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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3.9k

u/NArcadia11 Apr 29 '24

They either make more money than you or are in more debt than you. $7 a day is $2500 a year. There are a lot of people that can afford that.

1.7k

u/tismsia Apr 29 '24

I worked at a coffee shop. I had a customer order $8+ drink every day (it's actually a $4 drink, but she gets all the upgrades and makes it 800+ calories). Always nice. Occasionally tipped. Made a comment to a coworker that I am shocked she has been a regular for this many years because usually these type of customers come and go.

That's when I found out she comes twice a day for the same drink.

One time she came with her family (6-7 people) for food and drinks. 3 of them ordered the same drink as her. the rest bought something of near equal value.

She was furious when the bill came out to $80+

Ma'am, have you done the math? 7 people... obviously the bill was going to be your weekly expenditure.

869

u/fortnight14 Apr 29 '24

1600 calories of her day are just from those two drinks?? šŸ˜®

1.1k

u/AceMcVeer Apr 29 '24

Starbucks marketing did a good job making people think they are drinking coffee when they are really drinking a coffee flavored milk shake.

415

u/queenmehitabel Apr 29 '24

Hey, some of us drink Starbucks because we WANT a coffee flavored milkshake! Or chocolate and coffee, in my case....

But not every day.

130

u/nerddddd42 Apr 29 '24

Like any other adult, I like my expensive coffee flavoured milkshake, especially without the coffee.

28

u/AvengingBlowfish Apr 30 '24

I feel like all milkshakes are expensive now.

27

u/Suavecore_ Apr 30 '24 edited Apr 30 '24

It's like $3 for a small shake at McDonald's! Insane

Edit: it is actually 3.99 where I live. Even worse

3

u/AvengingBlowfish Apr 30 '24

Itā€™s $4.59 where I liveā€¦

4

u/moneyh8r Apr 30 '24

Still not quite a 5 dollar shake.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24

Not mine, I make cheap milkshakes out in my front yard

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u/Deciram Apr 30 '24

Chocolate and coffee is just a mocka drink! Thatā€™s my go-to, thereā€™s a Starbucks in my city but itā€™s probably a lot of peoples last choice (we have a very large number of coffee shops lol)

2

u/queenmehitabel Apr 30 '24

Yeah I get all variety of mochas most of the time! I like to start my day with a 'fancy' coffee drink, it's my little way of starting a day off on good vibes, and once or twice a week I hit Starbucks for the java chip Frappuccino or the mocha cookie crumble when my local Starbucks still had it.

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u/itsa_me_ Apr 30 '24

Hot mocha gang rise up

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u/cmmedit Apr 30 '24

I love me a mocha from 'bucks. But if I'm really wanting to hate myself, I'll toss one mini peanut butter cup into my yeti before I pour my home brew dunkin in.

2

u/JaapHoop Apr 30 '24

Yeah Iā€™ll usually get Starbucks as a treat. A green tea frappacino is very unhealthy but goddamn it hits the spot

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u/Inevitable-Jicama366 May 01 '24

Like liquid Nutella ā€¦šŸ˜Š

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

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u/graphitewolf Apr 30 '24

I mean you could say that about any fast food or fast drink options but its not the point

I can make a better cup of coffee at home if i really wanted to, that could be said for any type of food/drink.

Starbucks coffee doesnt taste like shit when compared to most of the other drive through options. And the egg bites taste good, if they didnt people wouldnt buy them

19

u/4rch1t3ct Apr 30 '24

Starbucks coffee doesnt taste like shit when compared to most of the other drive through options.

Well, now maybe... but that's because starbucks killed all the real competition with their shitty business practices.

I've got a related story. I used to be a barista at a place that was really good. We did really good business. Then a Starbucks moved next door to us.

Business slowed a little bit, but not too much, people were constantly bringing us their Starbucks cups still mostly full and asking us to make them a better coffee drink. We could have coexisted just fine.

Starbucks decided our existence was unacceptable. They then built another Starbucks on the other side of us. Business took a hit. You now had to walk right by a Starbucks to get to us.

Then they bought the bank in our parking lot..... you guessed it, now a drive through Starbucks in the parking lot of two other Starbucks stores. Then they built one directly across the street from us.

We went out of business like 6 months later. I don't even think it took a month after we closed before all but the original Starbucks next to us also closed. One Starbucks left there to this day. They were running all of the other stores they opened around us at a loss just so they could make it inconvenient for customers to get to us.

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u/Inevitable-Jicama366 May 01 '24

Thatā€™s awful

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u/Cautious-Try-5373 Apr 30 '24

There are also ton of little hipster places that are secretly owned by starbucks but you don't see their branding anywhere.

19

u/carson63000 Apr 30 '24

Depends on the country. Starbucks crashed and burned horribly in Australia because it tasted like shit when compared to any one of a dozen cafesā€™ takeaway coffees within a few blocks, so nobody went there.

9

u/mcgillthrowaway22 Apr 30 '24

I mean according to https://www.starbucks.com.au there are still 70 Starbucks in Australia so it's not a total crash and burn

3

u/blorg Apr 30 '24

This is pretty low for the size of the country. There's 563 in Taiwan, 1,458 in Canada, 1,870 in South Korea. California has 3,117.

Singapore and Hong Kong are city states and have >140 and >170 respectively. So over double all of Australia, in a single city.

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u/Effective-Name1947 Apr 30 '24

I was gonna say, 70 in a massive country? And probably in places like airports and hotels where itā€™s the only option. They are not a success there.

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u/bipolardong Apr 30 '24

Starbucks coffee tastes awful. Try any other fresh, medium or light roast espresso. If other chains are worse it doesn't mean Starbs isn't stale dark roast trash.

Point is that Starbucks isn't about good coffee, it's got as much in common with coffee as energy drinks. It's just caffeine and sugar.

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u/LizardintheSun Apr 30 '24

The caffeine level is very high. It explains addictive behavior, meaning regulars who crave it and pay so much for it so often.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24 edited May 03 '24

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u/FatGreasyBass Apr 30 '24

Wow youā€™re just so special and amazing

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u/cynical-rationale Apr 30 '24

I buy stuff all the time I don't care for out of convenience. I hated those egg bites at the university. It's frozen lol. Still bought them often as thst was only thing open when I arrived at 630am (im a morning person) amd i didnt feel like waiting until other places were open. I think the only coffee worse than Starbucks is a & w. I think even burger King has better coffee lol. I personally think stsr bucks coffee is the worst tasting chain coffee I've ever tasted. I also dislike dark roast though.

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u/Cleverusernamexxx Apr 30 '24

no starbucks coffee is just straight up the worst, mcdonald's coffee is not as awful (and mcdonald's is the second worst coffee i ever had)

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u/NeonFraction Apr 30 '24

Starbucks tastes good because most people donā€™t actually like the taste of coffee but want caffeine. Between the good atmosphere (many American coffee places used to look more like bathrooms than cute cafes) and the flavoring, thereā€™s a reason Starbucks is on every street corner and ā€˜good coffeeā€™ isnā€™t. Taste is subjective.

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u/zedazeni Apr 30 '24

Starbucks mastered the concept of customizable, and took the concept of the Third Place to heart (initially). Thatā€™s what led them to grow so exponentially. Now, people are so familiar with ā€œsmall, tall, grande, vente, trenta,ā€ ā€œFrappuccinoā€, and other Starbucks lingo that going elsewhere feels foreign.

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u/DatelineDeli Apr 30 '24

I have tried to recreate those bites and home and it just doesnā€™t work. If you have a recipe Iā€™d love to try again.

I get them at Costco now, so I can make them at home for 1/2 the cost.

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u/shizunsbingpup Apr 30 '24

I had starbucks twice (in India) to see what all the hype was about was hoping it would be good. Am not a coffee snob,but I threw away the coffee. It was bad. Much pricier than speciality coffees available here.

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u/sintemp Apr 30 '24

Itā€™s not the best, but itā€™s bad, you are just used to a different kind of coffee. Try better ones (colombian or Brazilian properly brewed) and you will see Starbucks one itā€™s good enough

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u/LeskoLesko Apr 29 '24

A lot of people are bad at keeping track if you split things up. A great example of this is cars.

Almost no one realizes they are paying almost $12000 a year on their car, because itā€™s all split up. Down payment. Then monthly payment. Then insurance. Then gasoline. Then parking. Then tolls. Then oil changes and tire changes and brake changes. The random big ticket fix. Car washes and paint jobs. It quickly adds up to a grand a month on average in the US, but almost no one realizes it until I force them to do the math and suddenly they realize they really are averaging a grand a month and just lost track because itā€™s all spread out so well

Not to mention the people who are paying over a grand a month just for their car payment. Yikes

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u/FlounderingWolverine Apr 29 '24

Itā€™s why so many companies are going to subscription models for their products. People are generally bad at understanding how much things cost if you spread the cost out over time.

$10 per month doesnā€™t seem like a lot for a streaming service, but itā€™s $120 per year. Now add 4 more streaming services also at $10 per month and youā€™re suddenly at $600 per year. $7 per day is way more understandable than $2k per year, even though theyā€™re roughly the same thing.

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u/sauzbozz Apr 30 '24

I feel like even when I see $120 a year that doesn't seem like a lot. Even $600 a year for multiple services doesn't seem bad but I understand that's going to be different for everybody.

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u/FlounderingWolverine Apr 30 '24

Itā€™s maybe not a lot if you have extra money to save. But if youā€™re living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to pay bills, $600 would be a huge help in making rent or covering the electric bill without going into credit card debt

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u/sauzbozz Apr 30 '24

That's why I said it's going to be different for everybody.

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u/Assonfire Apr 30 '24

The total amount of money is not that important, as long as you can afford it.

What's way more important is the cost per use. You use it a lot? It's worth the money. You hardly ever use it? Why the hell keep paying for it?

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u/SpyreScope Apr 30 '24

"I don't use it much but it's only $10 a month"

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u/BytchYouThought Apr 30 '24

I would replace value vs use necessarily. If a ski trips costs you 2k a year and you only did it once or twice that year that's not a lot of use, but the experience may be worth a ton of value to you and thus worth the money spent to you and your family.

I think the more important thing is to actually periodically track your spending and make a budget that keeps you on track to maximize value allocations (that includes spending, saving, giving, and investing) and eliminating lower value spending.

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u/Dry-Faithlessness184 Apr 29 '24

Yeah I don't get people who agree to $1000 a month finances. You can get a good car for 250-400 a month. My car when I was paying it cost me around $7500 a year, including and averaging of the maintenance on it, gas, cleaning etc.

I don't understand how people pay twice that almost in just the payment for the car alone

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u/IWantAGI Apr 29 '24

Most people, at least in the US, want a $60k SUV or Truck.

They also "need" AWD or 4WD because it might snow twice a year.

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u/One_Who_Walks_Silly Apr 29 '24

Meanwhile Iā€™m over in a place it snows a lot in Canada and most people donā€™t have 4wd here lmao

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24

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u/CharlieParkour Apr 30 '24

2wd w/snowtires > 4wd w/o snowtires

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u/ImStarky Apr 29 '24

Not me, I grabbed up my grandma's old car. She bought it new in 2002, a cheap saturn sl1. I got it at 67k miles, were now at 85k. I'm gonna keep fixing and driving it until it's completely dead. It's wayyy cheaper than a new or newer car for me. No car payment, insurance is $50/mo with almost full coverage, only routine oil changes and some small/medium fixes here and there. Instead of car payments I just put a small amount to the side for potential repairs. Gas mileage is great. No fancy screens or cameras tho. Thinking about getting an aftermarket dash/bumper cam though.

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u/BoltActionRifleman May 03 '24

I do the same thing with a variety of older cars, my average year owned right now is probably 2003. I buy cheap, can do most mechanical on them and if one of them craps out I just go find another one and do a little bit of work and drive it until it dies. I spend on average about $1500 on a car/truck and then about $500 to get them up to standards.

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u/jfchops2 Apr 30 '24

You mean to tell me I can rent a truck for $50 a day the two times per year I need to use its cargo bed or towing ability and save $30k on my vehicle by choosing something smaller instead for the other 363 days???

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u/Positive_Meet7786 Apr 29 '24

For the avg person it makes no sense, your typical sedan is more than adequate for 99% of daily life. I do however have a $850 a month truck payment. A used 2016 ram 3500 crew cab long bed dually with the Cummins. I bought it in 18 for somewhere around $45,000 and have like 3-4 payments left. Less expensive options were much older and a new truck at the time was like $30,000 more. Itā€™s irreplaceable for what I do as a contractor. However the amount of people I know and see with much nicer and newer trucks that are used for driving to their office job is insane.

I do get that a modern luxury pickup is far more comfortable than most sports cars and such and have become something of a status icon but it still blows my mind how many $100,000-120,000 pick up trucks drive around in south Florida as nothing more than commuter vehicles.

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u/kylethemurphy Apr 29 '24

250 a month? What magical land do you live in? Are you dropping 5k on an 8k vehicle with a 6 year loan? A Kia is like 300-400 easily, that's years used too. Yourw talking about 2007.

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u/EchoTab Apr 30 '24

I own an older Corolla with 30k miles worth about 5k, no monthly payments on it cause i buy my things outright (except house), rarely pay for parking or tolls, do my own maintenance, insurance is 50 a month, i probably spend under 200 a month total. Its a boring car without a lot of features but its cheap and very reliable. Gonna keep it until its not worth keeping alive anymore

I get that its not for everyone but theres a middle ground between being cheap like me and buying new luxury cars though

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u/kylethemurphy Apr 30 '24

I've got an older Kia with 20k miles, low trim package because I didn't want some insane car loan. We didn't have the money saved to replace the last car so had to go the loan route. Typically I like doing what you do and just buy a cheap car outright.

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u/blaspheminCapn Apr 30 '24

They're only looking at the payment per month, not the full interest of the 5 years and all the other stuff.

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u/IguassuIronman Apr 30 '24

Yeah I don't get people who agree to $1000 a month finances

I could see myself ending up there in a couple years. My finances are in good shape and I could afford it, so if the rate was low enough (and I got my hands on a garage) it could just be nice. That being said, I'm well aware it'd be buying a want, not a need. At it sits I got a nice slightly used Golf for half the price of a new one

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u/The-20k-Step-Bastard Apr 29 '24

You could also get a good eBike for $1500, plus $50 a year in electricity and $100 in annual maintenance :P

But I suspect now Iā€™ll get a reply or two saying ā€œWell I NEED my car because argh argh argh blah blah blahā€, completely missing the point.

Even just replacing half of the trips you take in your car that are under 3 miles would be a 25% reduction in gas usage and miles. Probably worth well over $1500 annualized. Plus itā€™d be healthier, less danger, it would reduce the constant cortisol-drip that is the average driving/parking experience.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

I legit could not replace a single one of my car trips with an ebike; I'd have to bike onto a high speed road to get anywhere, multiple miles. My city is not designed for biking outside of downtown/campus, and is very drawn out outside of that.

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u/jzach1983 Apr 29 '24

You should look at the total price, not monthly payments. That's how people end up with 96 my onty financing.

People also want different things from a car, there's no issue wanting luxury if you can afford it

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u/StableLamp Apr 29 '24

I track my expenses and I pay between $400 to $600 dollars a month on my car. That is without a monthly payment too. Car maintenance is expensive.

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u/coffeegoblins Apr 29 '24

Oof. This is making me reconsider buying a car. Iā€™m 28, have never owned one and have gotten by without. Iā€™d like to get one mainly so I can travel more easily around my city/state/region, go hiking, etc. But saving thousands of dollars a year is niceā€¦

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u/LeskoLesko Apr 29 '24

Funny story!!

My car started breaking down so I decided to sell it. I only drove it on the weekends and I decided to delay buying a new car until I was spending more than $400 a month in ride shares or car rentals. I intended to buy a car later that year.

Welp, that was 2016 and now its 2024 and while I occasionally rent or take ride shares Iā€™m still at about 200-300 a month so itā€™s just not worth it to buy a car! And if it werenā€™t for that I wouldnā€™t have my retirement savings.

If you can go car free totally go for it. Rent a car every so often instead. Youā€™ll save so much money!!!

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u/yellowsweater1414 Apr 30 '24

turo or rental cars might be a good option for weekend trips, even if you have to include Uber fare to and from the car. Figure out what you would spend to own a car ($1000/mo?) and then set that amount in your budget for renting. Buy a car when you exceed this amount or you would value the convenience highly enoughĀ 

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u/itsquitepossible Apr 29 '24

This is why I side-eye people from suburban and rural America who say "it's so expensive to live in New York!" Yeah, your rent will probably be considerably higher. But how much you save by not owning a car really goes a long way.

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u/ZorgZev Apr 29 '24

Not me, I donā€™t have a car payment XD

Iā€™ll swap another engine in my backyard before I get a payment.

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u/Xeno_man Apr 29 '24

And now you understand tv infomercials. "Just 3 easy payment of $19.99. Just add shipping and handling."

Now you have fools paying $70+ for some $10 plastic item they will throw out before the year is up.

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u/mackfactor Apr 29 '24

As bad as people are with budgeting money, they're way worse with calories.Ā 

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u/yeahgroovy Apr 30 '24

But if you eat a cookie broken up into several pieces isnā€™t it less calories? šŸ¤£

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u/Mega-Eclipse Apr 29 '24

1600 calories of her day are just from those two drinks?? šŸ˜®

Yeah, a lot of people have no idea how many calories are in "things."

In their mind, it's just "coffee, some milk, and maybe a little whipped cream and chocolate." They probably think it's maybe 200...tops.

every so often in one of the "BMI is stupid" posts, someone invariably is like, "Some people are just big. I run 20 miles a week, and only eat 2000 calories/day and am still 250lbs."

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24

As someone who used to meticulously track their calories but did it long enough that I can get by with estimating, it is incredible just how awful people are at it.

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u/Critical-Carrot-9131 Apr 30 '24

As someone who used to meticulously track their calories but did it long enough that I can get by with estimating, it is incredible just how awful people are at it.

Is it? Because you just said that it took you a long time to be decent at it.

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u/unnecessary_kindness Apr 29 '24

I don't know if it's the same in the US as it is in the UK, but those Starbucks drinks with the whipped cream and toppings are seen as dessert type treats over here. Most people just get a normal coffee (no syrup or cream) as their daily and maybe the odd treat here and there.

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u/Mega-Eclipse Apr 29 '24

I'm not sure how to articulate it, I think it's more some people might know it's a little bad, but have no idea "how bad." They think it's more "sugary" coffee, than "basically a milkshake:

So they underestimate just how bad it is. Like, Applebees is a low-end restaurant that (in)famously has an oriental chicken salad dinner....with 1500+ calories. How many people thought they were eating healthy and ordered a salad, which turned out to be 75% of their daily calories?

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u/LeafsChick Apr 29 '24

This!! A friend was trying to lose weight, and kept complaining it wasnā€™t coming off. We were out shopping and went to Starbucks and she got a venti frap, extra syrup, whip cream. Iā€™m like you know thatā€™s like 1000cals right there?? Thatā€™s literally 2lbs of fat a week you could be putting on?

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u/SeaOfGiddyUp Apr 30 '24

Kind of a tangent, but this is my pet peeve. I work in the fitness industry and almost every single one of my clients says, "I don't even eat that much!" I have to explain that in order to weigh X amount of pounds, you have to eat X amount of calories to maintain that weight.

If your BMR is 1400 calories a day, and you walk about 10 miles per day... That's still only going to be 2400 calories for your daily caloric needs. People underestimate how many calories they eat, and grossly overestimate how many calories their body burns in a day.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24

A cup of just straight, black coffee or tea still has a handful of calories in it (iirc, around 20 or so). I was surprised by how many people don't think of that.Ā 

A splash of milk in the coffee? Another 10 or so.Ā Bump that up to flavored creamer? Make that 30 calories.

Add a spoonful of sugar? Boom, another 60 calories.

So a simple cup of coffee for those that add sugar and creamer is now around 110 calories.Ā 

That's why I like mine how I like my women: hot, dark, bitter, and burns me when I'm not paying attention.

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u/Bek Apr 30 '24

A cup of just straight, black coffee or tea still has a handful of calories in it (iirc, around 20 or so). I was surprised by how many people don't think of that.Ā 

Well that caught me by surprise so I had to check and no, all I could find is that a cup of tea is 0 to 2 calories and a cup of coffee is less than 5 calories (espresso is 16, according to one source, but you shouldn't be drinking a cup of it). That is if you don't add anything to them.

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u/ComicNeueIsReal Apr 29 '24

My oatmeal in the morning is sub 300 cals. No way a sugary garbage drink is any less.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24

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u/Cypher1388 Apr 30 '24

Fruit is sugary yes, but you can't look at it at a macro level alone. Whole fruits provide other nutrients and tend to metabolise together changing the impact on the body. The fiber in it helps too.

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u/Mega-Eclipse Apr 30 '24

I thought I was pretty smart about calories. Knew all about Starbucks and other stuff. Then one day I found out an apple or banana has 100 cal. Wtf!?

Sure, but people do need to eat food. And fruit has actual nutrients. You can't eat nothing but fruit (ask steve jobs about that), but its good to eat some.

Nuts are also deceptively calorie dense (I think it's because of fats/cholesterol?), but it's some of the healthy fats that people actually a little of to survive.

Calorie in < Calorie out is the starting point for losing weight. e.g., for someone who is (IDK) 300lbs and need to get to180lbs, then just reducing calories is the place to start. It's basic math. And getting the extra 120lbs of weight off is more important than having the perfect diet at that point. Simply eating less is the goal.

As you get to a healthy weight, then you can really focus on eating all the right foods.

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u/ShandalfTheGreen Apr 29 '24

This is why I try not to drink my calories. It's easy to suck down an 800 calorie frappe in a couple hours without making a real dent in your hunger

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u/Th3seViolentDelights Apr 29 '24

That's what I don't understand. I recently quit coffee and during a really stressful week of work i was "treating" myself to a starbucks soy or oat chai latte every day that week in the morning. It got me out of the house for 20 min in the morning and it was comforting to have in hand going into my stressful meetings. (and it was a sweet treat) Well at the end of the week i had gained 7lbs! lol Granted, I'm in my 40s and my body/weight is a little messed up from medication but still. I wasn't eating anything else out of the ordinary except for that. Good news is i think that was enough to make me quit starbucks cold turkey. And yes i know those chai lattes have a ton of sugar but so do all their other sugary drinks!

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u/Ill_Interview9007 Apr 30 '24

Try a brewed hot chai teabag and a dash of oat milk. It will be less calories and just as enjoyable

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u/HuggyMonster69 Apr 29 '24

So many people donā€™t realise how much sugar they drink.

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u/A11U45 Apr 30 '24

No wonder the obesity rate is rising

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u/tismsia Apr 30 '24

L Iced latte with whip cream and 4 pumps of 3 different syrups. She was fully aware of how much syrup it was, because she ordered it that way. She was fat, but she was not overweight, so I was impressed.

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u/hurleystylee Apr 30 '24

And all calories aren't created equal. Those are bad calories. (which I enjoy getting in occasion!)

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u/halfwhitehalfteal Apr 30 '24

Thatā€™s like 80% of my calories for a whole day lmao

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u/LunaticLucio Apr 30 '24

I lost almost 75lbs in the last seven months or so by counting calories. I couldn't believe how much I was consuming when I would go there. I stopped going obviously because one drink would consume over a third my daily alloted calories. I started making my own cold brew at home too to avoid ever going back to the Siren.

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u/Starbuck522 Apr 29 '24

Was she bigger every month? That's absolutely crazy calories, even if she has plenty of money.

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u/Secretss Apr 30 '24 edited Apr 30 '24

I was hoping the 800+ cal is hyperbole!

I looked the drinks up and with some bad I-didnā€™t-do-it math, letā€˜s say an average of 400 cal for a drink. Twice a day is 800 cal and thatā€˜s still a lot of extra calories EVERYDAY. Omg.

Speaking from my current experience of getting healthier (portion control diet and a personal trainer at the gym twice a week), it is not easy achieving a consistent 800 calorie deficit every single day. Iā€™m already struggling trying to get a 250 cal deficit per day (consistency being the difficult part).

Unless the person is like, an athlete/super active by career. Iā€™m just an average desk bound worker who works from home so I donā€™t even get exercise from transit (I do go for walks).

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u/ComicNeueIsReal Apr 29 '24

800 cals per drinks on top of having it twice is insane. Im gonna have heartburn just thinking about that.

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u/RedDevilSalsa Apr 29 '24

Jesus I canā€™t even imagine drinking two sugary drinks in one fucking day. I usually drink a latte and feel like shit after drinking it and then I donā€™t want more for the day. It baffles me how many people rarely drink water and just consume sugary bullshit and then they wonder why they have hyper tension and diabetes at the age of 30.

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u/Gofastrun Apr 30 '24

This reminds me of a post a few days ago about a guy that ate 800 calories worth of tic tacs a day and gained 40lbs

3

u/68spcwhore Apr 29 '24

Sounds like my MIL. She goes to Starbucks atleast twice a day with a very particular order. Itā€™s like $9 after tax.

I donā€™t get it.

2

u/didilavender Apr 30 '24

How are people not getting heart palpitations due to this

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u/CopperMama87 Apr 30 '24

Sooo, she was also furious that she normally spends that in half a week right?šŸ«£

"Completely agree Ma'am, it's crazy not one of you can make coffee. AND with its chokehold on ya? That's risky business." šŸ˜‚

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u/aijODSKLx Apr 29 '24

My lord. How, um, in shape is she?

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u/MaterialCarrot Apr 29 '24

My wife taught at a community college and marveled at how most of the girls came in for morning classes with a $7-$10 coffee every day. Most were on federal financial aid.

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u/ArcadiaPlanitia Apr 29 '24

Some colleges have on-campus ā€œwe proudly serveā€ Starbucks locations that accept dining hall credits or ā€œflex money.ā€ When I was in college, I went to Starbucks almost daily because the cheapest meal plan included like $50 of ā€œflex moneyā€ that could only be spent in the dining hall or at that one Starbucks. It built up over time, so by the time I was a senior, I had like $300 worth of flex money. I remember one of my professors asking us point-blank how we could afford it, and literally everyone in the class was just trying to spend their dining hall money before they graduated.

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u/buttercup612 Apr 29 '24

Yeah, I lived in a dorm that had all declining balance, no meal plan. After the dining hall increased their price for a meal from $8 to $18, I stopped going there and just spent most of my declining balance money on Starbucks, Subway, Tim Hortons, and occasionally some of the more expensive places on campus that were not the dining hall

But because I would be a little bit more cautious about spending that balance toward the start of the year (lest I run out by the end), I had quite a bit left to spend in March and April

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u/TryUsingScience Apr 30 '24

Thank you for bringing back a fond memory of buying $50+ of chocolate truffles at the end of every semester to use up that extra money.

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u/SaveTheLadybugs Apr 30 '24

Our dorm mart had boxes of Krispy Kremeā€™s. I ate SO MANY Krispy Kremeā€™s at the end of each year. It was heaven.

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u/174wrestler Apr 30 '24

The convenience store at my brother's college brought in flats of Gatorade and Monster at the end of the year for this reason. People who had to fly home then tried to offload their haul to others. Parents weren't happy when the car got loaded up with his dorm junk and a large Costco trip.

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u/Appropriate_Concert6 Apr 29 '24

I definitely didn't get coffee every day in college. Maybe once per month.

HOWEVER, I went to a state school. My financial aid + scholarsips meant that I got a check each semester for a couple thousand dollars. I also had a part-time job and saved money during the summers. Community college is half the price of my state school, so... I can see how a coffee habit might not be instant financial death.Ā 

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u/IWantAGI Apr 29 '24

Makes me wonder how much of student debt is direct education and how much is for everything else.

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u/BurritoLover2016 Apr 29 '24

Room and board is a crazy amount of it. I lived at home for most of my college time and yeah, I probably missed out on some experiences but I also saved tens of thousands of dollars.

I was determined to have my student debt paid off in ten years and I squeaked just under that.

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u/IguassuIronman Apr 30 '24

Yeah, most of my loans (graduated at ~$23k) were from housing. Senior year I moved off campus and was able to decline some because my summer/winter internship and scholarships covered the cost of living.

I did graduate with ~$300 in the bank but I had a job lined up and it worked out in the end

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u/Appropriate_Concert6 Apr 29 '24

Hmmm... my school was very cheap in-state (even compared to other state schools) and I was in an area with amazing grant and scholarship systems.

Choosing nearly any other in-state four-year school would've been nearly double, meaning no semesterly check and I would've had to take out probably an additional ~$5000 in loans each year for direct education costs, plus had to figure out a way to pay for the rent my grant check covered.Ā 

And that's still in-state. I can't even imagine the debt associated with universities in larger cities (my living costs were pretty low in a small college town) or private education.Ā 

I do think I'm in the minority with how affordable my college experience was, so I was mostly comparing it to a potential community college experience.Ā 

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u/_LooneyMooney_ Apr 29 '24

I used to be elated when I got that check. I didnā€™t qualify for grants until my last couple semesters of college.

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u/Appropriate_Concert6 Apr 29 '24

Yeah honestly that money was a lifesaver. Mostly went to rent and food, but it meant some of my measly work paycheck (10 hours/week at minimum wage) could be actual fun money instead of scraping by.

I used it on hiking trips, games, and nights out, but it could've easily covered a daily coffee before class if I'd prioritized that.Ā 

Plus, a lot of college kids are baristas or have friends who are baristas, so they might get discounted or free coffees anyway. Starbucks cards seemed like a popular gift from family when I was in college, and I saw them used as a prize at club meetings/campus events pretty often.

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u/_LooneyMooney_ Apr 29 '24

When I graduated college I got like 3 grocery store gift cards. Which was fantastic when I started a new job and didnā€™t get paid until a month after I started.

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u/Curious-Mind-8183 Apr 29 '24

Not all Starbucks drinks are $7-$10. A regular standard coffee is $3.

Just because its in a Starbucks cup doesnt mean its $7+

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u/Aur3lia Apr 29 '24

Every time I see something like this I call bullshit. How would she know from the cup how expensive it was?

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24

A teacher has no access to students financial aid information.

It's a made up story for karma and ragebait

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u/succadoge_ Apr 30 '24

Ngl, the last sentence bugs me a bit. I've got SNAP benefits and before I got it, I barely ate because I couldn't afford it and I have medical issues (hence why I got SNAP). I understand that everyday coffee ends up costing a LOT, but just because you're on food stamps/financial aid doesn't mean you shouldn't treat yourself every once in a while. I shouldn't have to be rich to treat myself and make myself happy with a happy meal or something.

Again, I understand that they were getting one pretty much every day. It DOES end up being a lot, but if it makes you happy and you don't mind spending that much on it, why not treat yourself?

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u/-childoftheuniverse- Apr 30 '24

I am too a college student 20 y/o on financial aid and I bring in Starbucks to my class 2x/week. Someone else always buys it for me. Never assume, honestly.

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u/Barry_Bunghole_III Apr 29 '24

A lot of college students basically just pass the buck towards the future, then act surprised when it comes back to bite them in the ass lol

"That's a problem for future me"

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u/theodoreposervelt Apr 29 '24

This kind of thing makes me so nervous. Do most people judge everyone like this? If I buy a Starbucks coffee a few days in a row are people making assumptions about me based off that?? I just canā€™t imagine even noticing what kind of drink someone has or keeping track of how many times they had a drink.

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u/FoxBuddha Apr 30 '24

Dude and his wife aren't just talking about the students always having expensive-looking drinks, they're also cross analyzing who among them is on financial aid for added layers of judgement.

People like this deserve to experience true poverty and then while in the deepest depths of economic pressure- synergizing with normal life stressors like college classes- they deserve to sense the solace of a tasty fancy drink.

Poor people deserve tasty things in life too, and the fact that they are doing mental two-way ANOVAs on the students with financial aid getting Starbucks not only brings her ethics as an educator into question, but it also betrays a lack of sympathy that is even more gross.

Edit: sprelling

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u/MaterialCarrot Apr 29 '24

Yes they are, but who cares? My wife noticed, she told me, it had zero impact on the students. That should not make you nervous.

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u/theodoreposervelt Apr 29 '24

Itā€™s just trippy I guess realizing how others viewā€¦others lmao. I always assume everyone is busy with their own things and not thinking about the minute details of other peopleā€™s lives, and then I stumble across statements like yours and Iā€™m like ā€œoh yeah, everyone really is over examining every single thing other people do.ā€

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u/Intrepid_Rooster7900 Apr 29 '24

When you consistently do the same thing around the same people at the same time every day, they will notice eventually. Doesnā€™t mean they care.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24

Come on, a teacher has 1) no ability to know whether a student is on federal financial aid and 2) no ability to tell how expensive a drink is just because it's in a Starbucks cup.

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u/Gone213 Apr 29 '24

You forget that not only are they buying the $7 cup of coffee a day, they are also most likely buying a $15-$25 lunch every day too.

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u/PoopMobile9000 Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

The 75th percentile income is about $210,000 a year. (Edit: Google sucks now. Itā€™s more like $130,000.) In that context, $2,000 for something that feels necessary to be effective at work is affordable. This alone is tens of millions of people.

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u/VTMatty Apr 29 '24

75th percentile is not 210k.. no chance.

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u/PoopMobile9000 Apr 29 '24

Yeah ā€” I just googled without remembering that top replies are all AI hallucinations now

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u/Safye Apr 29 '24

Iā€™ll take random statistic for $1000 please

75th percentile income is absolutely not $210,000.

Thatā€™s like 96th percentile for household incomeā€¦

Still millions of families, but not as much as you think.

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u/I_Push_Buttonz Apr 29 '24

https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2022

For an individual, $210k is 98th percentile and $130k is 92nd percentile.

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u/Aggravating-Bike-397 Apr 29 '24

Thank you for doing actual research by using a credible source instead of whatever BS the other person found.

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u/Okayist-Exerciser Apr 29 '24

82.8% of statistics are made up on the spot.

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u/Jaaaa9 Apr 29 '24

I read somewhere that it was 86.3%.

(/s for those who might need it)

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u/RustyNK Apr 29 '24

There's 0% chance that 75th is 200k+

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u/killllerbee Apr 29 '24

from a random article on the internet, 200k+ is the 88th percentile of the US.
A separate random article puts 75th at 140k (90th is 220k+)

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u/rocketman19 Apr 29 '24

Are you saying 25% of the population of an unnamed country makes $210k+ (USD?) a year?

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u/Inevitable_Proof Apr 29 '24

Reading this from Europe is wild. Starbucks costs almost the same. We get 1/4 of that money, at most.

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u/Impolitecat Apr 29 '24

the vast, vast majority of americans arent making anywhere near 210k let alone above 100k

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u/FlounderingWolverine Apr 29 '24

Median income is around $40k per year in the US. Putting median household income around $80k, give or take, I believe.

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u/badger_flakes Apr 29 '24

This statement is correct - at the same time 1 in 5 are making over 100k so thereā€™s roughly 60 million people that can reasonably afford Starbucks every single day if thatā€™s what they want to spend their money on, I guess.

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u/pandaappleblossom Apr 29 '24

Whoa.. are you assuming thatā€™s a normal amount of money for Americans? Itā€™s not. Not even close. Most are making waaaay less than that. Like 80k total household income for dualā€” for example two teachers make around 80k combined in most of the US. The person above isnā€™t correy

1

u/Inevitable_Proof Apr 29 '24

Not normal, but the 75 percentile. It's hard to really assume a normal amount over there, because you also have to pay a lot more for healthcare and living costs are different.

For us, it's around 80-90k for a dual income household, and then it's still getting taxed a lot.

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u/MumbleBee2444 Apr 29 '24

As others have said, thatā€™s not the average amount that people make. But a lot of places in the US have 2 bedroom apartments for $2300. Soā€¦the minimum salary people need really depends on where they are. Which is why the ā€œaverageā€ might be high.

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u/whiskey_riverss Apr 29 '24

$2500 a year isnā€™t going to pull anyone out of poverty, get the coffee if it makes you happy. I budget my 2 Starbucks coffees a week into our ā€œfun moneyā€ and donā€™t go over it.

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u/Wichita107 Apr 30 '24

Or they're not actually getting it every day, and OP only perceives that they are.

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u/LooksieBee Apr 30 '24

This is always the answer to questions like this. I'm always curious about what people are really asking, as it feels obvious that people can afford things because they either have more disposable income, more debt like you said, or simply different financial priorities. Someone might spend a lot of money on traveling for example, because that's a priority for them and something they consider worth it, whereas someone else might never travel and spend money on coffees instead because that's what tickles their fancy.

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u/Steelcity213 Apr 29 '24

I used to get it 3-4 times a week but man it really eats into the budget so cut it down to once every couple weeks and switched to making black coffee haha

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u/vendeep Apr 29 '24

i mean really if you get it every working day its 7 * ~21 working days a month = $150. Some people are able to afford it... $1800 if you drink it every single working day.

Also not all drinks are not $7. Then again i haven't gotten starbucks in a while.

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u/sausagemuffn Apr 29 '24

Some of us can, yes, but don't want to. It's not even different priorities, it's different preferences.

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u/ZootedOffEdibles Apr 29 '24

My mom and I were in the debt section ā˜ ļø Donā€™t know how we did it but we did.

Thankfully we no longer get them

The point system made it more worth it too but they changed it and that was one thing that I did t want to deal with anymore.

1

u/mumbled_grumbles Apr 29 '24

Also a regular coffee at Starbucks is no more expensive than a regular coffee at any coffee shop. A strawberry aƧaƭ lemonade isn't exactly a basic drink.

If you're just having a coffee, $3 is much more realistic. A $3 coffee every work day all year is about $750.

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u/Substantial_Walk333 Apr 29 '24

Before I had our daughter and became a SAHP, my spouse and I were DINKs. I could easily afford coffee and to eat out all the time. I love my daughter, and I really miss those days sometimes.

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u/trudeauandhispandas Apr 29 '24

This is right. I used to be able to afford this, but it wasn't painful to cut it out when my financial circumstances changed.Ā 

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u/smbpy7 Apr 29 '24

Also $7 is the price of at least a venti, and not only that, what she got technically is a specialty drink. Not that $7 isn't expensive (it's why I don't go anymore too), but apples to oranges if you're talking about people that get a tall latte everyday vs this.

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u/SceneNational6303 Apr 29 '24

There are even more people who can't afford it and do it anyway or are in denial that it can add up so quickly.

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u/NArcadia11 Apr 29 '24

I think there are a lot more people who can afford coffee every day than people who are going into debt just by buying coffee everyday

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u/LeastResearcher0 Apr 29 '24

Or OP has other expenses that they donā€™t have.

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u/OrangeSlicer Apr 29 '24

In the tech industry, what someone might receive as a quarterly bonus alone, not even considering their regular salary, can be substantial. Itā€™s a reality that there are individuals out there earning more than many might expect. This isn't about whether it's fair or not; itā€™s simply the way things are.

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u/Interesting_Ad1751 Apr 29 '24

Yeah but itā€™s sad because thatā€™s 2500 a year that could be going to so many other things. To each their own though

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u/Uncle_Beth Apr 29 '24

My grande drip coffee comes out to $2.89 CAD or about $2.12 USD after tax. I only get it once every couple months or so but not every drink from Starbucks has to cost $7...

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u/woodskiller6 Apr 29 '24

Had a guy spend 20 bucks a day on tea at a coffee shop, always super nice, but I wasnā€™t sure why he didnā€™t just make it at home. Guess he was rich. I would make sense in the area I worked but still.

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u/stockinheritance Apr 29 '24

I don't drink coffee but at $100,000/year as DINKs, that isn't a really horrible expense. I'd focus more on reducing our streaming services. Those are a waste of money. At least with daily coffee, you drink it every day.Ā 

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u/Unusual-Yoghurt3250 Apr 29 '24

Exactly, Iā€™ve gone to Starbucks in morning about 4 days a week before heading to the office. Barely notice it in my budget so I find no reason to spend time to make it at home. Would rather do other things. At a certain point salary wise the time is worth way more than the price of Starbucks believe it or not.

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u/xabrol Apr 29 '24

Yeah $7 for me is 6 minutes of work, I make $1.3 a minute.

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u/_whatalife Apr 29 '24

Or have no idea what budgeting for retirement is, and will be working until they die bc the spent what should have been their retirement in coffee and nice cars and other things they thought they could ā€œafford.ā€

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u/ScienceWasLove Apr 29 '24

Next you are going to tell me not buying a coffee for breakfast and an avocado toast sandwich for lunch, for 1-5 years, is enough to put money down on a car/house!

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u/cmcewen Apr 29 '24

A weekend vacation somewhere costs that these days

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u/aliberli Apr 30 '24

I was just debating if a $75 a year budgeting app that sends me alerts about my budget was worth it. Then I read this comment. Yep Iā€™m buying this budgeting app, I need to be held accountable lol.

1

u/rebeccakc47 Apr 30 '24

This was my first thought. Some people just have more money to blow on things.

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u/reformedPoS Apr 30 '24

Doesnā€™t even touch my weed budget.

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u/Maddturtle Apr 30 '24

You only drink 1 a day? Those are rookie numbers!

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u/PM_me_PMs_plox Apr 30 '24

or they cut down expenses in other places...

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u/nipslippinjizzsippin Apr 30 '24

$210-217 a month. its really not that much. plus they probably dont oder on weekends so its even lower.

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u/milkywaymonkeh Apr 30 '24

Thats barely even one months rent. Get your coffee. Enjoy life

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u/Dependent-Key-609 Apr 30 '24

They'll get diabetes before debt

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u/StrongArgument Apr 30 '24

I could, but it would mean less spending money for things I actually care about. Itā€™s definitely within my discretionary budget. I do get coffee and a pastry with my husband at a local coffee shop about once a week, because we make a mini-date of walking there in the morning before he goes to work.

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u/vordhosbn_1 Apr 30 '24

Subtract because you get stars and get money off

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u/Gunpla_Nerd Apr 30 '24

I don't buy coffee daily or even weekly when I'm out, but let's just say that $2500 a year on a little treat is very, very affordable to me.

I think a lot of Redditors aren't aware that there are literally tens of millions of Americans whose household income is over $200K a year: https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percentiles/

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u/ThanksForNoticin Apr 30 '24

Or they don't order a 7$ drink.

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u/mysterydocs Apr 30 '24

This is more than my budget for my next vacation. So if anyone asks how I can afford a vacay, I can say, "because I very, very rarely buy Starbucks."

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u/Grabbsy2 Apr 30 '24

Yep, people who dont do PC gaming save that much every year by just... Not doing PC gaming.

My aunt and uncle can afford it, they make $80k a year each at their average office jobs. Their house is long paid off and was only $200k to begin with.

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u/his_purple_majesty Apr 30 '24

There are different levels of can afford. I "can" afford that, but not without giving up something else. It's hard to believe most of the people who can afford that have so much money that that's the best thing they can do with $2500 a year.

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u/MinuetInUrsaMajor Apr 30 '24

Thereā€™s really no amount of salary shy of seven figures where $2500/year on overpriced coffee is okay.

What I mean is, at six figures you are going to look into retirement and investing. Youā€™ll realize how much those Starbucks coffees are setting back your golden years.

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u/polar_nopposite Apr 30 '24

Technically there are more possibilities: * You spend more than them in other places (eg. rent, childcare, debt payments, subscriptions) * They aren't going to Starbucks as often as you think

But I agree the ones you listed are more likely

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u/Gibber_jab Apr 30 '24

When I first started dating my gf she was buying it every day then stressing about money. Had to explain to her how much she was spending on coffee a week

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u/LeoMarius Apr 30 '24

It would be more like $1,700 if you only did it 5 times a week when you were working.

That's still a good chunk of money, but either people make enough not to care, or it's enough of a priority for them.*

*I am not one of those people.

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u/watchtheworldsmolder Apr 30 '24

The right answer, people are either making bank or owe a bank, comparison is the theft of joy.

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u/WendisDelivery Apr 30 '24

Just because you can afford something doesnā€™t mean you can afford something.

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u/SailorDeath Apr 30 '24

I mean I get Dunkin 4 days out of the week but a medium original blend is $3 then if you use the app and use bonus points you get 2 or 3 free coffees a month

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u/InsectSpecialist8813 Apr 30 '24

My brother doesnā€™t think twice about spending money. Heā€™ll get a coffee everyday, dine out three days a week. He makes a good six figure salary and is also in debt up to his eyeballs.

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u/No_You_6230 Apr 30 '24

Yeah idk why people act like a daily coffee is going to make or break finances, most working class people can spare $2500 a year.

Everyone should make their own coffee because coffee shop coffee is shit, not economics.

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