Starbucks drops bean surcharge

[monmouth]

BOSTON (AP) — Starbucks has stopped tacking on a fee for bags of coffee beans that weigh less than a pound. The Seattle coffee company eliminated the fee at its stores nationwide this month after a Massachusetts consumer-protection agency fined the company over the practice.

The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation found in August that the coffee chain failed to notify customers either in the store or on their receipts that it was adding a surcharge of about $1.50 for buying a partial bag of beans.

Starbucks allows customers to buy a less than the traditional one-pound bag of beans. But doing so requires an employee to break open a pre-sealed bag to sell customers a portion size of their choosing. Starbucks would then charge the customer for the portion of beans, plus a roughly $1.50 fee to cover the extra labor and packaging

That meant beans listed at $11.95 per pound ended up costing $7.45 for a half-pound — not $5.98, or half the price.

Full article at: http://news.yahoo.com/starbucks-drops-bean-surcharge-195507987.html

Starbucks thinks they're the banks!!

[valerief]

1. I've never picked up Starbucks myself. nt

[Mist]

2. Wow, sharp practice. Good reason to buy from a co-op store, where you can

get as much or as little as you want, and you're only charged for the actual weight.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Probably best if Starbucks

simply stopped selling quantities of less than pound. No issues then.

[dtexdem]

4. Easy solution: don't buy from Starbucks.

Buy Peete's instead.