Carry out coffee pr...
 

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[Closed] Carry out coffee price

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First time ive ever had to pay 25p more for a flat white £3, sit in price £2.75.The coffee was spot on but when i questioned the price difference he waffled on about the price of a paper cup, fair deal coffee beans etc. Should it not be less or is vat applied to carry out coffee too


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:03 am
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Isn’t it a VAT issue?


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:05 am
 Drac
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It can be what they wish to charge. Food is different iirc.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:05 am
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What if you take your own cup?
Quite a few cafes are now charging extra for disposable cups.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:07 am
 Drac
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Yup loads offer cash off for reusable cups.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:10 am
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when i questioned the price difference he waffled on about the price of a paper cup

there's your answer then.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:12 am
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Isn’t it a VAT issue?

That would be the other way around - you don't pay VAT on take-outs but do on eat/drink in.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:25 am
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Must have been a hand finished fair deal cup from Mongolia. Do most cafes not just buy a few thousand from Costco for £20


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:25 am
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They are probably trying to encourage you to bring your own next time.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:29 am
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Hot drinks for takeaway are standard rated for VAT. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/catering-takeaway-food-and-vat-notice-7091


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:30 am
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There is a trend to move away from single use disposable cups (rightly so). But from a pure cost perspective I'm sure the cost of cleaning, storing replacing reusable cups is more than providing your single use takeaway cup.
P.s
Discounts for bringing in your own cup is the way to go IMHO.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:32 am
 Drac
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Must have been a hand finished fair deal cup from Mongolia. Do most cafes not just buy a few thousand from Costco for £20

Plastic carrier bags don't cost supermarkets 20p each either.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:36 am
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An extra charge is much more effective at changing behaviour than a 'discount'. Several trials have demonstrated this.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:41 am
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They should quadruple the price if it’s a one use cup and maybe add another tenner on as well.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:50 am
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So, it seems its a charge for a takeaway cup then?

Yep, happy about that.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:52 am
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Cup tax. This year I have used two disposable coffee cups so far all year. My collapsible silicone cup goes everywhere. That includes two trips to the US where they really don’t care about the cup issue.

They aren’t paper btw. That is the issue. I have chosen not to buy coffee or only sit in cafes with real cups this year, rather than use a disposable one. Most offer a discount.

Make it a pound saved and the world would change. Just like paper bags.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 9:59 am
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There is a trend to move away from single use disposable cups (rightly so). But from a pure cost perspective I’m sure the cost of cleaning, storing replacing reusable cups is more than providing your single use takeaway cup.

You’re probably right. By why would you assume the cost of delivering the product or service should bear any resemblance to the price you pay. The price you pay is related to the convenience and value to you, the consumer. So take away is a more valuable service to most so the price is higher. And discouraging disposable cups too.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 10:11 am
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The price you pay is related to the convenience and value to you, the consumer.
Except when lazy retailers insist that the RRP is the benchmark


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 10:16 am
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Maybe it was a truly recyclable takeaway cup? They're more expensive than standard ones


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 10:23 am
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There's a very different attitude to this here in Oz, most people carry a reusable cup with them at work, my company even give a nice glass one to all new starters.
Seven eleven usually do a $1 coffee (no idea what its like but its very popular), for all of August they offered this for free to anyone using a reusable cup. Proper free too, you didn't have to buy anything, you could just turn up and get unlimited free coffee all month, and they offered a cup recycling scheme for single use cups.
Nobody moans, everybody just recognises that it makes no sense to use a single use cup every day.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 11:59 am
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Nobody moans

That would make singletrackworld.com.au a dull place I suspect 🙂


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 12:06 pm
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Might be different at a work place with sink and hot water etc, but away for a few days who washes their cup in a burn? Next it will be your best Sheffield steel cutlery rather than plastic forks and knifes. Instead of individual sugar just leave a big brown stained lumpy sugar bowl. Here in Scotland we enjoy a moan well i do


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 1:05 pm
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I'm also trying to avoid single-use cups. But I'm also forgetful and rarely have my reusable cup on me. It's quite good for my wallet as well as the environment.

Might be different at a work place with sink and hot water etc, but away for a few days who washes their cup in a burn?

Is this some foreign language? Is this an issue for people who are in the wilderness with no access to running water (but do have access to Starbucks)?


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 1:29 pm
 Drac
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Might be different at a work place with sink and hot water etc, but away for a few days who washes their cup in a burn?

What sort of wilderness has a coffeeshop?


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 1:35 pm
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Yeah - here in Aus (Sydney at least) bringing your own cup is now the norm - to the point that you hear people apologising at the counter if they haven't got one. A take away large coffee is about 4 dollars, maybe 4.50 is its a super fancy place (between 2.20 and 2.50 GBP).


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 1:58 pm
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Ah i didn't realise they offer to wash and dry your cup for you. Ullapool it was the cafe above the outdoor gear shop. Its quite a nice bit of wilderness up there


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 2:05 pm
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If a burn is a steam then I was washing my cup and pan in one on Mull last week.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 2:27 pm
 Drac
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Ullapool it was the cafe above the outdoor gear shop. Its quite a nice bit of wilderness up there

Above a shop? Doesn't sound very wild.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 2:31 pm
 IHN
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Must have been a hand finished fair deal cup from Mongolia. Do most cafes not just buy a few thousand from Costco for £20

Yup, and even then my BIL, who owned a café, was quite happy to say that the most expensive bit, costs wise, of a cup of takeaway coffee is the cup.

By the way, if anyone wants to buy a café-grade/sized Gaggia, he has one for sale.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 2:40 pm
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Next it will be your best Sheffield steel cutlery rather than plastic forks and knifes

"They can take oor lives, but they'll never take oor right tae use single-use plastics for free!"


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 2:46 pm
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OP the question (I may have missed this) is how much to use your own mug, i.e. it should be less than the £2.75, that way it rewards you and saves resources. Some is marketing but it makes sense, as long as you remember your mug!


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 5:58 pm
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Yeah – here in Aus (Sydney at least) bringing your own cup is now the norm

I'm not sure whether I'd say it's the norm over here, but it's been more common than not to have your own cup for at least the last 6 months where I am. It is cafe nero where there is an incentive to have your own cup in the form of an extra stamp on your card.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 6:33 pm
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Do these coffee places accept all reusable cups? Some folk are mingin their hygiene leaves a lot to be desired. That why i also asked do they wash your cup for you?


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 7:08 pm
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I think this will become the norm.

Good info here.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 7:22 pm
 Drac
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I've not found one that doesn't most places encourage you. I've only asked a couple of times to wash my cup as it I use it at work, no one has refused. I'm not sure about other people's hygiene problems.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 7:27 pm
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Must have been a hand finished fair deal cup from Mongolia. Do most cafes not just buy a few thousand from Costco for £20

Yup, and even then my BIL, who owned a café, was quite happy to say that the most expensive bit, costs wise, of a cup of takeaway coffee is the cup.

By the way, if anyone wants to buy a café-grade/sized Gaggia, he has one for sale.

That's nonsense, unless they're using really crappy coffee. In my old coffee shop, I was using £20 - £30 bags of coffee (1KG). You'd expect to get around 50 double shots from this, which means the cost of the espresso alone is between 40p and 60p. Milk costs vary (we used organic unhomogenised milk from a local farm) but would be at between 10p and 30p per cup.

Decent compostable cups are about 4p each. You've got to be making some pretty bad coffee if that's the most expensive bit!

JP


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 7:58 pm
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Decent compostable cups are about 4p each.

Most of these 'compostable' or 'biodegradable' cups are not really. If you chuck it in your compost bin at home, it will take a very long time to break down. They need a specific industrial facility, which maintains the right temperatures etc. So they need to be separated out from any general waste or recycling or food waste. And some of them will break down into microplastics, which then end up in the sea.


 
Posted : 12/09/2019 8:31 pm

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