Alright, I get it. Going to Starbucks is a lot more than just getting your favorite coffee, mocha, chai, or latte. At least you better hope it is.
I mean if it isn’t something more than just the drink how else can you justify dropping 4 bones down everyday?
And I’m with you here. I love me some Caramel Macchiato or Caramel Latte or Peppermint Mocha…they’re stinkin good. But I also know how much of a rip off they are. If I can make drip coffee at home for less than a quarter per cup, then spending about 4 bucks for a hot drink is definitely a rip off.
Every time I buy one of those things I feel guilty. I feel guilty because for one, I know I’m getting unbelievably ripped off by a monopoly. For another, I am spending more money on a drink that will last 10 minutes than I usually spend on a meal for myself.
I figure there are about 10 million Americans that buy stuff from Starbucks every work day (we’ll go with 5 days a week, easy math). And I’ll bet they spend $4 every time they go. It is probably more than that, but 4 will work.
Let me warn you…these numbers might scare you.
That one person spends, at the least, $20 a week, $80 a month, and $960 a year. Now for the crazy math: 10 million people do that everyday. 960 multiplied by 10 million is…
$9, 600, 000, 000. Yep over 9 billion dollars a year.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations says that they would need $30 billion per year to rid the world of hunger. We would get there if we upped the number to 30 million people who buy from Starbucks per day instead of 10 million. That wouldn’t be hard if we included other countries. Obviously it would take more than no empty stomachs to save the world, but it is certainly a start.
Think about that next time you order a 4 dollar latte.
(And believe me, I feel as guilty writing this as you do reading it.)
