Article

2008-07-02 Home Front Economy

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Steve White 2008-07-02 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 Well Starbucks is basically a scam preying on the gulit feelings of rich white kids (the kind who vote democrat). They give ten cents more to the producer and communicate about the fair trade. Then they charge it two dollars more to the rich white kid and he is glad to pay them because of the fair trade thingie.

BTW: Fair trasde means that people are subsidized to produce coffee instead of converting to say, producing tomatoes or even abandonning agriculture and take an industrial job. Also those coffee producers who are being kept in businesss thanks to the fair trade BS contribute to lower prices for the others.

While we are at it let's debunk the leftist mantra about the producer being paid 1 cent, the costumer paying ten and the eeeeeeeeevil middle men pocketing the difference on almentary products.

To begin with siome costs don't multiply but add. ie they have no realtion to the value of teh initial product It transporting 1kg gold and 1 kg tomatoes costs the same. Let's tell it is three dollars (we are trsnaporting them to Alaska). On a kg gold it does not matter on a kg tomatioes who was paid 1 dollar to the producer the price has already multiplied by four just for the gas, the vehicle's wear and tear nad drivers's salary but without the transport company making a cent.

Also gold doesn't rot, tomatoes do. Let's imagine that either because they are roughly handled or because they aren't sold in time one half of them have to be scrapped off. That puts the kilo tomatoes at 4*2 = 8$. And nobody has mde a cent.

Now there is thing we could call divisive costs: ie any business has some costs who don't depend on the volume sold and must be charged on the product. Let's imagine that I have a pa and ma shopp who pays 1000$ rent and that I have assigned myself a salary of 1000$ a month (I raise every morning to 4 am and for oine thousand filthy bucks a month). I sell 500 kg tomatoes a month. That mensa that I have to charge 4 additional dollars a kg. Ie the final price is 12$ a kilo when it was paid 1$ to the producer. That with a transport company who hasn't made a cent and a retailer who is making just one thousand dollars a month.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-07-02 09:12|| 2008-07-02 09:12|| Front Page Top

#2 600 you say?

That should almost clear them out of Vancouver, but what about the rest of the country?

(A few months ago, a gas explosion in downtown Vancouver destroyed a Starbuck's. Some wag commented that it must not have been a very big explosion if it only destroyed one Starbuck's)

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2008-07-02 09:42|| 2008-07-02 09:42|| Front Page Top

#3 Heck, I used to temp at USAA in San Antonio, in their humongous main building - which, BTW is one vast cubicle farm, three stories tall and about half a mile long, from end to end. There are two Starbucks within it, one at each end!

Posted by Sgt. Mom">Sgt. Mom 2008-07-02 10:20|| http://www.celiahayes.com]">[http://www.celiahayes.com] 2008-07-02 10:20|| Front Page Top

#4 There's a place in Houston where a Starbucks is right across the street form a Starbucks.

Talk about saturating the market!

That and people are becoming more well educated about coffee, and realizing the ashtray burnt crap Starbucks sells is not nearly as good as a local roaster and coffee shop who likely sells good coffee for a lower price and leaves the pretentiousness at the doorstep.

I know I have. When I came to Denver, I found Dazbog coffee which was started by a couple of Russian refugee brothers from Leningrad, Soviet Union. They make some VERY good roasts, and a couple of local coffee shops carry and serve special blends made just for them by DazBog.

And the marketing approach is a hoot -with faux "Soviet" slogans and designs, like the logo below for their newsletter.

I mean really, what old spook could turn down a fresh roasted cup of "KGBlend" coffee?

Posted by OldSpook 2008-07-02 10:42|| 2008-07-02 10:42|| Front Page Top

#5 Heck here in Seattle - in the Wells Fargo building there is a Sarbucks on the '3rd floor' near the 3rd ave entrance and another on the 2nd floor just on the other side. Same building, maybe 200ft apart.

Starbucks coffee sucks anyway. I prefer Tully's.

Posted by CrazyFool 2008-07-02 11:12|| 2008-07-02 11:12|| Front Page Top

#6 OldSpook I beat you hands: I have a russian T-shirt who reads "I work for the KGB and you?" while at the back there is KGB's coat of arms.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-07-02 11:32|| 2008-07-02 11:32|| Front Page Top

#7 I've never been in a Starbuck's. One opened near here a few months ago but it ain't doin too well. Rednecks just don't have 4 or 5 bucks for a cup of coffee.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2008-07-02 11:51|| 2008-07-02 11:51|| Front Page Top

#8 A marketing expert once told an audience how he missed a chance to make millions. Somebody had him try coffee from a coffee place in Seattle. The marketing expert said the coffee wasn't particularly good, and didn't sign on. Thus he missed a chance to get in on the Starbuck's empire.

Starbucks is the default coffee shop for me when I can't get to the local favorite. So far they haven't messed up a mocha.

Posted by mom">mom 2008-07-02 12:52|| http://idontknowbut.blogspot.com]">[http://idontknowbut.blogspot.com] 2008-07-02 12:52|| Front Page Top

#9 I went into a Starbucks once with a friend that couldn't believe I hadn't been in one, just wanted a cup of coffee, didn't know how to order. I wasn't interested in spending 10 minutes looking at a menu when all I wanted was a cup of coffee, pretty disgusting that they think this product is so worthy, no wonder our youth is getting so fat with all of the sugary sweet additives for coffee.
Never went back, couldn't justify the cost, I usually brew my own and fill two travellers for my commute down the hill anyway.

Posted by Jan 2008-07-02 14:06|| 2008-07-02 14:06|| Front Page Top

#10 My feeling is that the economy is killing them. Consumers have a choice - fill up at Starbucks or fill up at the gasoline pump. Most are choosing the gasoline pump.

Posted by Zhang Fei">Zhang Fei 2008-07-02 17:05|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2008-07-02 17:05|| Front Page Top

#11 As I told Skippy that last time, 3 years ago, I was in a Starbucks:

Skippy: May I have your order?

Me: Yes, I would like an .25 cent cup of Joe, served by a waitress named Flo, with endless refills... which one is that up on the menu board?

Skippy: Dude...What?

Posted by Capsu78 2008-07-02 19:15|| 2008-07-02 19:15|| Front Page Top

23:39 ryuge
23:38 Pappy
23:36 Pappy
23:33 Anonymoose
23:30 Pappy
23:26 JosephMendiola
23:15 Keystone
23:09 Pappy
23:06 Old Patriot
22:56 Old Patriot
22:52 trailing wife
22:50 Old Patriot
22:48 3dc
22:46 OldSpook
22:45 OldSpook
22:43 DarthVader
22:11 KBK
21:59 Scott R
21:57 Besoeker
21:51 KBK
21:51 Besoeker
21:48 trailing wife
21:39 M. Murcek
21:24 g(r)omgoru