Posted on 05/15/2008 6:39:28 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
High gas prices got you steamed? Just be glad that Chevy doesnt run on lattes.
A lot is made about the rising price of gas, but coffee prices are already through the stratosphere.
Not that anyone cares.
Dawn Mosier, a barista at the Java Café on Patrick Henry Village in Heidelberg, said she rarely gets a comment about the shops coffee prices, which are higher than those at some other on-base joints because they sell Starbucks.
But her neighbors at the shoppette not 50 feet away dont get the same consideration.
"When Im in the shoppette I always hear people complain about gas," Mosier said. "I guess its because theyre buying [fuel] coupons."
Rosalie Rasmussen, a speech and language pathologist in the Heidelberg school district, shelled out $3 on Thursday for a Java Café Grande Caffé Latté, which despite its imposing name measured in at a whopping 16 ounces. A gallon of the stuff would run $24.
"Its a treat," said Rasmussen, who said she rarely buys coffee. Does it bug her that coffee costs more than gas? Nah.
"I dont take my car out on the weekends at all," she said, adding she drives only when she absolutely has to for work.
"And I think thats the difference: You have a choice about coffee; you dont have a choice about gas," she said. "I have concerns for people who have to travel long distances and for families that have to work that into their budget."
But, she said, she didnt have a problem herself with gas prices.
"Youd rather not pay $3.78 a gallon, but it is what it is," said James Corneliussen, who works for U.S. Army Garrison Baden Wurttembergs command chaplain office. He was talking about gas, not coffee.
Corneliussen gets a 16-ounce Java Café Caffé Americano every Monday through Friday thats $10 of joe per week. The equivalent amount of regular unleaded gas would cost $2.36 at todays price. "I know its more expensive than gas," he said smiling. But he hasnt even considered giving up his morning cup.
"It would be like giving up steak, which is also more expensive than gas," he said. "It probably wouldnt happen."
The cost of Heather Auges thrice-weekly Java Café chai is of so little concern to the arts and crafts center worker that she had to check the board to see how much it cost.
"Its not a necessity," she said of the $30-a-gallon beverage. "Its kind of like my thing that I do for me."
Like the others, she also wasnt fretting about gas prices the Germans pay more than double what you pay on base, she said. She lives in the Odenwald, far from any form of public transportation, "So I have to drive," she said.
At least she wasnt drinking single espresso shots, which run $192 a gallon.
"I guess they get more gratification out of their latte" than they do from driving, Mosier said.
ping.
Perhaps, but I don't typically buy 22 gallons of lattes at the same time...
What a dumb comparison. I use around 30 gallons of gas a week to get back and forth to work - I doubt I’d ever buy 30 gallons of lattes a week. What’s the point of this article?
Coffee is optional (well, for most people), but not too many can get to work, school, etc. without using gasoline.
I buy a thermos of coffee for work four mornings a week. I pay less than $3.00 for that coffee for the entire week. I’ts not Starbucks, but it does taste better.
The message I get is that the author is dumber than a rock. I have little choice but to buy about 5 gallons of gas every week. I’ve probably purchased less than 3 gallons of latte in my life.
I do the same.
Going to a “coffee house” for coffee is just plain wasteful. (in monetary terms)
But, if you can’t live without it, budget it in and cut back elsewhere.
Pretty much all of the household cleaner products I have stashed in the cupboard under my sink cost more per gallon than gasoline. Fortunately my car doesn’t run on Pledge and Lime-Away, and my house doesn’t require that I buy those products by the gallon.
What a useless comparison. Some editor’s bright idea.
My $1.86 Starbucks Grande coffee contains 330 mg of caffeine and about 12 calories. A diet coke contains about 55 mg of Caffeine.
You do the math and see what’s over-priced. ;)
or $8 a gallon bottled water! You never hear ......
$4 a gallon gas pisses me off. $200 a gallon coffee? So what?
If you think coffee is optional for most people, take away all of the coffee filters and pots at your office tomorrow morning. You’ll see just how necessary it is for many of your coworkers to function every day.
How much of the price of a $5 cup of coffee really is in the coffee bean itself?
Should Starbucks be raped for windfall profits taxes the way $5 latte drinkers are A-OK with Hillary’s plan to seize the money from oil companies?
Some people assume they are being gounged unfairly others accept it as a fashion statement. They should at least be consistent.
Who do I believe the BLS or my lying bank account?
It usually comes from people who have oil stock who want us to stop complaining about the price hikes because “itsa not so bad”.
I’m surprised they haven’t compared it to the price of perfume sold by the ounce.
How much is printer ink per gallon?
I am proud to say that I have never bought a designer coffee from anywhere like Starbucks or Caribou or whatever places there are. I like coffee, I just make my own at home.
I could only wish to have to buy only 5 gallons of fuel every week. I’m having to purchase somewhere between 20 to 30 gallons a week (I can’t say for sure because I haven’t really tracked the actual amount).
You probably don’t want to know.
Perhaps some people need to buy lots of perfume, but, really what is the actual quantity of perfume an average woman uses in a week? I'd guess much less than 1/4 ounce a week.
It could be a whole lot worse. I live a little more than 100 miles from where I work. I rent a room during the week (4 nights) and only commute on Monday and Friday. If I were to be driving every day my weekly cost would be more than $300.00. It’s probably less than that in reality because I estimated my fuel economy at a lower mph than I probably actually get.
Dumb comparisons! Now, compare the price of gas to the price of toilet tissue! Useda be able to buy a 4-pack for 66 cents, now it’s easily four times that! Pretty soon we’ll be forced to use the New York Times. Where are our elected representatives on that?!
I do not have to fill up my gas tank with espresso to get to work.
I used to share an elevator at my job with people who seemed to bathe in a gallon of cologne a day.
I know. They come up with one ridiculous analogy after another. Let’s see, when I buy Advantix for the dog it’s $15. The tube contains 3 drops. I can only imagine how much a gallon of it would be. I guess this is the point where they expect me to say “Oh my I see the light! Why am I complaining? I should just be thankful!”
But I don’t. I am. And I’m not.
It is much cheaper just to use Zimbabwe dollars. Today they released the new $500,000,000.00 bill (no joke). 1 US dollar will buy you $30,000 Zimbabwe dollars. And they are conveniently sized.
However, I do need to buy gas, gas is essential to every day life in the USA(and most other countries also)and should be taxed accordingly, in other words the taxes on it should be a lot lower. Also, since it is something we all need, every effort should be bent in order to insure a domestic supply by drilling known sites, exploring for new ones and building new refineries.
We get this kind of illogic all the time on these gas threads. When your car runs on expresso call me and we’ll cry together.
Probably because their natural odor would have made you hurl.
Only until they kick the addiction. After about a week you can function quite well without coffee or any type of caffeine, I have done it more than once and will do it again if need be. No one needs coffee, they only think they do because it is a habit and a slight addiction. It can be easily overcome.
That and you probably need that 30g of gas a week, even if it’s not a need it’s still much higher on the list then coffee is.
Call me when you get up to six gallons of espresso a day.
Coffee is not optional for me. However, the station where I fill up my gas tank also makes better coffee than most restaurants. And it only costs me 27 cents to fill my 24oz cup.
Sorry, but no, I do need coffee. Everytime I give up drinking it, I keep falling asleep behind the wheel. Besides, now it is reported that coffee is good for you, rich in anti-oxidents. So I get to live by staying alert and warding off cancer!:)
As a real plus, I absolutely love the taste of coffee.
I wonder what they have to say about the self-help industry. They make larger profits than the petroleum industry. Also, they charge hundreds of dollars to attend their seminars.
Then there’s the 2lb cans of $5 Meijer 100% Columbian coffee I brew myself. Lasts me a long time. One “scoop” os 1/2 gallon, so it is less than .25 a gallon.
These stories are so tiresome. They compare a commodity item bought in bulk with an individually prepared specialty item.
Gas is a commodity that is sold at a relatively consistent price across a region. There is no packaging and gas is effectively the same at any station.
Coffee can be purchased as a commodity in the form of raw or roasted beans, but Lattes, espressos and even brewed coffee are specialty products.
Complaining that a custom-made espresso is more expensive than a gallon of gas is like complaining that a filet minion at Tavern on the green costs more than an entire frozen turkey.
#5...Whats the point of this article?
As you already figured it’s to fill the blank white pages of a newspaper.
Lips flopping, pens flopping, typewriter keys flopping.... tis the same. Just saying

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