Spendthrift Sunday: Iced Coffee Edition
Posted by Lise on 16 Jul 2007 at 09:48 am | Tagged as: frugality
Spendthrift Sunday is a new feature designed to highlight one distinctly un-frugal product that we’re being convinced we need. (And this time it’s one day late).
Who knew that you needed an entire, Flash-based site to sell iced coffee? I mean, really, it seems like a no-brainer: people like icy, caffeinated drinks. Not so with Dunkin Donuts, apparently: they recently launched MyIcedCoffee.com, an intricate site designed to sell you such icy, caffeinated drinks (ironically, if you search Google for “dunkin donuts iced coffee,” this site does not come up) and paraphernalia.
… paraphernalia such as a Dunkin Donuts Cup Cooler. Lest you think that no one would ever spend $3-$4 on one of these, I was introduced to this phenomenon by my coworker, who had bought one. “It’s really great,” says she. “It keeps the cup from being slippery and you have a little slit to see how much you have left.”
DOT DOT DOT.
It’s… a cozy. For your iced drink. Nay, it’s a cozy specifically for your Dunkin Donuts iced drink. What would happen if you tried to use it with a Starbucks frappucino? YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW. We never found that one guy who tried.
I’m waiting for the branded straws. At $1.99 a pop, I’m sure they would double – maybe even triple – my enjoyment of a large raspberry chocolate iced coffee with cream and sugar.
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So this is where I admit that my parents each have one of these. They purchase DD iced coffee on a fairly frequent basis in the summertime. They are on the road a lot, and it is really hard to brew a pot of coffee for icing in the truck or on the back of a motorcycle. having bought the cozy _once_, over three years ago (these are not a new commodity), I’d estimated they’ve gotten their moneys worth, between the grip, the fact that it holds the lid tight to prevent spills, and most importantly, that it keeps the drink colder longer, preventing the coffee from becoming watered down and becoming undrinkable.
This is not _inherently_ a pointless item. It is a convenience item, yes, but it isn’t disposable like straws are, and so the key is: If you are going to use it, and it provides some value, will you get $3 of value from it?
On the other hand, if all you are going to do is lose it, forget it, leave it rattling around the car or the house, then don’t get it. save the money, the clutter, an the stresses involved.
@Chad: Don’t get me wrong. I love my DD, as you well know ;) You’re right that ultimately each person has to make the decision as to what purchases work for them. Personally, I’m just not sure where the need for this comes in. I see it sort of like those commercials for the pots with built-in pasta strainers – they do their best to make straining pasta look SO DIFFICULT. I mean, really – I made it from the Ayer DD to Westford last week with a large iced coffee without a cozy or even a functional cup holder in my car, and I lived. Your mileage – quite literally – may vary.
Ultimately for me it breaks down to the fact that this kind of advertising is intended to create a need that not a lot of people would have encountered on their own. That’s why I included myicedcoffee.com – it’s new, even if the cup cozy isn’t, and at least in stores I’ve been in they’ve sort of been hyping the cozy as part of it.
But I don’t think your parents are bad people for having them ;)
LOL, great post Lise. I’m a big iced coffee fan (Cafe Sua Da, specifically), but some of these marketing tactics are so clearly the result of bloated corporate policy. Makes me chuckle, as I’m sure you do as well.
Hi Grayson/ModWork’r! Glad to see you enjoyed. I think it’s important to note that I live in Massachusetts, where you can’t swing a cat without hitting a DD. There are TEN within 5 miles of my house. It’s not even funny to what extent DD is a part of life in New England – maybe it’s Starbucks in other places, I dunno. Knowing that I think you’ll appreciate the heresy in this post ;)
Now, didn’t you write a post extolling the virtues of going caffeine free…? ;)
We have free coffee at work, and I’ve made “iced” coffee enough times by pouring cold coffee over the also-free ice.
The cup cozy probably wouldn’t fit over the Starbucks cup. Different sizes.
This is the point where I admit to buying a $16.95 travelling teacup at the local tea shop. I got it primarily because it comes with an integral tea strainer for putting the loose tea in and making a cup on the go. This is useful because I drink entirely too much tea–but I haven’t used it yet because it’s too hot to drink tea in my car until the fall. ._.