The Real Cost Of Convenience – Why Some Subscription Coffee Plans Are Flawed

A market trend that has emerged in the last few years and particularly through lockdown has been the rise of subscription-based coffee companies. The premise is simple, a monthly fee is paid for a monthly delivery keeping you topped up for your coffee hit. Typically, we try to keep these blog posts positive, but it is tough to see a positive spin on the business practices of some companies who do this.

With one of the leading companies that offer this subscription, they offer a free V60 kit worth £11 on their website. A free one-time "gift" of £11 is not all it seems though for several reasons. Firstly, this price is extremely high for a Hario V60 dripper in plastic. We sell the exact same model from the exact same producer for £5.82 (code 999-600). As such, the initial value of this "gift" is overstated by almost double the actual price.

Secondly and most shockingly is that this is used to tempt you into their subscription plans despite the considerable pricing. 250g of the lowest price coffee beans available will cost £7.95, or 46p per cup (please note this is the listed price, despite the fact that mathematically this does not make sense as the 250g, at £7.95, is listed as able to make 15 cups, and as such is actually at 53p per cup). Our lowest price offering in the 500g variant (103-840) costs £5.90, and should, by their calculations, provide 30 cups at a price of just under 20p per cup. This pricing disparity deepens when larger quantities are ordered. Our lowest price 1kg of beans costs £9.08, providing 60 cups per their calculations, at a price of 15p per cup.

As a result of all this pricing, the £5.82 "gift" you receive will save you money up until your 22nd cup of coffee with comparison to our 500g offering, or your 19th cup for our 1kg offering (please bear in mind we have given them the benefit of the doubt and used their 46p per cup calculation here as opposed to the more mathematically accurate 53p per cup). After that, this “free gift” will have paid for itself and the hope is that you will stay with said company for the convenience or simply because you don’t think to question the pricing. Some may claim that ease of use and convenience is worth it, but we believe that spending up to 67% more per cup of coffee is not a price worth paying.

We also believe it is inconsistent to preach of fairness and morality when overcharging customers by up to 67% per cup of coffee and overstating the value of a “gift” to make it look like it is a better deal than it really is. We will post another blog next week about claims of ethicality.

 

Product Price Price per Cup Saving per cup

Leading Company's House Espresso Blend (250g)

£7.95

46p on their maths, or 53p on our maths

-

Ire Mocha Italia (500g)

£5.90

20p

26p/33p

Shamwari (1kg)

£9.08

15p

31p/38p