smaller sizes) and doesn't taste nearly as good. My wife just gets a tall or grande decaf at something like $2 which is basically what decent coffee costs elsewhere. Call me a shill, but I love the place and the food, and if they were more generous on the freebies for regulars (a points card or just bring back the overflowing service coupons) I'd be more inclined to say their prices are just fine.

Anyway, it's a treat. If you limit yourself to $30 a month, you'll be ok.

I think it's overpriced, but this post really got me wanting a caramel frappuccino.

@shoegazer:

Actually Starbucks and Caribou are in fact a little cheaper here (NC) than the local independents. But if it's a $4 drink you're after in the first place, spending the extra 20 cents to have it made with beans roasted two or three (or sometimes fewer) days ago is sort of a no-brainer.

For $5 I bought half a friggin' muffin and a small tea in an act of desperation uptown. Is there anything wrong with that? YES!
I can get that for about $1.50 at that Chinese bakery a few blocks away from another Starbucks.

Starbucks makes a bad Cafe Mocha, the worst I've had outside of McDonalds. Sweet and weak.

On occasion, I suck down a White Chocolate Mocha.

It's pricey, but a fun splurge.

It is overpriced, but that doesn't stop me from going. Hooray fiscal irresponsibility.

For a regular coffee I don't think they're that overpriced. They're roughly on par with Dunkin Donuts and I think the coffee tastes better at SB. The specialty drinks are very overpriced though.

Starbucks is high quality, even though their drinks are pretty carbon-y. However, to get their quality of drinks, it doesn't take much work at home. Buy an Aeropress ($35) and a cheap blade grinder ($10) and a milk frother ($10), and you have a pretty good setup for under $60. As of now, you can drink pretty much any coffee you want daily and the setup will be cheaper than starbucks in a few weeks if you are the daily latte kinda guy, or wish you could afford to be that guy.

Of course, if you're on a budget like me, you can go with Eight O'Clock whole bean Colombian, a cheap coffee that is surprisingly good. No, I'm not being paid to pitch them. I just like them, and Cook's Illustrated agreed with me. They cost about $5.69 at my grocery store, while starbucks runs a good $9 a bag, for a bag which is slightly smaller, and in my opinion, is not as good.

Of course, I figure a lot of the price at Starbucks is paying for image and atmosphere, but they're rapidly losing that. People don't care much about atmosphere when the economy is bad and they just want a caffeine fix, and image fell apart when Starbucks became mainstream. The way hipsters operate, it's no longer cool if other people think it's cool, so Starbucks effectively had a ceiling on how much they could penetrate the market from day one, regardless of the economy.

@bdgbill: Your complaint is outdated. They have already begun phasing out the breakfast sandwiches for "interfering with the coffee smell."
This is why I now frequent Dunkin Donuts. Because it was ok to stop at Starbucks in the morning if I was also picking up breakfast, but there's no reason to stop for overpriced coffee if I then have to go elsewhere to get a decent breakfast sandwich.

A while back, a study found that kids in kindergarten thought everything tasted better when it came wrapped in McDonald's packaging than when it didn't.

Starbucks is doing the same thing, but with atmospherics.
It's coffee that's packaged up and served in a trendy atmosphere in a fancy paper cup with a starbuck's logo. That's why they feel justified in charging more.

Some consumers, unfortunately, fall for it.

I enjoy a Caramel Mocha or a Frappucino on occasion. Overpriced, yes, but yummy.

The major flaw I see in this poll is that they've singled out Starbucks. It would have been more accurate to poll adults on how often they visit coffee shops in general, or more specifically how often they purchase coffee rather than brew their own. Saying that 76% of the population doesn't go to Starbucks doesn't tell me much; what if 90% of those people just don't purchase coffee anywhere? This poll makes it look as though people specifically avoid Starbucks, and while that could be the case, it isn't necessarily.

Uh, if you still get your drinks there, then you don't think it's overpriced.

Also, the way the article portrays the statistics is misleading. So 76% of Americans rarely or never visit Starbucks?

Let's see here...325,000,000 X .24 = 78,000,000.

So, roughly 78 million Americans do visit occasionally or regularly. That's 1 out of 4. Think about that. Imagine you had a business where 1 out of 4 Americans at least occasionally patronize your store. Yeah, I'd say that kind of business can support a store on every corner. I'm shedding no tears for Starbucks.

Well, there's a difference between expensive and overpriced. Expensive? Yes. Overpriced? Well, they're usually in prime locations, they sell mostly just coffee, and the benefits are said to be good. So maybe not really.

I hate the place, always have. The coffee there is just nasty. I posted before, I've been going to a local place since 1992. They roast their own beans daily, better flavor, better prices, better people and a wider menu with real food.

About 5 years ago I won a $25 Starbucks gift card at work. I was never going to use it, so I gave it to some homeless guy I passed on the street.

I don't like coffee, but there Apple Cider is quite good.

I'm sure their coffee is overpriced but their cream-based stuff is probably just expensive. I only go to starbucks to study/bask in their air conditioning. So...$5 for sitting there for two hours is actually a very good price.

@DraconWolfX: Dunkin' Donuts tastes worse than Starbucks, costs more. I think they're trying to cash in on the conscientious objector, who hate Starbucks for the pseudo-Italian names and menu items, and the fact that Starbucks is big, and they're better than falling for it like the supposed masses. It kinda reminds me of how Toby from The Office once said on his NBC blog (Yeah, I'm that dorky) that he didn't like buying books from Amazon because he wanted to support his local Borders.

Speaking of Borders, has anyone ever seen the prices of coffee at those bookstore coffee shops? The base prices are $4.50, meaning that before you even get to customizing the drink, you've already spent a ton.

I usually only go when I've received a gift card or when it's a special day - like a friend is visiting from out of state and we HAVE to stop there in the morning before our first outing.

I've never been to Starbucks. They're ridiculously overpriced. Come on, the stuff smells burnt.

Is Starbucks expensive? Yes.

But just like Apple, there's a quality to it, both in the products and customer service.

Plus, they spend more on healthcare costs for employees, including part timers, than the coffee beans. Dunkin Donuts doesn't provide health care.

I stop at Starbucks when its the last resort. Its the McDonald's of coffee. I make a vanilla latte every morning with four shots of espresso, the beans I buy are roasted every Monday. At Starbucks it would be $4.50 for this drink. I think I average that a week now. My espresso machine has paid for itself, a simple 99 dollar DeLonghi unit.

The real problem with Starbucks is that they drove coffee prices up everywhere. I can't go to an independent to save any money since they raised prices to SB levels.

They are too expensive.

You can't just get a cheap cup of coffee there.

And their fancy drinks, well they might as well be blended danishes with whip cream on top.

I go to Starbucks for an occasional treat. Otherwise, I go to Dunkin' Donuts for my regular coffees.

Here in New England, DD is king. We're very picky about our coffee. It's why almost every Krispy Kreme closed within a couple of years - their coffee wasn't up to par.

@Legal_Eagle_In_Training: "...we HAVE to stop there in the morning..."
Are there guns involved in this choice??

solution: Buy some real coffee (Peets?), a decent grinder, and a decent coffeemaker. Make it at home. Take the money you save and buy yourself something nice.

I don't drink coffee and refuse to set foot in Starbucks.
Someone once thought they were doing me a favor and got me a hot chocolate from there. It tasted like dishwater.

Then I got a $25 Starbucks gift card for Christmas. I traded it for a unique New Jersey license plate for my collection.

Personally, I like Starbucks because it's a treat. I get something maybe once a week. I see it as the same as eating out. Usually I can make good food at home for cheaper, but not having to make it myself is a reward, and I'm willing to spend more for it.

i miss coffee shacks. the little roadside drive thru ones that were all over washington. there's like two in this state. their coffees were always so much better and about a dollar cheaper per cup.

@goodcow: i'll definitely agree that the way their employees are treated is great. part time with health care and 401k? GOOD. i can't agree with people who think starbucks is quality coffee though. it's really really really just not done right.

@doctor_cos: I don't think you accurately interpreted Legal Eagle's comment; he was saying that the only time he goes to Starbucks is if he has a guest in tow that wishes to go. In such a case, I think it would be pretty rude to refuse to go. He's certainly not required to make a purchase, but it's just good manners to agree to such a small request from a guest.

People are still buying it. No problem with that here. I choose not to pay $3+ for a cup of whatever but I will not throw stones at someone who chooses to do so.

What kills me is people whining about fuel prices (or whatever the economic gripe of the day might happen to be) while sucking down beer from the pub at $30/gallon, Bottled water from 7-11 at $16/gallon or knocking back Starbucks at $50/gallon. Get Real, LOL.

Starbucks is more than I care to spend on a coffee/tea but if one wants to use a part of their discretionary spending on it, then go for it and enjoy!

"The survey also found that the vast majority of American's don't go Starbucks for their daily coffee fix:"

I'd like to know what the Americans in the above sentence are possessing.

I think I'm one of the small percentage of people who has never bought a Starbucks product. I don't like liquid-candy-bar-in-a-cup-style 'coffee' drinks at all, and a few sips from friends' cups of their brewed coffee convinced me that was not to my liking either, so I've never bothered going there. Somehow, I doubt I'm missing much.

How about who gives a crap, maybe it is overpriced. Go to the gas station if you want a crappy cup of coffee for $.69.

I will continue to enjoy my overpriced Starbucks coffee.

@mzhartz: I'm with you there. It's a treat.

Why does everyone love to hate Starbucks so much?

It's not very original... everyone thinks they're above it now. It's laughable.

What percentage of Americans don't drink coffee? I've never purchased coffee anywhere, Starbucks or otherwise.

@dieselman8: Not you, you're so enlightened.

@krispykrink: Who then promptly resold it for the equivalent of 2 pints of Popov and a pack of cigarettes.

I think that they are overpriced for coffee, but really they're selling the "experience", the calm, yuppie getaway where you can get all-you-can-listen-to John Mayer, etc., and take your cute little MacBook you bought two days prior to do some public online surfing. 95% of my friends don't care for Starbucks, but the 5% that do are really, insanely rabid about Starbucks. They stop there two to three times a day. I honestly don't understand the phenomenon. I admit, it's a well-thought-out marketing package that Starbucks puts together that appeals to a lot of people, whether they're on the run or looking for a place to visit and meet hook-ups.

@doctor_cos: What if he's saved money and the "something nice" is Starbucks?

@enm4r:

Exactly. Count me in!

I only drink wussie coffee, not straight stuff. And that's rare. But I do like Starbucks, I admit it. Especially their holiday drinks. However, it was hard to find time to go there in the morning, and by the afternoon I don't need a latte or frappucino or anything with that much caffeine if I want to sleep. Then the one where I work closed, and while there's one on the way to work, sort of, it's a pain in the ass to get in and out of. And again, the time thing. I used to go all the time in college, but that was college and I could go to a Friday morning class then grab a drink with some friends.