Starbucks Seeks More Spare Change

By Alyce Lomax July 24, 2007

Last year, Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) extracted an extra nickel per drink from consumers. Less than a year later, it's closer to a dime.

That's right, Starbucks is raising the prices on its drinks by nine cents, and it's wasting no time -- the price hike goes into effect next week. Talk about nickel and diming us to death! Will Starbucks' fans care?

Starbucks' history of raising the prices on its drinks is an interesting one. In 2004, as I recall (and here's a Take from the time), Wall Street flipped when Starbucks raised its prices by $0.11. However, consumers weren't too concerned. Two years later, it seemed pretty certain that Starbucks customers would shrug off an additional nickel increase. However, it's hard to feel overly enamored with yet another price increase less than 12 months since the last time the coffee giant asked for more of our spare change.

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