Coffee Chains Shorting Customers

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did an investigative report and found that the amount of coffee in cups sold by coffee chains was less than the advertised amounts:

Caribou Coffee fared the worst among area chains, cutting several ounces from every drink ordered by Public Investigator. That amounted to nearly 50 cents’ worth of coffee shorted from some cups.

Starbucks offers the most honest cup of joe in town but on average still fell short of the advertised amount.

Here’s a practical tip for coffee buyers who spend as much as $4 for their caffeine fix: If you want to get what you pay for, you might want to shy away from the largest size on the menu. Customers ordering the largest coffees were shorted the most because most cups used for 20-ounce drinks hold exactly 20 ounces of liquid, and cups are almost never filled completely, the P.I. Team found. Filled to the brim, cups for medium and small drinks hold more liquid than the amounts advertised.

For those concerned about receiving value, the real problem is paying coffee chain prices in which 50 cents represents only a portion of the drink. I’ll stick with my Tassimo and make better cups of coffee than offered by the chains at a significantly lower cost.

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