Malcolm Henry
As we predicted three months ago, it was only a matter of time before Starbucks jacked up its prices for its shitty cup of coffee. The announcement was made that it is doing it.
It was the subtweet to its real news: it made record profits last year.
So… like… why they jacking up the prices? Oh, just in case. And because they can. And because they can blame “supply chain issues” to offset this price raise.
“We anticipate supply chain disruptions will continue for the foreseeable future,” said Kevin Johnson, the president and chief executive of Starbucks, told the New York Times. “We have additional pricing actions planned through the balance of this year, which play an important role to mitigate cost pressures including inflation.”
So, two years into an endemic that has yet to disrupt its supply chain — and certainly not a chance to take advantage and jack up prices — is when the company decided to play this card.
Stop the cap.
The raw numbers were that in Q4-2021, the company’s profit soared 31 percent, to $816 million, Revenue grew to $8.1 billion, a 19 percent jump compared with the same quarter a year ago.
Not bad for business.
Also from the Times: The price of menu items at fast-food restaurants rose 8 percent in 2021, the biggest jump in more than 20 years, according to government data, with the chains citing higher costs for food, transportation and workers.
“Although demand was strong, this pandemic has not been linear,” Johnson said in a release, adding that Starbucks had “experienced higher-than-expected inflationary pressures.”
Those higher than expected pressures? Probably giving its employees $15 a hour.
Starbucks also said it’s the third time in the last two years that it has raised workers’ pay.
It announced the move three months ago, to silence some of the pressure from stores threatening to unionize. It said that everyone will earn at least $15 (that new magical number that was just made up during the last Presidential campaign season) — and up to as much as $23 — by next summer.
In late January employees with two or more years of service will get a 5% raise; those with five or more years of service could receive up to a 10% raise.
For context, my brother is a sheriff and doesn’t make $23 an hour, but someone who has to pump sugar-free syrup into a cup and froth some milk should be? Okay? Fvck off.
Also additional context, $23/hour is equal to a salary of almost $48k. Which is almost what most states pay their teachers… so… the person whose job is push the microwave button for your sous vide egg bites needs the same pay as the person educating the kids of the country. I want to smash my brain in.
Starbucks did not say which menu items will be more expensive or how much average prices are set to increase.
But, if you thought $4.35 was too much for your tall burnt grounds skinny mocha latte, wait until it is $5.65.
