
Starbucks: Numbers do lie. Sometimes pathologically so… - cwan
http://gapingvoid.com/2010/04/19/numbers-do-lie/
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adamtj
If by "Numbers do lie" the author means "Numbers don't lie, and also some
models of human behavior are less useful than others", then this essay is
adequately titled.

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Semiapies
Or alternately, "Don't let accountants determine your policies."

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JoeAltmaier
Accountants almost always make bad decisions. Because they measure only the
money. Its takes real leadership in the company to consider the import of each
choice. Add another column to the ledger, so to speak, such as Quality or
Customer Satisfaction.

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kscaldef
The problem with the soundbite summary is that the analysis presented is
incomplete. On the one side, 10% of customers might have noticed the drop in
quality, but we have no idea how many of them would actually go somewhere else
to get their coffee. On the other, while 100% would notice the higher price,
we again don't know what the demand curve looks like so we don't know how many
sales they would lose.

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hugh3
a) Story has nothing to do with its conclusion.

b) So when _did_ Starbucks start using the awful coffee it uses nowadays? Or
do they merely buy good beans and roast them badly?

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petercooper
I'm no coffee expert but I've heard it said that Starbucks' coffee is not so
much _bad_ as it is _different_ and an _acquired taste._ Of course, these
could be the words of apologists, but if so, is Starbucks entirely living on
the dollars of coffee dilettantes?

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hugh3
I hate to start a coffee snob thread, but Starbucks right now lives off the
dollars of the 90% of people who couldn't tell the difference between
Starbucks and better coffee.

I get the impression that Starbucks in its early days _was_ a coffee snob
place, but at some point it transitioned into a mass-market coffee place. It
would be fascinating to be able to try a coffee from the original Starbucks in
the 1970s to find out whether it has got worse or whether the tastes of the US
coffee snob have got more sophisticated.

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KC8ZKF
It could be that you are coming to your coffee with preconceived notions as to
its quality. I wonder what a blind tasting between Starbucks and your favorite
coffee would tell us.

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jrockway
Hard to say, as everyone that knows how to taste coffee already knows what
Starbucks tastes like. It has a distinct flavor.

Given a shot of espresso from each of the coffee places I visit regularly, I
could tell you which is which just from the aroma. So there is never going to
be a "blind" test.

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kscaldef
I believe that assertion is exactly what the previous commenter proposes to
test.

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clistctrl
I think part of the success of this option is how Star Bucks wants to
represent itself to its customer base. Had Dunkin Donuts chosen to raise
prices in face of an almost unnoticeable drop in quality I'm sure their
customers would have been less receptive.

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ibsulon
I don't know about that. For a while, at least, people raved about DD's
coffee.

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plorkyeran
People in Boston still do. I don't really understand why.

