5 ms·
Slavoj Zizek makes a great point about this. He points out that starbucks donates some portion of the money you pay for coffee to alleviate poverty. But you as
by qazpot 6y ago
Slavoj Zizek makes a great point about this. He points out that starbucks donates some portion of the money you pay for coffee to alleviate poverty.
But you as a customer are buying expensive coffee as well freedom from guilt of buying expensive coffee while a large number of people in world are poor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P18UK5IMRDI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P18UK5IMRDI
- supernova87a 6y agoI don't know whether it's the same topic (will watch later) but there was the economist's observation a few years ago that when you pay $0.10 extra for organic/free trade coffee in your cup, only less than $0.01 goes to the actual coffee farmer and even the related supply chain labor. (calculating what the coffee serving price difference should be from the market price of free trade beans per pound vs. normal) The rest of the 9c is just price discrimination of the coffee chain being able to see that you value the idea of supporting organic coffee farming and are willing to pay that much more, even though it doesn't translate into anywhere close to that for the actual people. Edit: you can check it yourself -- Fairtrade coffee reports to be sold at $1.80 per pound versus $1.40. A typical cup of coffee / shot espresso uses 15 grams. The cost difference is <$0.01. (I don't know if this is still sold as an option, not a coffee drinker myself)