In this public service announcement, which is part of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants‘ admirable effort to get people to save more, the spokespig tells a hapless shmoe that no truck full of money will save him from his financial woes, but — but! — if he starts making his coffee at home, instead of buying it out, he could save $1,040 per year.
Well. Would that it were that easy. It turns out the accountants have stretched the numbers, and more than a little bit. Aided by a $1 cup of coffee from my local deli, I did some math of my own, using Starbucks retail whole beans and beverage prices.
It turns out that making a 16 oz cup of Starbucks coffee at home costs $0.60 per cup. In the store — at least, in a Starbucks in Seattle — you’ll pay $2.04 (including Washington’s exorbitant 10 percent sales tax). The make-it-yourself savings amounts to $1.44, or $7.20 per 5-day work week, or $360 per year.
Not bad, not bad. But not as compelling as that cool $1,040. And while I’m a big fan of cutting out needless spending and saving money where you can, sometimes the little things are worth it. And there couldn’t be a more pathetic way to encourage people to save than by exaggerating the cost of small spending decisions. Come on, AICPA: you can do better. (On the other hand, if you’re taking financial advice from a 6-foot-tall talking pig, maybe you’ve got bigger issues to address.)
(A note on the maths: I assumed people bought coffee every day they went to work, 5 days/week, 50 weeks/year. I assumed the cost of electricity and water required to make your own coffee was negligible, ditto for the cost of buying your own milk and sugar. A colleague pointed out that a lot of people don’t get the drip coffee, they buy the more expensive espresso drinks, to which I say, that’s a different argument, one in which you are not only required to make your own coffee, but also to stop drinking cappucino. And I haven’t had enough coffee for that yet.)
