Because it's not a cup of coffee. You're more or less guaranteed a consistent taste when you order a cup of coffee. Not so much when buying a subscription to a

Because it's not a cup of coffee. You're more or less guaranteed a consistent taste when you order a cup of coffee. Not so much when buying a subscription to a random SaaS from the HN front page. Trust is a significant issue here. Coffee also doesn't require commitment. I can walk out of the shop, and say "that's my last coffee", and that'll be the end of it. No hunting down unsubscribe/cancel buttons, etc. I mean as someone building their own SaaS, I totally get the frustration. But anchoring your price to coffee isn't as useful as say, what people pay for Dropbox, VPS/VPN or email providers.