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Keurig’s K-Cup Screw-Up And How it K-pitulated Wednesday to Angry Consumers
Washington Post ^ | May 7 | Fred Barbash

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Food
KEYWORDS: angrycustomers; coffee; kcup; kreurig; marketing; proprietarytech
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To: ansel12
Grinding beans and making a little 4 cup pot is the way to go

I agree. The little cups are stale, nasty coffee.

81 posted on 05/11/2015 3:35:36 AM PDT by Mrs.Z
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To: Red_Devil 232

One of the maxims in the household I was raised in, “Always brew a full pot”.


82 posted on 05/11/2015 3:57:04 AM PDT by Rodamala
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

That was my reaction to the article, too.

Of all the ‘angry customer responses’, this article only highlighted this stupid comment as an example. Strange to say the least.

But it’s wapo.


83 posted on 05/11/2015 4:07:23 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = CCCP; JournOList + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey!)
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To: ansel12

I’m not into it, either.

We drink a whole pot in the morning. We aren’t interested in having to brew each cup as we drink it, no matter how fast it is, nor in using pre-measured cups. My husband brews up the best cup of Dunkin Donuts in the world, nice and strong, on our Mr. Coffee.

(I’m slurping some right now).


84 posted on 05/11/2015 4:25:52 AM PDT by CatherineofAragon ("This is a Laztatorship. You don't like it, get a day's rations and get out of this office.")
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To: Steve_Seattle
"I agree, but being insulting is often a very strong temptation, to which I have yielded."

This response right here is just begging to be stolen. I think I'll do it.

85 posted on 05/11/2015 4:33:20 AM PDT by CatherineofAragon ("This is a Laztatorship. You don't like it, get a day's rations and get out of this office.")
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To: nickcarraway
Never liked the taste of the goop Kuerig calls coffee.

Have a regular 12-cup pot and make 10 cups most mornings. Also have a single cup brewer with a mesh basket and you can make anything from weak to really strong with it and pretty quick.

Then we have a Mr. Coffee barista which can make espresso/cappuccino/latte - it's my favorite and I usually make a double batch of espresso and add some sugar and a dollop of heavy whipping cream (twice as rich as half-n-half and been using it for years as a creamer).

86 posted on 05/11/2015 4:40:07 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: Deagle

> You like many others are missing the point

No I got the point that you were complaining...: )


87 posted on 05/11/2015 5:01:59 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: nickcarraway

Rats, I thought this post was going to be about big boobs.


88 posted on 05/11/2015 5:04:41 AM PDT by DungeonMaster (God is very intollerant, why shouldn't I be?)
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To: nickcarraway
I hate Keurig K-Cup coffee. Even when I fill my reusable cups with coffee I grind myself, the coffee lacks the full bodied taste I get from my drip brewer. From what I understand, the Keurig K-cup lacks the amount of coffee you need for a full bodied brew. It also passes the water through the K-Cup too quickly. That is why it tastes watery.

I just found out about the Joe Pod Coffee Converter for only $19.95. This will fit inside your drip coffee brewer where you normally put your coffee filter. Now I can control how my single serve coffee pod gets brewed:

http://www.kitchenkapers.com/joe-pod-coffee-converter-for-k-cups.html?src=gpla&id=103892743941&gclid=CJLTuOPRucUCFViUfgodX3YAzA


89 posted on 05/11/2015 5:09:33 AM PDT by jonrick46 (The Left has a mental deficiency: A totalitarian mindset..)
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To: nickcarraway

I would never use them at home - too slow and expensive for the amount of coffee we drink.

However, they are a game changer in hotel rooms with paper cups.


90 posted on 05/11/2015 5:09:44 AM PDT by Codeflier (Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama - 4 democrat presidents in a row and counting...)
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To: Secret Agent Man

> Do what i did and get the fillable baskets.

I have one. It works pretty well and the coffee tastes pretty good, especially when it’s fresh.


91 posted on 05/11/2015 5:10:48 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

The change in Keurig’s policy will not have any effect on the way you make
and take your coffee to work.

However, it will allow the rest of us a lot more freedom.

And that is a good thing.


92 posted on 05/11/2015 5:14:48 AM PDT by tennmountainman ("Prophet Mountainman" Predicter Of All Things RINO...for a small pittance.)
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To: nickcarraway

living in Colombia part time has taught me to NEVER buy keurig or any other crap. We use pure Colombian coffee not repacked or blends. And we use a variety of coffee makers.

Of course I dont go to starbucks.


93 posted on 05/11/2015 5:23:33 AM PDT by rrrod (at home in Medellin Colombia)
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To: douginthearmy

Excellent points dita. I agree.


94 posted on 05/11/2015 5:24:03 AM PDT by showme_the_Glory ((ILLEGAL: prohibited by law. ALIEN: Owing political allegiance to another country or government))
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

I do have a Keurig. My wife loves it. I like drip coffee better and will use my refillable K-Cups if I just want a quick 12 oz cup. My refillable K-Cups can pack more coffee in them and that gets a bolder flavor. However, just like my refillable K-Cups, I put all the coffee into my compost. That means taking the time to cut out the K-Cup lid and digging out the coffee. My wife does not know it, but the time I take to compost her K-Cup, would have brewed some great drip coffee.

By the way, I have gone back to my drip coffee maker and the coffee I do not drink, goes into the refrigerator to be microwaved later.

The next step is the Joe Pod Coffee Converter. I can hardly wait to see my wife’s reaction to Joe Pod Coffee.


95 posted on 05/11/2015 5:24:33 AM PDT by jonrick46 (The Left has a mental deficiency: A totalitarian mindset..)
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To: RginTN

—A french press is cheaper.

And makes Great Coffee


96 posted on 05/11/2015 5:39:14 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Don’t like it? Don’t buy it.

That is what happened. It's in the article.

97 posted on 05/11/2015 5:47:07 AM PDT by Stentor ("The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.")
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To: Steve_Seattle

Actually, objecting to Keurig’s 2.0 version is not a “lib” issue. It’s a small-government conservative issue. The way they made their new machine incompatible with coffee pods from second makers was by the corrupt use of the government power, the DMCA in particular. The new pods contained chips with a program that Keurig held copyright on, and the DMCA made it a crime for another company, or a tech savvy homeowner to reverse-engineer a way of getting the machine to work without a new pod from Keurig every time it was used.


98 posted on 05/11/2015 5:57:03 AM PDT by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know...)
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To: Deagle

“Do you really want your coffee makers to protect their product to the point of making you buy coffee from only them?”

Is this any different than the Apple OS X and IOS operating systems being exclusive to equipment manufactured by Apple? Is it any different than Gillette razor blades fitting only Gillette razors? Nikon camera lenses fitting only Nikon cameras? Sony Playstation games fitting only Sony game machines?

Some manufacturers compete with closed systems, some with open systems. The market provides options and consumers make choices. Keurig does not have a monopoly over the sale of coffee and never will unless consumers decide of their own free will to purchase exclusively from Keurig.

If the market is truly free Keurig has, and should have, the freedom to sell a closed system. If people like the system, and buy it, the company will prosper. If the lower priced competitive open systems are preferred by the consumer, the Keurig will fail. So be it.


99 posted on 05/11/2015 6:29:09 AM PDT by Soul of the South (Yesterday is gone. Today will be what we make of it.)
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To: nickcarraway; Elsie
Come to Mount Carmel Utah this week for the Maynard Dixon Art Invitational where we open every morning at 7:00 and the coffee is free. Donations appreciated....

And we serve our own private blend.

100 posted on 05/11/2015 6:49:59 AM PDT by Utah Binger (To keep order in Orderville everyone pulls his own weight.)
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