Posted on 05/10/2015 9:36:50 PM PDT by nickcarraway
It’s been called the “razor blade business model.” A company sells a product like a battery-operated razor blade handle at a relatively low price in order to sell a complementary consumable product later, like the astoundingly costly Gillette Power Fusion Proglide cartridge, $18 for four blades, which then get thrown away.
But it could also be called the Keurig “K-Cup” business model. Once a consumer buys the coffee machine, the coffee drinker may spend as much as $50 to $60 per pound on the coffee contained in the K-Cups, considerably more than the cost of even Starbucks’s breakfast blend, which goes for about $11.95 per pound.
Some years back, thousands of Keurig single-serve machine fans found a cheaper alternative, however — refillable, non-disposable K-cups, little plastic coffee grounds holders, which the company graciously sold under the brand of “My K-Cup.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
A $60.00na pound, literally everything is cheaper.
Aeropress.
Fast, easy, delicious, cheap.
Trust me.
There was never away to make a really srpng cup of coffee. It was always insipid!
That’s exactly the coffee maker that I’ve got. I’ve had it for a year and I love it. One side has the big 12-cup pot. The other side does K-cups or you can brew a small scoop of ground coffee into your mug. I buy the K-cups for $12/18 K-cups. I grind beans for the pot to fill my thermos during the week and drink 2-3 K-cups per day on the weekends.
Honestly, I’m not understanding the whole K-cup problem here. With the K-cups, I got exactly what I was promised. If I don’t like the product or the cost, I’m free to go do something else. I think people are complaining just to do it.
As usual, it's not so much the "angry customer part" as it is the "Washington Post reporter trying to come up with a story" part.
I like flavored coffee, and buy my beans online from a company in Shreveport, La. I grind the beans, and brew 6 cups, but with the large cup I use, it gives me 2 large servings. That’s usually all the coffee I drink in a day.
The cost/pound is a bogus argument. It costs me 67 cents to fill my 14-ounce travel mug. Sure, there’s cheaper options. But I like the convenience and K-cups sure are cheaper than the gas station or especially Starbucks. I’m not trying to tell people what to like but I don’t understand all the complaining, either. Don’t like it? Don’t buy it.
I can’t help wonder how many of K-cup complainers are packing a $400+ iPhone and are paying $89/month to use it. We all have a choice in life. I don’t understand them and they don’t understand me. It takes all kinds, I guess.
Yup! I’d say that’s the right call!
He they didn’t tell me how much the razor blades and ink cartridges for my Keurig would cost.
Slow news day, eh, WashPost?
We use the reusable K-cup device. I kept track last time we bought a can of coffee. The reusable cup costs 8 cents a cup while the disposable cups rub close to 50 cents a cup.
Good experience, we sighed with relief coming home to our 14 cup Cuisinart and all the strong coffee we wanted, with no gimmicks.
I never saw the practical use of having a single cup brewer. I drink 4-5 cups of coffee each morning as does my wife. We buy whole bean coffee and grind our own and brew amounts we need.
If you like your Keurig, you can keep your Keurig...
“The cost/pound is a bogus argument. It costs me 67 cents to fill my 14-ounce travel mug. Sure, there’s cheaper options. But I like the convenience and K-cups sure are cheaper than the gas station or especially Starbucks. I’m not trying to tell people what to like but I don’t understand all the complaining, either. Don’t like it? Don’t buy it.
I can’t help wonder how many of K-cup complainers are packing a $400+ iPhone and are paying $89/month to use it. We all have a choice in life. I don’t understand them and they don’t understand me. It takes all kinds, I guess.”
If you want to find complainers about everything and everybody, this is the place !!
I am going to try the refillables. My wife likes Iced Coffee, so the single cups should be ideal for that.
I’m a CPA and a tax attorney. Trust me, I’m really good at math. I’m also a Keurig user. I know I can brew better coffee in our other machine when I want to take the time, but most days convenience is more important. I would buy K-cups if the price tripled. My time is significantly more valuable than the change saved on a cup of coffee.
Why be insulting? If you don’t like K-Cups, don’t buy them. This isn’t a one-size fits all world.
You’ve just been suckered by a total garbage Washington Post article, so making assessments of other people’s intelligence probably isn’t a good plan right now.
Sometimes convenience is the chief motivation, not cost.
the French Press I bought was on sale for $12...its convenient(steeps for 5 minutes). I let my tea steep longer.
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