Starbucks testing $1 coffees with free refills

Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

SEATTLE -- Faced with growing competition from cheaper rivals, Starbucks Corp. is testing $1 short cups of drip coffee with free refills in its hometown.

That's about 50 cents less than an 8 oz. cup of joe the Seattle-based coffee retailer normally charges, though prices vary from store to store.

Small cups of premium coffee at McDonald's Corp., Dunkin' Donuts and other lower-cost competitors typically start in the low $1 range, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on Starbucks' new test program Wednesday.

Starbucks would not say when the test began, how many stores are part of it, whether it's considering a similar promotion for any other brews or whether any new test markets are on the horizon.



Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_starbucks_free_refills.html

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A sign that consumers cutting back on the pricey coffee? I wasn't a regular but I enjoy a Cafe Mocha or another coffee drink maybe once a week, but I'm cutting back.

In our small town we have two coffee shops and the price is around a buck fifty. The guy down the street puts a pot out for fifty cents and I must say that he is pretty busy!

Makes sense to reduce the price since it doesn't have a lot of the fluff the more expensive drinks do.

Nice dark roast. But I avoid their foo-foo drinks. $4.50 for a cup of warm milk with a shot of espresso. Bite me!

Order a short cappuccino. Not the tall (the smallest size they list), but a short - it is not on the menu. This is cheaper, and superior in every way to the next size up. There's still a shot of espresso, but there's less milk in it. And since there's less milk, a higher percentage of that milk is actually foam.

It's been my favorite drink at Starbucks since I found out about it.

R. Garrett

I always thought the high price was a badge of honor for "true" coffee lovers. If you lower the price, the elite won't think they're getting such a great cup of coffee anymore.

High prices conveys greatness to some folks.

the prices for any expresso type drink are obscene.

$2 for a double espresso or $4.50 for a triple with 16 oz of milk mixed in? I'll take the double.

hot dog stand, and charged 5 cents. Potential customers thought that there must be something wrong with them, inferior meat, etc. He dressed up some of the employees as doctors, and the public began noticing that doctors were steadily patronizing his place, and Nathan's was able to survive.



Nathan's began as a nickel hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916 and bears the name of founder Nathan Handwerker.

...can do for a cup of java.

Aren't you flush with cash and eager to buy a $4.75 CrapafuckwittageMOCHA w soy milk?:sarcasm:

Then I will have fulfilled my obligation to America's economy by honestly pissing away the money. :rofl:

if they were to give it away,I guess I'm just not a discriminating coffee drinker. I think their coffee tastes like they burned the beans when they roasted them... :puke:

of course, McDonald's is GOP (isn't it?), so you have to weigh the pluses and minuses before patronizing a coffee place.

While I like the occasional speciality drink from them I never liked their coffee. I prefer to grind and brew my own at work.

I remember going into Starbucks when they first came to Chicago. You could sit down and get a free refill at any of their stores -- great, especially when they were the only place to get halfway decent coffee in the Loop.

Is that the case for anyone else?

And at $1 they're still making money.

but they're willing to lose a dime or a quarter every fifth or tenth customer in order to convince Mickey D's that coffee bars were a bad business to get into. When the Golden Starches decides that they really want to be in the three-bite hamburger business rather than have coffee drinkers lingering around clogging up the seats, Starbucks will go back to full price coffee.

Just give me a #$@$#@! cup of joe, dammit.

I don't get why there are hundreds of Starbucks where I live, but only one or two CoffeeBean Tea & Leafs. The quality and taste of the latter is infinitely superior, yet pricing is similar. I guess the US consumer is so used to drinking stale, tasteless crap that they couldn't tell a good cup of coffee from their asses. No wonder why Starbucks has been so successful. Just imagine what the profit margins will be when you can get away with charging premium prices for worthless crap to droves of customers who don't know any better. A marketer's wet dream.

it's the "coolness factor" of drinking the coffee so cool people are willing to wear advertisements for it on their T-shirts.

It reminds me of a conversation I had with a good friend - someone I respect in SO many ways but was terribly disappointed in after this:

FRIEND: I wanna get my daughter these jeans but they cost almost $200.
ME: You're joking, right?
FRIEND: Well, they're (insert cool clothing company here - it may have been Abercrombie but I don't remember) and, you know, I want her to have something by them.
ME: No. No I do not know.

It's the same sort of thinking with Starbucks.

of every anti-trust law ever written, to be where they are.

They are one of the most monopolistic, predatory, anti-competitive
companies that ever existed. Why are they allowed to get away with it?
How many lawmakers have they paid off?

and while we had a lot of Starbucks shops, we also had a goodly number of competitors as well. Now I get to NY and people here think Dunkin' Donuts coffee is the bomb, so who's going to pay even three bucks for a good cup of espresso? That leaves only the image conscious who want to be seen holding a Starbucks cup.

They're not monopolistic, but where people care more about image than about great coffee, they will be the only game in town. Its no stupider than designer clothing and accessory lines.

one of their fancy coffee bars in my town and it's hands down better than Starbucks. There just happens to be a Starbucks right across the street from this McD's and they are loosing business right and left. Location, location, location I guess. I'm not much of a coffee drinker in the first place but I hate Starbucks coffee regardless. I never understood why a cup of joe was 2-3-4 bucks and tasted so crappy....guess I'm not a coffee snob. Give me a Pepsi instead....!

Coffee shop customers can roughly be categorized as folks who want some $4 frou-frou drink and folks who just want a cup of coffee. Starbucks has been slamming the door in the face of the latter group by charging too much for a product they can get elsewhere much cheaper.

Starbucks has deep pockets. They can afford to lose money for a while. This will take a lot of business away from the independent coffee houses that are still hanging in there, and who can't afford to match these prices.

I really like those little coffee houses that have art, music, and culture. They are like little community centers and meeting places. This could put a lot of them out of business.