The Coffee Bean scandal

This is not new news, but I had been on vacation. I only indulged in coffee maybe 3 times in the span of 2.5 weeks in Japan. The main reason is two-fold: 1) Japanese coffee shops don't offer soy milk (I guess they are not lactose intolerant, even though statistics claim >70% of Asians are), and 2) believe it or not, Starbucks was not available on every corner in Japan. Therefore, one of the first things I do upon my return is to get coffee with my friends.

At that time, I was sadly informed that about the discontinuation of the punch cards at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (AKA CBTL or simply Coffee Bean). A punch card rewards caffeine-addicts like me with 1 free drink for every 16 drinks, woo hoo. Although the Coffee Bean website doesn't go into detail about the counterfeiting scam, the barista told me that someone had bought a puncher for $200 from e-Bay (what's not available on e-Bay??) and got some punch cards, then was selling/distributing the "full" punch cards. I get coffee every morning before work, the baristas know me by my drink order and/or my name (not sure if that's necessarily a good thing, but they do get more tips if so). If I limit myself to 1 coffee per day, that would mean only 1-2 free drinks per month at most. Don't you think that they would notice if someone was constantly redeeming punch cards for free drinks without purchasing any?

Without the punch card, there is not much of an incentive to capture my loyalty. Coffee is a luxury good (a buzzword from my economics class), so price sensitivity does not exist for consumers like me. Furthermore, I don't believe differentiation in product or service exists in this case, except the fact that the vanilla powder at Coffee Bean is 10x better than the vanilla syrup at it's nemesis. Better yet, Coffee Bean offers no sugar added (AKA sugar-free) vanilla for those diabetic caffeine-addicts. Coffee Bean and Starbucks are located right next to each other, so the big decision comes down to:
1) Which coffee shop has the shorter line? Time is of the essence!
2) If I want banana bread (yum!), then Starbucks is the chosen one.
3) If I want a ice blended drink (see picture), then Coffee Bean is the chosen one.

I know that I am babbling about coffee. This is a testament to how addicted I am to caffeine (blogging is my other Achille's heal, if you haven't quite noticed yet). For a bet, I did quit coffee for a Guiness World Book record of 1 year and 4 months in 2002-2003. I want to quit coffee again for a few reasons:
1) I paid a pretty penny for bleaching.
2) Coffee is supposedly not good for my body (however I have yet to see any scientific proof).
3) To save money (see cost breakdown below).

Cost breakdown for my coffee addiction:
$5.20 every morning for an iced soy latte and a slice of banana bread
x 5 days/week
x 52 weeks/year
$1,352 per year (ouch! and that's not even including weekends!!)

Tags: [coffee]