# Listen pig "Make you own coffee, save a $1,000 a year!" is kind of a stupid observation
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 17, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481 "2012-07-17T02:55:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481/21 "2012-07-18T05:46:44Z")
> [@Taomist](#):
>
> I swear I was at a Starbucks and saw the calorie count on a drink as being 8 or 900 calories. Online, I find no such thing. Hrm.
You can always add more whipped cream and syrup.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481/22 "2012-07-18T06:14:11Z")
Starbucks sells (used to sell) these blueberry scones. Sounds good right? They were the blandest things ever. That made me assume they were healthy. Nope, lotsa calories and IIRC, 55% of your daily saturated fat.
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### Author:  [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481/23 "2012-07-18T08:50:22Z")
I am SO glad I never started drinking coffee.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481/24 "2012-07-18T15:02:42Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> [Feed the Pig](http://www.feedthepig.org/about) is a non-profit organization funded by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and The Advertising Council. You may be perfectly aware of how much that cup of coffee is costing you, but there are plenty of other people out there who are financially illiterate and make terrible financial decisions. Creating awareness of things like that is probably money well spent in deterring future foreclosures, bankruptcies, etc.
I gotta tell you, while it’s good advice, the people who most need to hear it are the ones who won’t listen to it.
My brother-in-law has quit yet another job. Never mind that he’s in debt up to his eyeballs, never mind that he has absolutely no savings, never mind that his retirement plan is “hit the jackpot in the lottery”, he just decided that he’d had enough of working. Mind you, he CLAIMS to be a libertarian, but he’s willing to take advantage of every entitlement program that he can. And I’m a liberal/socialist/pinko commie scum, but I’ve NEVER taken advantage of entitlement programs. Ever. There have been plenty of times when I qualified for various programs, too. But he goes around, hat in hand, wanting whatever he can get. And then he bitches about the government intruding in his life.
Somehow, he manages to hit Starbucks and get a cup of coffee several times a day. He has a coffeepot at home, but apparently it’s too much trouble to make a few cups in the morning, and definitely too boring to drink coffee at home. He needs to get out and drive to the coffee shop and pay out the nose for some coffee, and for a snack, too. The thing is, he won’t consider cutting out this cost. And he won’t consider cutting other costs. Something’s gotta give…so usually, what happens is that he just doesn’t pay back the loans that my husband has given him.
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481/25 "2012-07-18T15:41:49Z")
> [@Taomist](#):
>
> The commercials just bring things to the forefront that people forget about. We spend a LOT more on convenience now than we used to, in general. I was out washing the car the other day and the neighbor couldn’t figure out why I wouldn’t just spend 12 bucks at a car wash place. I’m of the opposite opinion; why WOULD I pay that much for something that’s going to last 2 days before it’s a mess again?
Well, time is money. Why spend an hour+ of your time and effort doing something that, as you yourself put it, is going to last 2 days before it’s a mess again.
I’d rather spend $12, take the 10 minutes at lunchtime and get it done. And instead of washing my car that weekend, I can spend that time doing something else with my wife.
I guess it’s always an equation for all of us. The time and effort of hand washing my car is worth to me about what I pay to have it washed quickly, by a machine.
To you, maybe not so much. Perhaps you find the time relaxes you, perhaps you use it to chew the fat with your neighbor/son/spouse, etc.
to me, it’s just a waste of time.
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481/26 "2012-07-18T16:26:35Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#):
>
> Well, time is money. Why spend an hour+ of your time and effort doing something that, as you yourself put it, is going to last 2 days before it’s a mess again.
For the folks this ad is targeted to, what they don’t have is money. If you don’t have much money, trading money for free time is a poor choice. What they should be doing is strategically trading their free time for money, not the other way around. Trade an hour of free time to replace a $12 car wash, you just earned a tax free $12/hr, and didn’t have to leave your driveway.
It takes less than 5 minutes of your time to make a cup of coffee, and you probably save at least $1 per cup. That’s another $12/hr without leaving your kitchen, using time you probably would have spent doing nothing worthwhile, or particularly enjoyable anyway.
It’s like having a job opportunity, $12/hr, 5hrs per week, work from home, work as much or as little as you want, when you want, with no boss, no deadlines, just money in your pocket when you do these little odd jobs. Not a bad deal if times are tough.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481/27 "2012-07-18T16:34:22Z")
Cheeaesteak. Thats a darn good way of putting it and looking at it. Good post.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481/28 "2012-07-18T16:48:28Z")
Heh, mrAru makes 2 thermos of coffee and lugs them to work with himself. [his previous job didn’t have a coffee mess, you had to go to the cafeteria and buy it by the cup.] He also takes his lunch every day - typically leftovers from the previous evenings supper. That has to be what, almost $20 a day he isn’t spending? Not to mention we rarely use convenience foods - with my food allergies and sensitivities I would rather just make it from scratch than have to juggle ingredient panels.
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-pig-make-you-own-coffee-save-a-1-000-a-year-is-kind-of-a-stupid-observation/628481/29 "2012-07-18T19:22:42Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> $3 for a cup of coffee!? Where do you buy your coffee that it’s $3 a cup? And don’t say Starbucks. In the interest of fighting ignorance and all, a regular cup of coffee at Starbucks is usually around $1.50-$2 depending on your location.
>
> I used to just buy coffee for 50 cents from the coffee cart guys on the street, but now I just make my own from Trader Joe’s brand. $4 and it lasts a few weeks.
$2.89 for a large coffee in the Starbucks in my building, just went and looked, when you start calling a Mocha a “coffee” it gets worse fast.
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