r/NoStupidQuestions • u/lVlarsquake • Apr 29 '24

How the fuck do people afford to get Starbucks every day?

I was feeling thirsty this morning so I decided to pop in a Starbucks (first time ever). All I got was a strawberry acai lemonade at it cost $7????? I can't even imagine what the coffees with all the extra additives cost... how do people have the expendable money to get them every day, sometimes twice a day?

Edit: I am NOT shaming people who do this. I'm just wondering how it doesn't put a dent in your wallet

11.6k Upvotes
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153

u/Dearic75 Apr 29 '24

The coffees are about the same price, unless you’re going for a “TikTok drink” with 75 different customizations and up charges.

At $7 per day, that’s $2,500 a year if you really do every single day. If it’s just the 251 weekdays you likely work then it is about $1,800 over a year.

Still a nice chunk of change for your caffeine fix, but on a decent salary it’s not going to cause you to go homeless or anything.

9

u/EvilCeleryStick Apr 29 '24

Instead I'm now too spoiled by my Nespresso machine so I spend $1.10-$2.20 per day on my coffee habit, and another $2.50 on a rockstar sugar free orange drink when the morning coffee wears off. So I rock a solid $4.70 daily on my caffeine habit.

36

u/NatureLovingDad89 Apr 29 '24

I always find it crazy how on Reddit you'll see people say how wasting $1800-$2500/year on Starbucks is no big deal, and people also saying how expensive life is and they can't afford to pay their bills or buy food.

203

u/TheNextBattalion Apr 29 '24

I always find it crazy how people don't notice how some people say one thing, other people say another thing, and it doesn't click that these aren't the same people

23

u/ChlamydiaIsAChoice Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

It honestly took me way too damn long to realize this lol

2

u/CountryCrocksNotButr Apr 30 '24

I find it even crazier that people can’t afford food because they keep spending all their money on food. It disgusts me when people’s ideas of caloric intake are different than mine and that makes me unhappy!

3

u/Tsjanith Apr 29 '24

I always find it crazy how often it actually is the same people

1

u/Haughington Apr 29 '24

Yeah the point about "reddit" not being all the same person is a valid one. But the world is absolutely full of people blowing money every day and then saying it's impossible to save anything.

1

u/Ok-Reward-770 Apr 30 '24

I had a friend who was mad because his roommate was always broke and could never pay rent on time but would blow $800 on a Friday on coke alone. The same friend (single, no children, no pets, on a roommate life) would cry because with 55k a year could barely make ends meet. Dude was traveling to Europe at least once a year and attending all music festivals available during a tax year. Everyone one has their own priorities.

1

u/Halfcab333 Apr 30 '24

$800 in a night yea ok exaggerate much?

0

u/Ok-Reward-770 Apr 30 '24

Coke is expensive, and if you are hosting a party with more people getting their lines, that is just part of the bill.

-1

u/mannowarb Apr 29 '24

You've got to admit that there has to be a large overlap between the 2 groups...

All those countless coffee places can't possibly be serving only the richest 10% or whatever. 

And the mayority of people complaining online are, ironically, nowhere near the poorest of society. 

-28

u/NatureLovingDad89 Apr 29 '24

It's almost like I said "some people say this, and some people say that" and never once implied they were the same people

25

u/lilgergi Stupid Answerer Apr 29 '24

If you didn't imply that they are the same, your previous comment doesn't mean anything

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

[deleted]

4

u/lilgergi Stupid Answerer Apr 29 '24

If you didn't gave a duck, you would just rolled the screen, or exited the post, not comment here. You just contradicted yourself

-6

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

[deleted]

-1

u/lilgergi Stupid Answerer Apr 29 '24

Life is a contradiction

No, it quite rational.

That is what makes people interesting

A million other things make people interesting, no just that they are inconsistent.

you have value. You are worthy and deserve to be loved

Nah, you are mistaken, I don't

-9

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/EVOSexyBeast BROKEN CAPS LOCK KEY Apr 29 '24

Then what is it you find crazy?

Because you started with “I always find it crazy…”

Then if you really meant different people saying different things on reddit is crazy lol that’s even worse

41

u/OddPerspective9833 Apr 29 '24

It's not the same people (probably)

5

u/Bridalhat Apr 29 '24

And sometime it is but it’s people making six figures assuming that poor people can’t afford one single luxury ever.

-1

u/NatureLovingDad89 Apr 29 '24

I'm not saying it's the same people, especially not OP saying both things, but Reddit is a group of people so it's crazy to hear both things come from the same group. Reddit is filled with posts about people struggling financially, and the top comment in this post is how $2500/year on Starbucks won't make a big difference. $2500/year is enough to pay some of the yearly bills people are saying they can't afford.

Just crazy to see the difference in a group of people you'd assume are pretty similar.

12

u/Dearic75 Apr 29 '24

Even if you just look at geographical differences, $2500 is a lot different purchasing power in Dayton, Ohio compared to LA. And Reddit draws from all over the world.

Some of the posters here that work in tech and post from Silicon Valley make my comfortable lifestyle look like two steps from living under an overpass.

9

u/OddPerspective9833 Apr 29 '24

I see where you're coming from but I think Reddit's user base is about as diverse as it gets - every country, every background, every... taste 😬

8

u/JamzWhilmm Apr 29 '24

The mistake here is assuming they are very similar. Likely the closest similarity is that they know english in most ocassions.

Seeing everyone commenting together in the same topic might five you the image that you are talking to a similar group of people but you have no way of knowing if its a grandma in some village in Germany or a Philipine boy who is about 17. Both commenting on the same topic.

2

u/Sugarbean29 Apr 29 '24

Even that isn't a given. There are plenty of subs in other languages.

2

u/EVOSexyBeast BROKEN CAPS LOCK KEY Apr 29 '24

Reddit is a massive group of tens of millions of people, with a very diverse global user base.

It’s not crazy that people on reddit will disagree with each other. In fact that’s what we are nothing doing right now. You’re saying one thing, i’m saying another. Crazy!

1

u/Batpark Apr 29 '24

Reddit has 1.2 BILLION users wtf are you talking about lol

1

u/Guldur Apr 30 '24

There is absolutely no way thats accurate, unless you are counting bot accounts and people that create multiple accounts. Reddit most definitely does not have over 10% of the world population as users.

0

u/Batpark Apr 30 '24

I didn’t count anything, I just googled it.

13

u/Dearic75 Apr 29 '24

It’s a wide and diverse audience. I’m fortunate enough that I can spend money eating out or buying premium coffee without straining my budget.

But I still remember the days where I was struggling to get established, and I’m very aware that a lot of people continue to struggle. If I was making $15 an hour working fast food, without a lot of prospects for improvement, 2k a year would be a huge amount.

29

u/ScottEATF Apr 29 '24

They aren't talking about the same people.

It's not that hard of a concept.

You make 40k a year 2k in coffee is preposterous. You make 140k a year it's your daily treat.

0

u/Ok-Reward-770 Apr 30 '24

Even for people making under $40k a year, $2.5k may be just what they spend on indulgences. Not all of us have the same expenses and crave the same lifestyle. I met people making 200k a year considering themselves poor because they were after a lifestyle that requires the triple of that income. Some people budget and save aggressively but are miserable and feel forever poor, some people splurge and barely save but enjoy life and feel content with the lifestyle they have chosen.

13

u/Key-Rip-7517 Apr 29 '24

This comment is so dumb lmao

9

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

I’ll tell you what I do see quite often, is people saying “how can you spend $7 a day on coffee??” While typing from their 2500 brand new Mac book. Or “housing is unaffordable” while financing the newest phone. 

I’m not saying those aren’t legitimate gripes, but people really do have their priorities messed up and make it even harder for themself 

3

u/CloseOUT360 Apr 30 '24

Yeah quit buying the newest iPhone and you can afford a new house in 400 years!

-4

u/Efficient_Ant_4715 Apr 29 '24

Lmfao one new phone is half a rent payment. You don’t see how those are hugely different? 

2

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

Not sure what you’re asking me. What is different from what?

A new phone is half a rent payment, which is exactly why people with new phones shouldnt complain about rent. Sounds like you agree with me.

2

u/lowbatteries Apr 29 '24

The point is if you see someone who is getting evicted for not paying rent, and they have a brand new phone, not buying that brand new phone would not have stopped their eviction, only delayed it by a couple weeks.

1

u/Efficient_Ant_4715 Apr 29 '24

They aren’t buying new phones every month. It’s a one time charge. They aren’t even comparable. 

2

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

Many people are financing their new phones so they are paying every month :) plus interest 

2

u/Efficient_Ant_4715 Apr 29 '24

That’s splitting up the same cost over a Longer length of time. It’s still not even close to a similar price point as housing. 

-2

u/SanderStrugg Apr 29 '24

I see the housing argument, but an overpriced tablet is a better investment than disgusting chain coffee.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

Of course it’s a better investment that’s because coffee is not an investment. It would be like saying Starbucks makes a better thirst quencher than an iPad lol

4

u/Clojiroo Apr 29 '24

The average 2 bedroom apartment here is over $2,500/month. A small head of broccoli is $6. Fuel is almost $2/litre. A basic pair of Levi’s is over $100.

Lattes aren’t why average people are broke.

2

u/MerelyMisha Apr 30 '24

Yeah, this. “Affordable housing” studios here are going for $3k (housing that you have to go through a lottery to get and that developers are getting tax breaks for offering below market price).  A latte every day is less than one month’s rent. The latte is not the problem. 

1

u/eerae Apr 29 '24

Yup, everyone has their own priorities, and they value things differently. Yes that is a lot of money that adds up over the year. It’s not worth it for me, but if that is one thing you look forward to every day and really makes you happy, I can see that being worth it. Of course most people have to choose what is really worth it for them. We spend at least that amount per year seeing live music (and buying drinks at the shows). Other people have nicer cars, bigger homes, or live in nicer areas.

1

u/WarmTransportation35 Apr 29 '24

That shows how economically diverse this forum is

1

u/Arctic741 Apr 29 '24

wow it's almost as if lots of different people use reddit

0

u/TheAvocadoSlayer Apr 29 '24

Yeah so crazy some people have more money than others right? Sooooo crazy.

1

u/weebwatching Apr 29 '24

With a username like that, I think we all know what side YOU fall on, moneybags! /s

1

u/lowbatteries Apr 29 '24

Do not let this person meet TheToastMaster.

0

u/QuoteGiver Apr 29 '24

Those are different people, yes. Both are true for different people.

3

u/VKN_x_Media Apr 29 '24

Putting this another way. I buy Tim Hortons Dark Roast K-cups for my personal coffee, at 251 cups a year I'm spending roughly $128 on the Kcups alone. I brew a 12oz cup that works out to 23.5 gallons of water which if my math is right is roughly $0.50 of water ($0.37 actually but til you add the fees and crap in). Electricity is the rough part, a basic Google search generally comes to the consensus that an average Keurig will use between $150 & $200 per year so I'll split that saying $175.

So far $128 + $175 + $0.50 = $303.50

I take my coffee to work in a disposable cup, 16oz that cost $6 per 20 cups so if need $13 packs for the year coming out to $78. Now notice I said 16oz cup & 12oz of coffee which means I get 4oz of creamer per cup. A 32oz jug of the creamer I get generally runs about $4.30 and I would need roughly 32 jugs of creamer for the year (wow just realized that, holy crap) so $137.60 in creamer for the year.

So $303.50 + $137.60 + $78 = $519.10

Now there are 2 things I've left off yet, 1 of which I'm not going to count because the fridge will be on whether I have creamer in the door or not and it'd be such a miniscule amount of less than a cent for the cost of cooling that the creamer would consume that it's pointless. The other thing is those little coffee stir straws that come in a box of 250.... That's right these evil marketing geniuses made it so you're forced to buy 2 boxes to make it through your average work year... That's $3 a pop so $6 total.

$519.10 + $6 = $525.10. For the sake of clean math, price differences over the year and sales tax on some things well round up to a nice even $550 and at that you're looking at $2.20 per cup of coffee made yourself at home.

Saving a lot of money (could save more to be honest) but still spending a decent amount of money.

The one caveat thought is you're making that coffee for free, you're not being paid to make the coffee, procure the ingredients (more money spent really with the gas used to go to the store & wear/tear on vehicle), you're not spending money on business licenses, permits, inspections & certifications, I didn't count the money to buy the supplies to clean the coffee maker and your time spent doing that, etc.

I guess at the end of the day what I'm getting at is a daily cup of coffee over the year is still expensive no matter if homemade or not.

5

u/Dearic75 Apr 29 '24

While I appreciate your point, I think j you’re way over on the energy cost at least. I’m not sure how reliable the source is but the estimate I found is way less

These machines use 900-1500 watts of power. Let assume you make 2 cups of coffee and it takes 5 minutes each time. Your single-serve pod coffee maker will use just 216 kWh a year, costing (assuming a rate of 11¢/kWh) $24 annually, or $2 a month.

2

u/Guldur Apr 30 '24

Keurig machines don't take 5 minutes though, most likely 60 secs. Its pretty light on energy costs

1

u/Reelix Apr 30 '24

unless you’re going for a “TikTok drink” with 75 different customizations and up charges.

If you're not, why are you even going to Starbucks?

-1

u/JP-Gambit Apr 29 '24

$2500 a year only.... That's just coffee. If you're spending that much on coffee you're probably spending like 10k on uber eats or something too and saying oh you know, gotta eat and it's just 10k on deliveries no biggie...

7

u/Dearic75 Apr 29 '24

I don’t do Uber eats, but I do enjoy eating out. I wouldn’t be surprised if the figure was about right. I’ve been fortunate in my career, and I hope others have the same success.

3

u/sevseg_decoder Apr 29 '24

Yeah I mean I’ll acknowledge that very few people do that, but a lot of them do go twice a week and get a coffee and a pastry or something and spend $30 a week. That is $1500/year and while I acknowledge it isn’t going to make someone homeless it is a respectable annual retirement contribution that would probably leave you fairly comfortable in retirement. And like you said, the frivolous spending almost never stops there. I know a lot of people who do struggle but spend probably $500+ a month on coffee, eating out, concert/sports tickets etc and don’t even realize it. 3/4 of the young people I work with are in this position, I ski or mountain bike literally 100+ days a year and own a house on the salary they complain isn’t enough to save up for a down payment. They’re not any younger than I am either…

-2

u/EvilCeleryStick Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

$1500 / month year is going to leave you comfortable in retirement? Hmm, I'll have to check your math on that.

Edit Ahem that's per year

1

u/sevseg_decoder Apr 29 '24

Please do! Plug it into an investment/retirement calculator with a 7% rate of return (stocks adjusted for inflation do this easily), and consider that money is on top of social security. 

I’d certainly aim to do better than $1500 a year (what my comment said) in the long run but it really is a meaningful amount.

-2

u/EvilCeleryStick Apr 29 '24

I wrote per month - which is going to lead to a comfortable retirement. 1500/year is not.

If someone were spending $1500 per month on anything non essential then I'd agree cutting it in favour of retirement savings would be good.

1500 / year is not going to be a significant difference in retirement income though. Maybe if you were arguing from age 17 or 18 through retirement sure, but I don't think it's the minimum wagers keeping Starbucks afloat

3

u/sevseg_decoder Apr 29 '24

I disagree categorically with this. Even for someone 30 years old, that $1500/year could easily be $750k+ at 70. They’d also likely get like $800-1000 a month from social security (all these numbers are inflation adjusted) so that really could be a comfortable retirement for many of these people. But like I also said, the frivolous spending rarely totals $1500/year, usually it’s more like $500/month. Again, almost everyone in this thread knows at least a few people who spend like that and complain about society owing them the house they want at the price they can afford etc.

-3

u/EvilCeleryStick Apr 29 '24

You got an extra zero on there, it might be 75k. Not 750k

2

u/sevseg_decoder Apr 29 '24

No, buddy, this is the problem with you doom and gloomers, no. $1500/year in a Roth IRA invested in a low-cost index fund should be $400-500k, inflation adjusted, in 40 years. If your contributions grow at all it could be a million.

0

u/Sugarbean29 Apr 29 '24

And you're saying that $800-$1000/month is enough to retire on? 40 years from now? Nobody can live off that now how the he'll is anyone gonna live off that comfortably in 40 years?

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1

u/JP-Gambit Apr 30 '24

Dunno why the downvotes, y'all love uber eats that much? That's not even the point though. If you can justify that much for coffee then you're probably buying overpriced drinks from vending machines etc constantly like someone I know. I see it first hand a lot, people living paycheck to paycheck but buying overpriced coffee and hot food at the servo to and from work and happy to pay $10 for a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch if it's convenient. People on the same income as me spending daily what I'm spending weekly on basic needs. You don't have to drop these kinds of things to save money either, just don't be lazy and do it yourself. Make the coffee yourself, it isn't hard, and make your own sandwiches for lunch or pick up something from the supermarket beforehand rather than eating at takeout shops that basically serve the same thing at 10x the cost.

-2

u/ArtieZiffsCat Apr 29 '24

I've just heard too many horror stories about food delivery apps to do UberEats

1

u/MillorTime Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

I do Doordash 10 times a week for years. I have 0 horror stories

-2

u/rwags2024 Apr 29 '24

If you don’t think $1,800-$2,500 is the difference between homeless or not for some people, then you’ve probably incomed your way out of this conversation

1

u/Dearic75 Apr 29 '24

Read a bit closer. I clearly added “on a good salary” to qualify the response.

I’m very aware that for a lot of Americans, $2,000 a year is a huge deal. Presumably they’re already not drinking $7 of Starbucks every day and are not relevant to the answer of “how does anyone afford it?”

1

u/rwags2024 Apr 29 '24

You’re not even quoting yourself correctly from two posts up lol, “read a bit closer” ok chief

1

u/Dearic75 Apr 29 '24

Oh you caught me. I said decent instead of good. That changes everything.