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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (18105)	8/26/2004 8:01:07 PM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

SBUX makes it very easy to not tip with their SBUX card. when you pay with this card, they just deduct the exact amount. my personal feeling is they make these cards so that people don't feel awkward about having to donate their cash to the tip jar after waiting 10 minutes in line for the privilege of ordering a cup of coffee. if the average amount of coin change is around 50 cents (halfway between 1 cent and 99 cents), and if many customers feel compelled to donate this change, then that is reducing their disposable coffee income by an average of 50 cents. that adds up to quite a bit of money over the course of a year, for "heavy users" (to use that inhouse McDonald's terminology from the movie "Supersize Me"). and even if they don't tip, they just end up collecting more change which somehow vaporizes. by contrast, the SBUX card steadfastly maintains all coffee-purchasing-power in a convenient piece of plastic--a secure and literal "wallet share". while this probably reduces tip income for the barristas, at least SBUX offers them health insurance and probably better pay than the average local coffee shop.